Beginning of Tax Season

By now most of you should have your tax documents. If you prepare your own taxes, don't plan on asking the IRS for help. They are quite prone to err, as this article points out. Last year the error rate of the people employed by the IRS to answer tax questions was 30%. This is in part due to the complexity of the tax code.

If you do indeed ask an IRS representative for advice, keep track of who you contacted and when. If the IRS comes back and tells you that you owe them money and a penalty for not paying that money, you can tell them that you got advice from one of their employees. They should then only ask for the money they feel you owe, and not assess the penalty.