Every tax filing season, countless tax returns are filed by taxpayers who fail to claim all of the deductions and federal tax credits they are entitled to. According to Denise Sposato, a public relations manager for H&R Block, “People overpay their taxes by an average of $400 each year due to missed tax breaks and savings incentives.”
Experts speculate that taxpayers apparently are either unaware of all the deductions and credits available to them or fail to understand that they are entitled to them. There are some deductions so obvious that it seems impossible that people would overlook look them, like those available for mortgage interest and charitable donations. Yet countless taxpayers fail to itemize mortgage interest and as a result overpay their taxes by an average of $610 according to a GAO Report.