accountants too often fall into the trap of relying too heavily on their tax preparation software.
“they look at the input screen and think it will prompt them for questions to ask, and they’ll get their clients all the deductions and credits available. that’s not always the case,” according to mike solomon, a partner in amper, politziner & mattia’s tax department.
“for example, if you don’t have a child’s date of birth in the tax software it won’t necessarily tell you that the kiddie tax may apply, since up to 2006 it only applied to children 14 and under.”
“there are so many interrelationships that you need to understand how the rules operate and not just rely on the software.”.
more from roger russel at tax in troubled times.