What Form Do you Have to File to Get the Most 2012 Deductions

A person that would like to get the most deductions in 2012 must know where to begin. Tax forms can be very confusing and many people fall victim to choosing the easiest route rather than the one that will return the largest refund or lowest amount of taxes. The starting point for doing your taxes correctly is choosing the right form. The main ones that are used by most American taxpayers are the 1040EZ, the 1040A, and the standard 1040. However, they are not created equally and a smart taxpayer should use the right one to get the maximum amount of deductions.

Both the 1040EZ and the 1040A were designed to make tax preparation much easier for the average person. Because they are much simpler, the capability for using even some very basic credits and deductions is limited. Essentially, these forms ask a person to fill in only a slice of information from their financial life, including all income. At the same time, they leave little room for a detailed explanation of normal expenses that are tax deductible. Instead, they use a standard deduction that is the same for most people. The truth about the 1040EZ and 1040A is that they are indeed simpler, but at what cost? For nearly everyone, choosing to use another form will generate the best possible refund that they can receive. The only exceptions are the rare people who qualify for very few tax programs or deductions and would therefore benefit from the higher standard deduction.

While the potential to use simplified tax forms, such as the 1040EZ and 1040A, may be tempting, they are not the best option because of their clear limitations and use of the standard deduction. The right choice is the standard 1040 form, a much more complex listing of all income and deductible expenses that is used to accurately pinpoint the amount of taxes that a person is responsible for paying. Made of several pages and worksheets, it can take many hours for a person without tax experience to navigate and correctly fill it out. Some computer programs have made things easier in recent years, but using them can still be confusing and a person has to be diligent to find all the deductions that apply to them.

The best way to take advantage of the 1040 form for the highest possible amount of deductions while keeping everything simple is to take your paperwork to a tax professional. These experts are able to take all the difficulty out of tax preparation and can even find areas where you may have missed a deduction or two. They understand that taking the standard deduction is almost never correct and can help you to list all of the expenses you have had over the past year in an itemized deduction that usually is higher than the standard one. Yes, a tax professional will charge a fee for tax preparation, but the low cost is much better than spending painful hours trying to decipher complex tax codes. Also, their ability to find extra deductions may even make you money when all is said and done.

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