Do you have a tax accountant and if so is it worth it?

[kpgclark]

Do you have a tax accountant? Is it worth it? Do you feel like he/she saves you money in the long run? Do tax accountants know loopholes or tax savings opportunities the average person isn't aware of but are legal?

 

[Lisa F]

I think most places like H&R block that claim that they can find money in your returns that you didn't find count on the fact that you made an error or forgot to deduct something. I don't think they use any fancy loopholes that are not well known. My husband does our taxes and just for kicks I had my uncle, the CPA who always did my taxes before I got married, look them over one year and he basically said "yup, they're correct!" I guess it depends on your own personal thoroughness and attention to detail.

 

[airhead]

yes,it is worth it!!!

 

[kpgclark]

Give me an idea of how he/she has saved you money. Thanks!

 

[CEDmom]

We had one but after he made mistakes 2 years in a row and was then arrogant when we pointed them out I told DH that I just get Turbotax and do ours. I think depending on your circumstances it can help but for the average person I don't believe it's necessary.

 

[clh2]

We have used computer programs for many years, this year we've switched to TaxCut. Those programs are very thorough in doing an on-line interview to make sure they get all the deductions you're entitled to. We give our financial planner a copy of our return every year, and he doesn't see anything we could have done better.

Our return is fairly simple, we have your basic schedule A deductions, mortgage interest, state and property taxes, charitable contirbutions etc. We also take advantage of child care tax benefits. Our income is from jobs, interest, dividends and occasionally a capital gain from the sale of mutual funds.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

We got an account the year all of this happened:

DH and I both quit jobs and got new jobs
DD1 was in daycare (born in Dec of the preceding year)
we sold 1 house and bought another
we cashed in mutual funds for the down payment on the new house (bought the new house before the old one sold at a loss).

We decided to get professional help that year and have been using our accountant ever since. We are probably moving before the end of this year, and we just asked her about finding a CPA in our new location. She said she does out of state returns all teh time, so she will be our accountant even when we move!

 

[Stimpy]

Our guy is great! Well worth the money. We bring everything in to him, he does some figuring and in about 30 minutes our taxes are done, signed and in the envelope. We received alot more back using his services then when we did it ourselves. He found alot of deductions we didn't know about, like work related expenses for DH, donations etc. He knows where he can stretch alittle and where not to even try. (Ex: we donated an old car to
one of those charities that advertise in the paper, he told us not to declare it, even though we could, because the IRS has been flagging many of those claims for audits)

Also, if there ever was an audit, not that we expect any LOL, he is responsible for going before the IRS, not us.

 

[CEDmom]

Originally posted by Stimpy

Also, if there ever was an audit, not that we expect any LOL, he is responsible for going before the IRS, not us.

Are you sure about this? My understanding is that since DH and I sign our return (even when we had an accountant) that we are then liable for any errors.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Originally posted by Stimpy
(Ex: we donated an old car to
one of those charities that advertise in the paper, he told us not to declare it, even though we could, because the IRS has been flagging many of those claims for audits)

Great! I do our taxes and we donated a car last year and I used the deduction! We already got our rebate back, though. If we were to get audited, would they have sent our money?

 

[jel0511]

Originally posted by CEDmom
Are you sure about this? My understanding is that since DH and I sign our return (even when we had an accountant) that we are then liable for any errors.

You as the tax payer are liable for any mistakes that are on the return, but as a CPA who prepared the taxes, they are professionally responsible to help you through any audit that ensues from a return they prepared.

 

[WDWLVR]

For years we used the tax software and it worked great. 6 years ago my mom died and we inherited her condo as well as some stock and money. I used her accountant to do her taxes that year as well as our own. He's been great an we've used him every since. He helps with all the things like capital gains and losses that just confuse me.

It all depends on you. If he adds a level of comfort knowing that all is right than do it.

 

[Lewski709]

We do. It is much cheaper than any other outside service like HR Block. It cost $55 to do ours and my DH is a sub contractor (so self employed). The guy we go to is self employed himself, private business, so it's not a group.

 

[katerkat]

My dad is an accountant, so he does ours. Honestly, I wouldn't even know where to start if I was doing them myself. Dad loves doing them, especially ours, because he gets to learn all kinds of laws relating to military taxes. (Yeah, only an accountant would love learning MORE about tax law!)

 

[Stimpy]

Originally posted by CEDmom
Are you sure about this? My understanding is that since DH and I sign our return (even when we had an accountant) that we are then liable for any errors.

The way I understand it, he is the one that would have to stand before the IRS as our representative. He would be the one to go in with all the paperwork and "prove" our case. Bottom line is that if we were auditted and lost we would be responsible for paying the penalty and stuff. (I hope I'm not jinxing us with all this talk about audits! ) We're pretty confident that he is trust worthy and honest. He actually turned my DF away a few years ago after reviewing his last year claim saying DF was "too aggressive!" We still joke about it.

 

[my3kids]

My husband is in the finance field. He handles large budgets, has accountants, CPA's and such that work under him...We use either TurboTax or Kiplinger's TaxCut software. He could do it or we could hire an accountant, but he thinks the software is great.

 

[jfulcer]

We use an accountant. With DW being self employed, he helped us get that all setup and deals with the tax issues involved. The best thing about paying an accountant to do it (at least for us in Wisconsin) is that the fee is tax deductable so we never really pay for the service.

Wooo hooo, I don't have to do the taxes and it's free!

He's been pretty good about making suggestions and the like - last year he told us that we were lean on our contributions to charity and that donating more to charity would give us a boost.