A Reason to Procrastinate

Editor's note: As a special feature for March, TheStreet.com offers an ongoing series on everything you need to know about taxes. Today is part seven.

Why do today what you can do tomorrow?

That may be the opposite of what you're told, but believe it or not, you might want to take on that mantra this tax season. That's because you may find a corrected 1099 in your mailbox one of these days. And the tax preparation process is so arduous the first time around, the thought of having to amend your return because of an error is enough to make you sick.

So consider stalling -- a bit.

Form 1099 is the form from your bank, broker or mutual fund that reports all the interest, dividends and capital gains distributions you received throughout the year. So you may have received a 1099-INT, reporting interest income, a Form 1099-DIV reporting dividend income or a Form 1099-B, reporting any broker transactions. Hopefully you received them by now.

The problem is they might not be accurate.

Due to the ever-convoluted tax laws, many investment firms couldn't get the numbers right and had a tough time getting the forms out by the Jan. 31 deadline. Companies such as Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia Securities asked the IRS for a 30-day extension to ensure the numbers were accurate.

But other firms, like Fidelity and Charles Schwab, did get their 1099s out by the January 31 deadline -- but that's no guarantee that they reported the correct numbers.