Avoid Mistakes in Last-Minute Tax Prep

Other Taxing Miscellany

Too many people are taking the standard deduction when they should be itemizing their deductions instead. Granted, it's more work to tally up all your charitable contributions and miscellaneous itemized deductions like job hunting and investment expenses, but it might be more advantageous. And if you're a homeowner, odds are good you'll be better off itemizing all that mortgage interest and real estate taxes.

You have until April 15 to make that IRA contribution. You need that for retirement and you need it to knock down your 2004 tax bill. And good news for self-employed folks who fund a SEP IRA or a Keogh plan: You have until the due date of their return to get your 2004 contribution in, so if you extend until August, you have another four months to scrape up the money.

Big note to folks overseas: Just because you're not here doesn't mean you're excused from this painful process. You just have until June 15 to get it done.

And finally, if you owe money on your federal return and send a check, be sure to make it out to "Treasury Department" not "IRS." In the past, scammers were intercepting tax bill envelopes and changing "IRS" to "MRS" and then adjusting the check to say, uh, MRS. Tracy Byrnes.

Good luck!