Taxes 2023: Common Math Errors That Could Delay Your Refund
Despite coming at the same time every year, millions of Americans have a tendency to feel anxious and helpless about filing their returns. There are even stories of those who, knowing they are getting a refund, still find the task so daunting they procrastinate
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For most taxpayers, the fear comes not only from the stressful prep work and complicated forms, but from the pressure to make it perfect, without any mistakes. Simple errors like misspelling names or improperly claiming a dependent happen, but the most common mistakes made on tax returns involve bad math.
Not surprisingly, a large majority of math errors in recent years stem from the Recovery Rebate Credit. As the Taxpayer Advocate Services reports, in calendar year 2021 through July 15, 2021, the IRS made about 9 million math error corrections on returns filed by taxpayers, about 7.4 million of which were related to the credit. For 2020, almost 88% of all errors on individual tax returns were RRC-related, according to Accounting Today, citing IRS data.
The IRS often corrects smaller math errors and sends taxpayers a notice of the changes. But mistakes, both small and big, can delay your refund and even affect the size of it, depending on the errors.
Using the most recent IRS data available, here are the Top 10 most common math errors — by number and percentage of total errors — identified during the 2021 tax filing season (tax-year 2020).
10. Refund/Amount Owed
Number of errors: 41,879
Percentage of total errors: 0.3%
9. Filing Status
Number of errors: 42,902
Percentage of total errors: 0.3
8. First-Time Homebuyer Credit Repayment
Number of errors: 61,132
Percentage of total errors: 0.5%
7. Education Credits
Number of errors: 90,904
Percentage of total errors: 0.7%
6. Standard/Itemized Deduction
Number of errors: 119,115
Percentage of total errors: 0.9%
5. Earned Income Tax Credit
Number of errors: 155,351
Percentage of total errors: 1.2%
4. Child Tax Credit
Number of errors: 244,148
Percentage of total errors: 1.9%
3. Adjusted Gross/Taxable Income Amount
Number of errors: 283,346
Percentage of total: 2.2%
2. Tax Calculation/Other Taxes
Number of errors: 407,757
Percentage of total errors: 3.2%
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Find: Top Tax Deductions and Tax Credits You Should Know for 2023
1. Recovery Rebate Credit
Number of errors: 11,372,980
Percentage of total errors: 87.9%
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