professionals despite the prevalence of do-It-yourself tax software programs.
A professional tax executive has education and experience: They also have college credits in both finance and accounting, and prepare hundreds of returns. Most tax execs take continuing education classes to stay up-to-date on the ever changing tax laws.

Most taxpayers who used a paid preparer received bigger refunds

Reasons why to use a Tax Exec

• The return is signed by a paid professional... the IRS recognizes that a professionally prepared returns have a higher accuracy rate than those prepared personally and a higher standard of due diligence than the individual.
• The paid preparer frequently "finds" deductions that more than pays back the cost of the professional preparation.
• The paid preparer may keep you from exposing yourself to unnecessary risk, risk you were not even aware you were in danger of. Why take chances and learn this lesson the hard way?
• For the self-employed, the tax prep fee is fully deductible on Schedule C. For most self-employed people, this can translate into a whopping 40% "savings" in the tax prep fee actually paid.
• The paid preparer may show you how to reduce your risk of audit (and possible penalties) with proper disclosure and documentation of worrisome items on your return.
• You can do what you love doing, and delegate the rest ie: the taxes!
• It gets it off your desk and frees up your time.

Despite these facts tax exec will list some tax tips and information for people who like to do their own taxes. Everyone likes to pay the least tax possible. Most regard paying as little in taxes as possible as both a duty and an obsession. We all hate to give up huge chunks of our hard earned money to the government in taxes.

There is a very distinct difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion. One is a way to minimize your taxes as much as possible and is legal. The other is trying to fool the taxman by not reporting your income fully and is illegal. For the purpose of reducing your tax bill your best recourse is a tax shelter. Using your tax shelter to minimize your tax bill is perfectly legal and is used by smart people everywhere.

A tax shelter is defined in the Tax Act as any property for which a promoter represents that an investor can claim deductions or receive benefits which equal or exceed the amount invested with-in four years of its purchase. One attractive feature of tax shelters is that they provide you with deductions with-out requiring cash contributions on your part because assets are being purchased with borrowed money.

Example:  Make a donation to charity and receive a charitable donation receipt. Your receipt is worth a % in tax credits on your income tax return. You could also apply for a loan with the intention of purchasing goods to be donated to charity. If accepted the charity will issue you a charitable receipt for the goods donated. Claim the charitable receipts and enjoy the tax credits on your return.

Remember to have your deductions labeled correctly. Be absolutely sure you won't accidentally trip audit flags for deductions that seemed to be just fine?
Always remember that no receipt = no deduction.

Tax laws and informative site links

. Government and / or related in various countries  [ click-able link on flag ]