Why Your Tax Return is Being Rejected

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Filing tax returns aren’t usually a cause for celebration for anyone. Setting up your filing system and making sure all the details are correct might be simple enough, but it is boring. However, things get a lot more difficult when you find that your return has been rejected. But why might that be the case and what can you do about it?

A simple information mismatch

One of the most common reasons that you have input the incorrect information. If you haven’t stayed on top of your finances through the years, it’s easy to get the math wrong and input the wrong number somewhere along the line. However, rejections are much more commonly caused by missing or incorrect details like names, addresses, Social Security number, relationship status, and so on. Make sure to double-check and read over every inch of your return once you have completed but before you send it.

Seeing double

One of the more troubling reasons for rejection is that have filed for a duplicate claim. For instance, if you are looking to claim a child on your tax return for the benefits, but someone else has already done that, your return will get rejected. Sometimes, this is a simple mistake that can be cleared up with the other person. Child claims are the most common form of tax duplicate, especially where two parents claim a child as a dependent at the same time, unaware that this isn’t allowed.

Compliance and omissions

There are several little compliance errors that you can make, often inadvertently, that can cause rejection. In many cases, these are omissions of details the IRS considers pertinent. If you forget to enter your filing status, dependent status, employer ID number, or routing number, this will result in a compliance error. Similarly, you have to double check to ensure that your standard deduction is entered correctly, and your number of dependents claimed matches the dependent information you have offered. This mistake is often made when, for instance, a child leaves the home for college.

Can you correct it?

If you are filing your taxes online, you will often receive a rejection within a few days and this guide can help you make any corrections you need to. If you file by mail, however, it can take longer for the response to reach you. In any case, you have five days to make your correction so it’s best not to procrastinate. You might have to take into account how long it is going to take to arrive in the mail, for instance.

The first thing to make sure you do is not to panic when you get a rejection. So long as you haven’t willfully done anything wrong, having it corrected shouldn’t be so difficult. In the future, however, you should try to make sure no wires are crossed in advance as much as you possibly can.