Jackson Hewitt Tax Service® Urges Taxpayers to 'Find Lost Money'

National Tax Preparation Firm Encourages Taxpayers to Review Prior-Year Tax Returns for Missed Deductions and Credits

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Feb 25, 2013, 09:00 ET

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Feb. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- With a little more than one month left before the April 15 tax filing deadline, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service®, the nation's largest privately held tax preparation firm, is reminding taxpayers to look for tax deductions and credits not only when filing their 2012 returns but also on past returns. Starting March 1, 2013, Jackson Hewitt® neighborhood locations across the country are encouraging taxpayers to bring in their prior-year tax returns for a review. For those who self-prepared their returns or had a return prepared by someone else, this is a chance to make sure they claimed all credits and deductions they were entitled to—tax year 2012 returns included.

"Taxes can be complicated," said Philip H. Sanford, president and chief executive officer of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. "Our Tax Pros are well-versed in digging deep into each taxpayer's individual situation to find all the deductions and credits that apply to them. We invite those who have not filed with Jackson Hewitt to come in and let us review their past returns."

One of the most common concerns among taxpayers is feeling as though they are missing out on deductions or credits for which they are eligible. Many taxpayers also erroneously believe that if they leave something off of their tax return, IRS systems or other software will catch it and add it. Unfortunately, this is only true for left-off income items, such as an omitted or forgotten W-2 or 1099, which the IRS can often catch. However, if you leave off a deduction or credit, there is no IRS system in place to find this and add it to your return, so any increase in a refund amount or reduction of tax liability that may be triggered by the tax benefit goes unnoticed.

Taxpayers, like Robert Lowrance of Temple, Texas and Ryan Roberts of Denver, Colo. trust Jackson's Hewitt's tax professionals to ensure their returns are prepared accurately, and no monies are left on the table.

"[Jackson Hewitt] actually found stuff my CPA wasn't finding," said Lowrance. "I haven't had a single year yet that Phyllis has had us paying in. We may have been close to breaking even a few times, but she's managed to keep us from having to pay extra taxes. [She] takes care of us."

"[My friends] cut corners," said Roberts. "You know, that's not good because it's going to come back and bite [you]. Jackson Hewitt is a good place for me and I work with Diane. So, Diane would make sure I have everything correct. And I never felt like something would be wrong. I'm so comfortable working with her."

For example, as taxpayers consider reviewing their 2011 tax returns, here are the most common missed credits:

Saver's Credit – A credit of up to $1,000 for contributing to a pension plan or a 401(k). Because most people contributing to a retirement account have the contribution automatically deducted from their paychecks, many people forget they are putting money in their retirement account and thus forget to claim the Saver's Credit
Child Tax Credit – A credit worth up to $1,000 per child under the age of 17
Additional Child Tax Credit – A refundable credit that can be claimed by taxpayers who are ineligible to claim the full non-refundable child tax credit.

Common errors include incorrect Earned Income Tax Credit claims, Social Security numbers and taxpayer names not matching the Social Security Administration database, or providing incorrect amounts for income items like taxable Social Security benefits and adjusted gross income.

To file or have Jackson Hewitt review your tax return, visit www.JacksonHewitt.com for your nearest location.

About Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc.

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. is an industry-leading provider of full service individual federal and state income tax preparation, with 6,800 franchised and company-owned locations throughout the United States, including 2,800 located in Walmart stores nationwide, and more than 400 Sears stores in the United States and Puerto Rico for the 2013 tax season. Jackson Hewitt Tax Service® also offers an online tax preparation product at www.JacksonHewittOnline.com. For more information, or to locate your neighborhood Jackson Hewitt® office, visit www.JacksonHewitt.com or call 1-800-234-1040. Jackson Hewitt can also be found on Facebook and Twitter, or check out Jackson Hewitt's "On the Street" video series, hosted by Chief Tax Officer Mark Steber and available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/jacksonhewitt.