How many people do their taxes at home and do them incorrectly?

ksmpta..

Thanks for your interesting question.  As somone who has always done
my own taxes, I was curious as to if I was in the majority or minority
of taxpayers.  Turns out, I am in the minority.

In tax year 2000, there were approximately 127 million returns filed
with the IRS.  Of those, 53.4% used paid preparers to file their
returns.  Therefore, about 46%, or 58 million, prepared their own
returns.

In 2002, up to 15% of the returns filed electronically were rejected
by the IRS for math errors and or mismatched Social Security numbers. 
Statistics also show that as many as 33% of all self-prepared returns
contain some type of error, be it for or against the taxpayer.


To see some of the top errors performed by paid preparers so you can
avoid them, visit http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=99032,00.html

Thanks again for your question and if you need any additional
clarification, please let me know prior to rating my answer.

Regards,

-THV


Search Strategies:
IRS statistics
incorrect tax return statistics irs

References:
Tax Stats at a Glance
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=102886,00.html

Summary of Number of Returns, by Type of Return, Fiscal Years 2000 and
2001
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/01db02nr.xls
NOTE: Requires MS Excel

IRS: Tax e-filing up 35% this year
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001-03-13-e-tax-filing.htm

TREFinancial
http://www.trefs.com/tvpacket_ben.html

Wow.  Perfect answer - in no time at all.  This service is a great
idea - and even better because it is completely accurate and thorough.
 Thanks!!!

Thanks so much for the rating, kind words and your generous tip.  I am
glad I was able to be of assistance.

-THV