doing your own taxes?

[afan]

Piggy backing on this question - If I do my taxes using an online service and my form is submitted electronically, how do I pay if I owe? If I could put my taxes on a CC and earn some rewards, that might take some of the sting out!!

Or if I owe is it better to print them out and mail it in with a check?

I have had to pay state taxes for my rental income and once you file it provides me with the ways to pay. NC let's you mail it or pay online, which is what I've done so I don't have to worry about mail getting lost. I would imagine other states and the IRS. Would be the same since they want your money.

 

[ImDMous]

I've been using TurboTax for years with all kinds of stock stuff going on and have always been done fairly quickly and understood everything I was filling out. It gives you lots of help and asks questions along the way so you don't miss anything.

 

[Shanti]

I always file my own and submit through the mail, which adds a whopping week or two to the time you wait for your return. Guess I'm old-fashioned. I clerked at my local IRS branch in college, opening tax return after tax return, so paper filing, which is easiest for me, anyway, is also my way of supporting the IRS clerks who work there now.

 

[Cadiewampus]

If I did a cash surrender on a whole life insurance policy will I get a 1099R for face value of the policy or what it was worth at the time?

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Piggy backing on this question - If I do my taxes using an online service and my form is submitted electronically, how do I pay if I owe? If I could put my taxes on a CC and earn some rewards, that might take some of the sting out!!

Or if I owe is it better to print them out and mail it in with a check?

You can e-file the return and get a payment voucher to send in to a specific address. You'll write your name and SSN on the check and mail it. I don't know if you can pay by credit card, but if you do, I'm sure they charge you a service charge that amounts to the percentage that the credit card company charges them. I don't think the IRS directly takes credit cards, but whatever service you go through to file may.

I work for a CPA firm and we are required to e-file all of our clients' returns, with the exception of some very specific circumstances (identity theft, contested dependents, to name two). Even if you don't use a professional, I highly recommend e-filing. If you mail a paper form, the forms are entered by hand at the IRS and errors are common.

 

[tiggerluver12]

Turbo Tax

 

[agavegirl1]

If I did a cash surrender on a whole life insurance policy will I get a 1099R for face value of the policy or what it was worth at the time?

The 1099 will be for what you received and indicate what portion is taxable. The value at time of surrender MAY appear in an informational box on the document.

 

[Cadiewampus]

The 1099 will be for what you received and indicate what portion is taxable. The value at time of surrender MAY appear in an informational box on the document.

Thanks was just curious

 

[jmmess]

Another TurboTax user and my taxes a bit more complex with a rental property but find it very easy to use the software and walk through the questions. You can always do it both ways - tax software and CPA and see if there is any difference and then you can do one over the other in the following years, since you'll know what worked better for you.

 

[Minnesota!]

TurboTax is so super easy!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Turbo Tax is easy and walks you through everything step by step. I have been doing this for years. So simple and can do it on my own schedule. Can stop and start if I want so it not to intrusive on my schedule. You can pay right online with a CC

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

I have been using turbo tax for years, deluxe version.

Also, look at one of your old returns (last years) as you do your new one. You can double check the entries compared to what you get doing it yourself and see if there is anything you need to address.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I always file my own and submit through the mail, which adds a whopping week or two to the time you wait for your return. Guess I'm old-fashioned. I clerked at my local IRS branch in college, opening tax return after tax return, so paper filing, which is easiest for me, anyway, is also my way of supporting the IRS clerks who work there now.

If you're used to filing paper forms, the IRS has a free website to file just like the paper forms. It does't help you along the way like Turbo Tax, but it does have a "do the math" button to click on. Also you can print them out at the end and it looks just the familiar paper forms. I've used this for around 3-4 years now.
https://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free

Eta: I just reaized they offer 2 choices. What I described above was for the free fillable forms.

 

[NewRVLady]

I do the old fashion way
by hand
on paper
1099-Div....My Investment firm-Vanguard -has forms to show you exactly which amount goes where on Schedule D etc

 

[Faith Shelton]

Owned a house for 10+ years and decided that it just makes more sense in my case to file by myself using these online services. They all seem to offer the same services that just hold your hand and get your taxes done for you. You just plug #'s in. Good Luck!

 

[georgina]

If you're used to filing paper forms, the IRS has a free website to file just like the paper forms. It does't help you along the way like Turbo Tax, but it does have a "do the math" button to click on. Also you can print them out at the end and it looks just the familiar paper forms. I've used this for around 3-4 years now.
https://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free

Eta: I just reaized they offer 2 choices. What I described above was for the free fillable forms.

Yeah, I'm a free fillable forms user too. I usually print out the forms and do them by hand, then fill the numbers in online and e-file.

 

[tvguy]

The CPA I use doesn't have a lot of kind words for Turbo Tax. But filing corrected returns that Turbo Tax messed up brings in some money during his normal down time in July and August when the IRS audit and requests for more information start going out. Not sure what issues there are, but I guess....at least in past years.......having income from more than one state can be an issue with Turbo Tax, and certain IRA distributions can be troublesome for it to calculate properly.

 

[agavegirl1]

I will echo tvguy. Multi state returns require a certain level of expertise on the part of the taxpayer when using Turbo Tax. I have fixed a number of erroneous returns by filing an amendment.

Disclaimer: I am a professional tax preparer for a multinational company. The opinions expressed are my own.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I use Turbo Tax, and last year and this time, I need to file in 3-4 states! (this year NJ, MD, VA, and DC, last year NJ, NY, DE, and PA). Some years I had complicated things, including inheritance of $$ and stocks, sale of stock.

I get my (adult) kids to use my computer and do their's as well, so now they have the confidence to do their own. I buy the program and get the state included (our home state/ I have to pay more for the additional states).

 

[kathy884]

Turbo Tax is very easy to use and if you have a reasonably straight forward return is probably a good way to go. Give it a try.

All that said my tax guy, an enrolled agent, is worth his weight in gold. With some unusually high deductions over an eight year period, he had me and my husband file separately, saving us about $5000 annually in Federal taxes over an eight year period. I wouldn't have thought of doing that or been comfortable doing that without his guidance. I'm also uncomfortable with how to handle my husband's stock options and really like having his expertise on that. He handles all IRS inquiries for free (included with charge for doing our taxes), and we're had five or six over the years -- My blood pressure goes up if I have to deal with the IRS, but he does it all the time and we were in wonderful shape and had matters cleared up. The IRS has improved some of their IT systems, so now we don't get questioned about things we used to get questioned about annually too. He is very astute, notices if let's say we didn't do a stock sale, but don't have a schedule B entry for that company that we had on our return last year (it was actually just a company name change), but he will catch anything like that. Plus he lives across the street, works from home, and has our dog come over during the day and play with his three days a week. I'm going to continue to have him do our taxes, even though Turbo Tax is a piece of cake.