Tax-Time Tips Series - H.D. Vest Tip #2: Mistakes to Avoid When Filing Your Taxes.

Business Editors

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 2001

Financial Services & Tax-Filing Company Helps Consumers

Keep More Money in Their Pocket While Paying Taxes

While tax planning should be considered a year-long process, filing your taxes correctly

can save you valuable time and tax dollars. A myriad of mistakes can harmfully affect your tax return, resulting in errors that can increase your tax bill, unnecessarily alert the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to your return, or even get you audited. To help do-it-yourselfers avoid costly and time-consuming errors, H.D. Vest offers the following suggestions:

1. Most people know that you need proof of donations of $250 or

more, but many don't know that you must physically have those

receipts at the time of filing. If you don't, no write-off is

allowed.

2. If you file as a single taxpayer and pay more than half of the

household's cost, you may qualify to file as head-of-household

with substantially lower tax rates than those for single filers.

3. If your child was born last year, you already should have a

Social Security number for them before filing. You need the

Social Security number to claim your personal exemption

write-off; if you file without the number, the IRS can disallow

it send you a bill for the increased tax amount.

4. Do not disregard your tax-filing obligation if you do not have

the money at the time of filing. Rather, file your return by this

season's April 16 deadline or apply for an automatic extension

until Aug. 15. You will be assessed interest charges, but doing

nothing (and incurring exorbitant interest rates) will cost you

substantially more.

5. Heed the long-term capital gains period. Many taxpayers can save

approximately 50% of the tax on the gain from investment sales by

retaining investments for more than one year (a tax rate of 39.6%

as opposed to 20%).

Additional tax-saving ideas can be found via www.hdvest.com, including how to avoid rollover mistakes, when to deduct mortgage points, how to benefit from college-education tax credits, and much more. Once again, H.D. Vest is the only company to offer consumers access to free preparation and e-filing of their tax returns - regardless of income or the complexity of their return - via a secure, reliable web platform that is WebTrust(SM)/TM certified. (The WebTrust Program is an international e-commerce trust program developed and managed jointly by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.)

H.D. Vest also is an official IRS e-file Partner. Last year, H.D. Vest ranked second in the number of tax returns completed online. (The 2000 filing season also saw H.D. Vest accumulate an enviable online availability record.) The 2001 site offers many of the same features as last year's model, including an easy-to-use questionnaire to collect tax information, the ability to have refunds deposited directly into the user's bank account, various audit-check options, and FREE online technical support. The site has additional several top-line features this year, including a completely paperless option with new self-select PIN from the IRS.

For specific advice regarding taxes, H.D. Vest recommends you consult a tax professional. The website, www.hdvest.com, makes this easy with the Locate-an-Advisor Program, which enables users to find a tax and investment professional near them.

About H.D. Vest, Inc.

H.D. Vest, Inc. (d/b/a H.D. Vest Financial Services) is the country's largest provider of financial services delivered through tax professionals. H.D. Vest advisors manage over $16 billion in assets for individuals, families, and small businesses in all 50 states. As an application service provider (ASP), H.D. Vest offers advisors three primary tools to enhance the value of their practices: Personal Web Pages (PWP) for their clients, an online advisor's desktop, and generic public web pages for the advisor's firm. As a product provider, H.D. Vest offers its advisors access to a wide selection of products and services through its Investment Advisor, broker/dealer, insurance and affiliated companies. To round out the advisors' offerings, the company has established alliances in banking, brokerage and a plethora of other products and services. As an advisor support organization, H.D. Vest provides its advisors with in-house expertise through web conferencing, thorough training in financial planning, practice development tools and multi-channel customer service support. H.D. Vest, Inc. common stock trades on NASDAQ under the symbol HDVS.

Securities offered through H.D. Vest Investment Securities, Inc., Member: SIPC; Advisory services offered through H.D. Vest Advisory Services, Inc.; 6333 N. State Highway 161, Suite 400; Irving, TX 75038; (972) 870-6000.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained herein which are not historical fact are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, certain delays in development, deployment and market acceptance of products, services and technologies and other risks detailed from time to time in H.D. Vest's filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission.