How I Cost Us a Bundle with One Tax Preparation Mistake

 As a single person and through 25 years of marriage with four children, I've always prepared our taxes. Last year, I made one tiny mistake on our tax documents that cost us several thousand dollars. Here's how.

We have two sons in college, so tax time means preparing a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for each of them, too. On my 2010 1040, I mis-typed one digit on our younger son's social security number. Because I e-file using an online tax preparation service, the error was caught immediately and the return was not accepted. When it was sent back, I saw the error, fixed it, resubmitted and the form was accepted a day later. I then filled out the FAFSA and it was accepted too. Read more at How I Cost Us a Bundle with One Tax Preparation Mistake