| Each year, millions of taxpayers are surprised and | | | | If your salary, employer, marital status, medical |
| or disappointed with the results of their tax | | | | expenses, additional income and living |
| return. Many people simply expect to get money | | | | arrangements did not change from 2008, you can |
| back without completely understanding how | | | | probably assume that the amount you owe or |
| changes in their life will affect their tax refund. | | | | the amount you get back will be similar to last |
| Fortunately, there are great tools for estimating | | | | year. However, if any of the above changed, |
| your 2009 tax refund. | | | | even slightly, you may be surprised at how big of |
| Estimating the amount you'll get back or the | | | | an impact it can have. |
| amount you owe is difficult, even for tax | | | | So what do you need to estimate your 2009 tax |
| professionals. In fact, the IRS reported that 20% | | | | return? Obviously, you'll need your W-2 and any |
| of paper returns have an error. For that reason, | | | | additional paperwork related to earnings, including |
| the IRS recommends e-filing in 2009. Returns that | | | | those earned from interest, a side-job or anything |
| have been e-filed only have errors about 1% of | | | | else. Also, be able to provide information about |
| the time. In addition, numerous tax laws change | | | | your house, donations, family and education. |
| each year. That means whatever you used to | | | | Based on those few key inputs you'll be able to |
| estimate your taxes last year might no longer be | | | | use a free tax refund calculator to estimate your |
| a valid way to estimate this year's taxes. | | | | 2009 tax return. |