One of my favorite television shows is Get Smart. In the episode called “The Decoy,” Maxwell Smart is brainwashed back to his childhood, is doing multiplication tables, and can’t figure out that 7 x 2 = 14. It’s one thing for a character not being able to complete that equation; it’s another thing for an accountant to not be able to add or subtract correctly…on Form 1040-EZ.
Yet the IRS announced that there were 1,161 errors made on Form 1040-EZ, including “Amounts in the payments section was added incorrectly: 30.” Of course, these were returns done on paper. It’s hard for me to imagine a paid preparer messing up the easiest tax form around. Unfortunately, it’s true.