Tax season starts on January 20, which is just a few days from now. The last day to file taxes in Michigan follows the federal deadline of April 15, 2015. The well organized and financially savvy are already preparing their paperwork, if they haven’t already submitted it to a CPA to double check everything and file it as soon as the date comes around. If you’re like most people, however, you’re probably not looking forward to filing your taxes at all, let alone early. Here are five reasons you could be making a mistake:

#1 – Avoid Identity Theft Tax Return Fraud

As discussed in another blog post, identity theft tax return fraud has exploded in recent years, amounting to $5.2 billion in 2013 alone. Some unscrupulous people have found easy ways to get the Social Security Numbers (SSN) and other information of unsuspecting victims and use them to claim tax refunds in their name. This has become a ridiculously big “business,” with almost 15 million foiled attempts and almost 2,000 pending cases from the past few years. The IRS is struggling to catch up and find ways to bring these numbers down.

Along with keeping your information secure and entrusting it only to reputable establishments, filing your taxes early is your best defense against ID theft tax fraud.

#2 – Get Refunds Faster

If you’re owed money, the sooner the better, right? If you get a tax refund, you could have extra cash on hand for any unforeseen expenses. This is also always better than getting additional interest and charges on a credit card or loan. Processing time will also be faster since many people across the country will still wait until April when the IRS will get bogged down by the sheer volume.

#3 – Have More Time to Pay

If you will owe the IRS this year, filing early will also let you know early on just how much you need to pay. This gives you time to prepare, set aside the money, and avoid any nasty surprises.

 
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#4 – Avoid Additional Penalties and Paperwork

Life is unpredictable. According to Murphy’s Law, “anything that can go wrong, will.” Filing early gives you time to anticipate and address any problems that may surface. It gives you time to prepare the money you owe, or if needed, to file for an extension.

Figuring everything out in the first place can be complicated and time consuming. If you do things in a hurry at the last minute, you’re much more likely to make costly mistakes. You could miss out on significant deductions you’re entitled to just because you forgot to do the paperwork. On the other hand, you could underestimate how much you’re supposed to pay, leading to penalties and even an audit and criminal charges. Remember also that even if you file on time or file for an extension, you will be charged a stiff interest and penalties on the amount you owe if not paid by the deadline.

#5 – Avoid the Crowds

Waiting until the last minute will mean longer lines, whether at the IRS, the post office, the local CPA office, the bank, etc. Do yourself a favor and get it over with early on. That way, it won’t keep bothering you in the back of your mind for several months to boot. Tax season is an inevitable part of each new year. Since you can’t avoid it, you may as well get it over with and get on with the rest of your year hassle-free.

Contact Hazzouri Accounting and Tax Service Today!

Hazzouri Accounting is here to help. We have over 16 years of experience helping the communities of Canton, MI and the surrounding areas with all their tax needs. We take care of all the paperwork and filing to give you peace of mind, knowing everything was done right, on time, and with the utmost protection of your information. Call us today at (734) 844-1614 to get started! You can also fill out our website contact form or stop by our social media accounts to learn more:

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According to 60 Minutes, it is “the biggest tax scam around now,” tripling in the past three years. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), it has cheated U.S. taxpayers out of $5.2 billion in 2013 alone (the Treasury Department thinks it’s actually much more). How did they do it? They filed other people’s tax returns before they themselves did, basically stealing their tax refunds.

Although identity theft tax return fraud only really started in recent years, the terms “gone viral” and “epidemic proportions” have been used to describe this problem today. According to the IRS itself, they have stopped close to 15 million suspicious returns from 2011 to 2013, amounting to over $50 billion. According to CBS, over 565,000 cases of identity theft were resolved by IRS agents in 2013, three times the number of cases resolved the previous year. It took an average of almost a year to resolve the cases closed between August 2011 and July 2012.

These refunds also go to all sorts of places, including Bulgaria, Lithuania, Ireland, and Shanghai. In the U.S., Miami tops the list for identity theft tax fraud, partly because of a thriving underground community there, and partly because of the high number of retirees in the state. A big chunk of identities stolen belong to retirees, children, prisoners, and even people who have passed away.

Detroit is included in the list of top cities for identity theft tax fraud, along with Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston.

How It Works

Despite the many criticisms the IRS gets over the years, they’re actually pretty quick about sending tax refunds. They are generally required to send your refund within six weeks, but are usually able to send it within 1-3 weeks. Generally, you can file for your return as early as the end of January, all the way up to midnight of April 15. All you really need in order to file your return is your Social Security number and birth date. To detect fraud, the IRS needs to check your tax return against the W-2 your employer files. Employers have until March to file this, and this is first sent to the Social Security Administration before being forwarded to the IRS. All in all, the IRS can’t even begin checking tax returns against employers’ W-2’s until July.

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How to Avoid It

First of all, you should be careful about giving out your Social Security Number (SSN) and other sensitive information. Even those who’ve protected this information have been victimized because they provided it to offices or clinics that turned around and sold it to scammers. It has become more and more important to provide sensitive information only to institutions with extensive track records and strict policies on keeping your data private.

The IRS is also providing an annual Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN) to ensure only the rightful person can file his or her tax return. However, it will probably take a lot more time for this to fully address the problem. While the IRS doubled the number of IP PINs issued for the second year in a row in 2013, it only amounted to 1.2 million out of more than 120 million taxpayers.

Filing your tax return as early as you can remains your best defense against identity theft tax return fraud. Hazzouri Accounting has over 15 years’ experience helping the Canton, MI and surrounding communities with all their Michigan tax needs. Being a local operation, we can ensure the safety of your information when handling and filing your IRS forms on top of affordable rates and quick service. Contact Hazzouri Accounting today at 734-844-1614 or fill out our contact form to get started on your tax return!

You can also find us on-line at our social media accounts:  Facebook fan page / Twitter Feed / Google+ Account