To file taxes last year, I used a popular online tax service. The tax software walked me through all the required tax questions and prompted me with explanations and helpful hints. The process was intuitive and the overall experience was good. Once I had completed the tax forms and was ready to file, the application offered to show me how my stats compared to the averages filed in my demographic. As I reviewed the list of comparisons, something jumped out at me. For one particular deduction, I had claimed $0, and the national average was a little over $7,000. How could there be such a vast difference in this one particular deduction? I obviously needed to understand more about this deduction, and the tax software I was using was nice enough to provide me with this information. I discovered that I had misinterpreted what was allowable for the deduction. It turned out that I was able deduct a significant amount, resulting in a $400 drop in taxes I owed. I saved $400 because I was able to see a statistical comparison of my taxes with that of the national average. My good experience with the tax software turned into a fantastic experience!
