Taxes: Are You Crossing the Line?

By Nicholas Narlis

How aggressive do you get this time of year when final payments are due for your annual income tax returns? The benefit of lowering your effective tax rate to save money is very compelling. However, the consequences of the tax authorities swooping in to discredit (and even prosecute) questionable items can be quite severe.

Even those of you who (once again) plan this year to file extensions to postpone the finality of filing your tax returns cannot escape the inevitable. Your body being more susceptible to colds, flu and migraine headaches this time of year may be its own way to alert the brain you are crossing the line with your taxes.

Nowadays, the process of filing tax returns online makes the actual signing where you attest to the accuracy of each filing feel less eventful. But do not kid yourself: The magnitude of placing your own “John Hancock” on these documents is the trigger to your own smoking gun. You will be held responsible to the letter of the law for its contents regardless of who assisted in preparing those forms. There is good reason why tax authorities require all applicable parties to sign in ink.

Read the rest of this article about the tax season, its risks and rewards here