One of the most popular tax prep programs for the do-it-yourself crowd is Turbo Tax. But any tax prep software requires the user to have an idea about what information needs to be put in – the old garbage in, garbage out rule applies. And when you put garbage in, don’t try to use the garbage coming out of the software as an excuse for not paying your taxes. The latest to try this is Henry R. Broderick.
According to court records, the petitioner blamed defects in his income tax return on software that he claimed to use in preparing the Form 1040 return. Broderick, who owns a consulting firm, understated his taxable income by more than $50,000, leaving him with no tax on his 2002 return.
Come on, now. $50,000 not claimed on your taxes and you blame the software? The court didn’t buy it.
Such a program is only an aid for preparation of a return and depends on careful entry of accurate information, which petitioner manifestly failed to do. Petitioner admits that he has the education to prepare and review his income tax return. … Accordingly, petitioner’s use of software in preparing his return does not constitute reasonable cause for the errors in his return.
Normally, I’d be saying that the guy got his money’s worth in buying Turbo Tax but in this case, that doesn’t apply. This guy just cheated on his returns (see the post on Ethics below) and got caught.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 