Time to Double Check Your Tax Return

If you haven't sent in your tax return already, now is the time to double check. It look for common mistakes that could result in a tax audit, and make sure that you have everything recorded properly. And make sure all of the numbers on all of your forms add up. You'd be surprised at the inconsistencies that sometimes exist from form to form.

Another thing to double check is the Alternative Minimum Tax. Nobody likes this tax, but you need to make sure you're good with it. CNN Money explains:

Taxpayers often times forget about a little item on their return called the Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT.

Often

times taxpayers will calculate their return without taking the tax rule

into account because it can mean a bigger tax bill. But don't think

that that IRS won't notice, says Martin Kaplan, a certified public

accountant and the author of "What the IRS Doesn't Want You To Know."

"There

are still a lot of people out there under the impression if you

conveniently forget about AMT that the IRS will forget about it," says

Kaplan. "There are only handful of things they (the IRS) do very well

and one of them is the AMT."

And don't forget to report any extra income you might have made on the side. Just because you don't have a W-2 for it doesn't mean that someone didn't report it as paid to you (for their tax purposes). You want to make sure that everything is set. Though you likely won't be audited over your tax return (the chances are smaller than you might think), the fact of the matter is that the chance does exist.