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Your Tax Return: How the Tax Return Process Works

So April 15 is coming up. That dreadful everyday. The tax deadline. You know you have a lot on your mind. This is the last thing you want. Well, you are a brave soul. You have done this in the past. Many times in the past indeed.

So, with a powerful resolution, you decide to start your tax return this weekend. You take your spouse on a picnic, roll up your sleeves, and get ready. You are not afraid of paper, not one bit. You run to the post office and get the latest forms and worksheets and sit at your desk.

So painted in words below is a hypothetical scenario of what would happen as you go down the glorious road of preparing your tax return.

Scenario 1: HAND-COMPLETED TAX RETURN

  1. You go to the post office and pick up the paper brochure with the tax form. Now if you’re smart, you would have gotten all the tax forms you know about, but you didn’t, so you had to make 2 trips to get all the forms you need.
  2. Next … You have to go through the meticulous process of having to fill in one box at a time, make sure your entries are correct, make sure you have copied at least everything from your W2 to you. Because each calculation is connected to the next, each box is linked to the next. At the end of this painstaking process, you get to the final number: your refund or the tax you owe.
  3. Next step: find the correct address to send the mail to. Do you know where to send your tax return? Well, it’s there, probably in the instructions on the form. Again, scan each word until you get the address. Oh well Eureka !! You just found it … congratulations. Now put that in an envelope.
  4. Walk to the post office, do it before midnight on April 15, and be sure to catch the last mail train. Because if it goes, you’re in trouble … BIG trouble!
  5. Well, you did. You rub your hands together for joy and pat yourself on the back. YOUR TAX RETURN IS FINALLY DONE !! Well, just tighten the engine starter. You’ve just gotten going for the next series of events that will finally give you that coveted cash back check!

  6. Assuming there are no postal delays, your tax return will reach the IRS in about 2 business days.
  7. Next, your little job, your tax return, will go into a queue until it’s sent to the correct department. Let’s give it a day to make this arduous journey.
  8. It is then collected for scanning using sophisticated machines called optical scanners that convert your handwritten tax return into a computer-readable file.
  9. Hiccup 1: If you filled out your statement by hand with pencil and paper, if the scanner cannot recognize your handwriting, then the scanning process will be rejected, and then it will be placed in another queue to be processed manually by a human, let’s give it 4 to 5 days for this to happen.
  10. Someone will read your tax return and then manually type the content on a computer. At this point, your tax return is now what is called a raw data file.
  11. Now the raw data file will run through an edit program that will check the basic details, like if you entered a valid SSN, did you enter too many zeros in your income for example. wrote $ 50,000 instead of $ 5,000 in a box on the form.
  12. If all is well, your return, which is now a computer file, will be placed in a database along with millions of other taxpayers. Your tax return will join thousands of people who have electronically filed their tax return right now.
  13. From this point on, the process should work like a greased lightning bolt.

  14. Next, a series of computer programs will be run on the database to validate the tax returns. It will compare the information in your file with what your employers submitted. So if you incorrectly entered $ 15,200 in your earnings, but the employer submitted $ 20,000, the process will pull your tax return for ‘special’ processing.
  15. Also, your tax return is done through random audit checks. The brightest minds in the IRS should be designing these computer programs to determine which tax return should be reviewed. Perhaps the holy grail of IRS secrets!
  16. If you pass step 9 and have a refund, you will be sent to a program that prints your refund check; Please allow another 1-2 days for this process to complete.
  17. If you chose direct deposit, a payment request will be sent to you to deposit the money into your bank account (1 day)
  18. If you did not choose direct deposit, your refund check will print (1 day). Your refund will then go to the mail department to be mailed to you (1-2 days). After approximately (2-3 days) of being in the USPS, the check should reach you, again by mail, in the same way that you sent your tax return.

This was just a tax filing scenario – the one with a happy ending! Did you get any information from this? Did you learn how you can perform this process more efficiently or how you can reduce your tax preparation costs? Learn more about the tax filing process and tools and tips for tax preparation That will surely save you a lot of pain and save you money!

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