NEWS COPY - WITH VIDEO AND INFOGRAPHIC
By Tyler Schmall
If you didn’t know that taxes were due on April 17th this year, don’t worry, because neither did 66 percent of millennials.
A study of 1,000 millennial Americans sought to uncover just how much millennials know about filing taxes, and just how they feel about the notoriously daunting process.
Taxes are due on April 17th this year, because April 15th falls on a Sunday, and April 16th falls on Emancipation Day, making the 17th the next workday.
But when presented with three dates as options, only 34 percent correctly selected April 17th.
The new survey conducted by H&R Block found that millennials, like many of us, could do with a bit of brushing up on how to handle the upcoming tax season.
One important detail about the tax filing process is that changes in your life can significantly affect your tax return. These “life events” include things like getting married, having a kid, and even buying or selling a home.
However, only 22 percent are aware of how these “life events” affect how to file taxes, despite nearly three in four (72 percent) millennials having experienced at least one of these events in the past year.
The most common “life events” for millennials are changing jobs (35 percent) and working more than one job (24 percent).
Filing taxes can be an intimidating process for many Americans, and a basic lack of understanding the subject is a significant cause of stress and anxiety among millennials.
Nearly half of millennials report to have experienced stress, or even lost sleep, over filing taxes. Interestingly, 12 percent more men than women.
“It’s clear from the results that a lot of millennials aren’t as confident as they could be when it comes to tax season, and as a result, could be hurting their overall return,” said a spokesperson for H&R Block. “Paying someone to do them for you can be a good way to relieve some headache, and according to the survey, a third of millennials already know this.”
The vast majority (82 percent) of millennials believing filing taxes to be at least somewhat complicated, with one in five of that (21 percent) believing it to be very complicated.
Seven in ten millennials are worried they’ll file their taxes incorrectly, which makes sense given that only one in four are very confident they’d be able to file their taxes without any errors.
But despite all of the stress, and the strong possibility of leaving significant money on the table, 61 percent of millennials still file their taxes completely on their own.
“According to the survey, millennials just want to get their taxes out of the way with the easiest option, and H&R Block Tax Pro Go can help with that,” said a spokesperson for H&R Block. “Tax Pro Go lets clients have their returns prepared and filed by a tax pro – and they never have to step foot into a tax office.”
