Before you file: a five-minute tax-return check

A refund estimate is not a completed tax return. Before submitting, compare the actual return with your records—even when someone else prepares it.

• Confirm the tax year. A return filed during 2026 will often concern income earned in 2025; amended or late returns may concern another year. Use that year’s forms and instructions.
• Gather income records from every employer, bank and other payer, plus your own business or gig-work records. Do not treat a missing form as permission to leave income out. Investigate an incorrect form before copying it.
• Check names, taxpayer identification numbers, filing status and dependents. Do not copy last year’s answers without checking changes in your household.
• Match withholding and estimated payments to supporting records. Double-check refund bank details against your bank’s information, not a remembered number.
• Review required signatures and any IRS identity-protection PIN. Save the filed return, supporting records and filing confirmation securely.

If software rejects the return, read the rejection reason instead of repeatedly submitting unchanged information. A calculator is useful for exploring assumptions, but it cannot confirm every credit, deduction or filing obligation.