Tax time is one of the most stressful seasons of the year for many Americans. There is a rush and bustle to get everything done in order to prepare an income tax return. Many taxpayers feel stressed and suffer from undo anxiety.
You can alleviate the stress and worry of tax time with a little preparation.
The first thing you should decide is who is going to file your income tax return. You can do it yourself, hire someone else to prepare your return, or prepare it in conjunction with many of the tax preparation software programs available in today’s market. Preparing your return solely on your own is probably the worst thing you can do, stress wise. Unless you are a tax attorney or accountant, you are ill prepared for this endeavor. You might easily miss many opportunities to lower your tax liability and save on credits, deductions, and exemptions.
You may want to consider, instead, preparing your return with the aid of computer software like Turbo Tax. While not free, these programs cost much less than hiring a professional to prepare your income tax return for you. You simply enter the information the program requests and it will run you through prompts and instructions, even suggesting applicable tax credits, deductions, and exemptions for you to take advantage of, in order to lower your tax liability. The program will even help you to file your return electronically, guaranteeing you the fastest return on your income tax rebate.
If even being involved this much in the filing process causes the bile to rise in your throat and makes you sweaty, you always have the option of hiring a professional to file your income tax return for you. These professionals are very well trained and should be able to help you get the lowest legitimate tax liability possible under your circumstances. They certainly will know more about exemptions, credits and deductions than you. You will still have to answer all the same questions that the software prompts, but someone else will be filing the return and your involvement in the preparation process is drastically reduced from doing it all yourself, and somewhat less than using the computer program. Knowing that the computer or the professional are going to have all the tax information at hand to make your filing successful, it should greatly lower your stress at income tax time.