Tax differences

[Venturer]

I have used the aarp tax people to do my taxes for the last 4 years. I have always went online and did a "practice" return to have an idea of how much to expect. My diy and aarp have been within a few dollars ~ up or down. So this year I just went and had them done at tax aide. Yesterday my DW ask how they compared this year. I didn't know so I went into TT free and did the practice run. It came up with a refund of federal $ 1133. but what Tax aid refund was $527. I have looked and cant find where the difference in the numbers is. Should I just wait and see if the govt. finds a mistake and corrects it to my favor or just forget it and go on with my life. the+ - will not make or break us but it bugs me. I am not the sharpest pencil in the pack so, I know some of y'all are Tax aide volenteers is why I'm asking,Thanks!

 

[SumDay]

Not much help here, but I will say I used H&R Block for my taxes, and when it wouldn't accept my electronic filing because they claim my AGI didn't match last years, I tried two different programs, and got a different refund with each. I don't know what to tell you. I will say I went with (i.e., snail mailed) the one that offered the highest refund.

 

[RunningBum]

When I google Tax Aide it seems to say that is done by AARP, so are you saying you did it the same way as you had done the last few years? It's confusing if you are switching terms for the same thing.

I don't like TT online because it doesn't show you the underlying forms. I don't know if Does it show you anything at all, like the base 1040 form? Where (what line number) does it diverge from what you have from Tax Aide?

 

[Venturer]

Yes Tax aide is AARP Tax aide, and that is who I have used. On both forms the standard deduction of $27,800 was used. Both show taxes paid during year of $4764. But TT shows $61602 line 11 vs $66,606 AARP Tax aide and TT has $3031 tax on line 24 vs $4237 Tax aide on same line. That's what gets me.

 

[Gotadimple]

Yes Tax aide is AARP Tax aide, and that is who I have used. On both forms the standard deduction of $27,800 was used. Both show taxes paid during year of $4764. But TT shows $61602 line 16 vs $66,606 AARP Tax aide and TT has $3031 tax on line 24 vs $4237 Tax aide on same line. That's what gets me.

AARP Tax Aide is reporting $6,000 more income than what you entered on TT, so that's why the taxes are higher with Tax Aide. What did they include for Income that you did not include when you ran the numbers?

 

[easysurfer]

I'd take the one with the biggest refund .

.... just kidding ... the most correct is best.

 

[RunningBum]

Yes Tax aide is AARP Tax aide, and that is who I have used. On both forms the standard deduction of $27,800 was used. Both show taxes paid during year of $4764. But TT shows $61602 line 16 vs $66,606 AARP Tax aide and TT has $3031 tax on line 24 vs $4237 Tax aide on same line. That's what gets me.

Line 16 is tax, on both 1040 and 1040-SR. I doubt it's that much given what you say line 24 is. It's hard for anyone to help with this if you don't give accurate info.

If you mean line 15 is different, that's part of a series of mathematical operations so some earlier line must be different as well. A screen shot of both starting at line 1 (not showing your name and SS for obvious reasons) would be helpful.

 

[Venturer]

The input numbers were all the same. I think I'll input every thing on another one of the free sites and see what it comes up. I don't think you can print TT until you pay for it so I haven't printed it. I printed the explanations on TT for the amounts. Where it says explain why.

 

[frayne]

People make mistakes. Go back to the AARP tax people and find out exactly why the difference. If a mistake was made, have them complete an amended return. I worked for H&R Block for five years and the VITA program for two and know that it is easy for a preparer to make an input error and as well as on the other side of the table, people forgetting to bring in all their tax documents. Hence the reason for having the ability to file and amended return.

 

[cathy63]

The input numbers were all the same. I think I'll input every thing on another one of the free sites and see what it comes up. I don't think you can print TT until you pay for it so I haven't printed it. I printed the explanations on TT for the amounts. Where it says explain why.

Yes, try one of the free sites that are linked from the IRS Free File page. Your income is in the range for those programs, so you should be able to get a complete print out and compare side-by-side.

If Line 11 is different between the two, then there's something on one return that's not on the other or there's a typo in one of the numbers. Line 11 is your AGI: sum of W-2 wages, interest, dividends, taxable IRA withdrawals, taxable pensions, taxable Soc Sec benefits, cap gains, other income (self employment, unemployment, 1099-misc, etc) minus adjustments (HSA, IRA contribs, student loan interest, etc).

 

[Sunset]

Sometimes these tax return places do make mistakes.
Years ago, I had a 10 clients and 3 of them had errors on the returns, that I corrected for them. It was a weird occurrence as normally everyone was accurate.

 

[SecondCor521]

The most likely errors in my opinion:

1. You have an income source that was partially taxable and didn't notice that the amount in box 2 was not the same as the amount in box 1. This is often seen in retirement income items that usually come on 1099-Rs.

2. You made one or more typographical errors entering your income items.

3. You left out an income source.

While it's possible that AARP Tax Aide made a mistake - they happen - every tax return they do is double checked by a second person. Sometimes that second person finds errors, but it's rare (probably less than 1%) for an error of the magnitude you describe to get through like that.

Once you get the income figured out, the rest of the return should match a lot more closely.

 

[Venturer]

Thanks to all who took time to respond. Thru a pm message I think all is ok. I'm now thinking either a glitch in the TT system or I answered a question that popped up as I was going thru wrong because TT in the Why am I getting this refund? It was showing an after tax income of $61,602 with tax of $3,631.00 when the correct amount was income of $66,606.00 with tax of $4,237.00-- I had paid in $4764.00 so my refund is $527.00 all good now. And my thanks to the person on the PM that helped me out. I am amazed every time I get on here at how helpful y'all are. Thanks again!!