$800 million in tax benefits go unclaimed

Posted by Joe on February 5th, 2008

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H&R Block estimates that that nearly $1 billion dollars in potential consumer tax credits are overlooked each year by people that aren’t aware of their eligibility for these benefits.

Alan Bennett, H&R Block’s CEO stated:

Our research shows that three out of four taxpayers aren’t aware of potential tax filing delays created by some last-minute changes in tax law.  Other statistics show that about $800 million a year in tax benefits go unclaimed.  People need us.

Bennett expects confusion to be compounded by recent changes to the alternative minimum taxes, or AMT, that were made by congress late in 2007.  These changes are expected to impact 3 to 4 million households and are likely to make filing taxes on your own more confusing than ever this year.

We suggest that consumers use an online tax preparation and efile service such as H&R Block in order to simplify tax filing and making sure that they are benefiting from all possible deductions and credits.  You can read more about online tax preparation in our free online tax prep and efile guide.

• Save time, money and hassle with online tax preparation
• Top ten reasons to prepare your taxes online and efile in 2008
• IRS says early filers prefer e-file
• USA Today selects TurboTax as top online tax preparation service
• Economic stimulus and your 2007 tax return