Having Your Self-Prepared Tax Return Reviewed by a Professional for Free

As a professional tax preparer, I nearly always recommend against using off-the-shelf software for preparing tax returns. I usually point people toward a trained professional - even if it isn't me.

The reason is simple, tax software can only guarantee against mathematical errors. It's can't completely guarantee that the numbers you enter will be correct or that you can distinguish between a legitimate deduction and one that you are not allowed to take.

So for nearly everyone I meet, I recommend having a tax professional at least look at their tax return. it's a good idea just to make sure you are saving as much money as you can.

Here's a little trick that I recommend. (It used to drive me crazy when I was working for one of the national tax preparation chains, but since I'm not anymore, I can tell you how it works.)

Most tax preparation firms have a policy that you don't have to pay for your return if you are not happy with the results for any reason. Obviously, the larger the company, the more generous this policy may be. If you try this in your local bookkeeping and tax office, you may not get away with it.

Prepare your taxes using your preferred tax software. Print out a copy of your tax return and take it to your national tax preparation franchise of choice. Have a prepare calculate your tax return using the exact same documents you used to prepare your own. Don't let the preparer know you have already calculated your tax return.

Once the preparer is finished, compare your results with what the preparer came up with. If you come up with the same number, then politely deny finishing up the return. You may have to give the preparer an excuse like, "My refund is not as big as I thought it would be. I need to think about this for a while."

Of course, if you're extra bold (or obnoxious) you may pull out your self-prepared copy and go over the numbers with the preparer.

If the tax preparer gets you a better refund, then I recommend using the tax preparer.