Tax Time!

[RedAngie]

Financial Advisor. I suppose I could figure it all out on my own but I’m willing to pay to have someone more knowledgeable than me calculate my somewhat complicated situation.

 

[amcnj]

I have always done them myself. Many years ago I also started doing them as needed for other family members and friends. That number has fluctuated over the years, and this year there will be six others.

I currently use TurboTax, which makes it easier than when everything was hand calculations on paper forms. Just acquiring all the forms needed by everyone used to take some doing. Especially when unexpected surprises in others’ filings popped up for a given year!

 

[GreatLakes]

Our financial planner does ours.

 

[tvguy]

I've used the same CPA since 1977. Most years I probably could do it myself, but every few years something comes up that would complicate things. Like settling my moms estate, or last year, with my wife and I retiring.
My CPA says the fastest growing portion of his business these days is fixing tax returns prepared in Turbotax.
Of course the IRS being slow to clarify deductions doesn't help. Here in California we all got $700 gasoline tax rebates, and the IRS still hasn't said if that is taxable, so basically anyone here is in a holding pattern on filing their taxes until that gets resolved.

 

[CynBeth]

We use an accountant.

 

[mamamary]

My husband does our taxes- usually Turbo tax.

 

[disykat]

My husband generally does ours, which aren't very complicated. The only years where I remember it being a bit complicated were the years we had kids in college. Things definitely got easier when the standard deduction went way up so we didn't have to itemize.

My parents had an accountant that I continue to use for their taxes. I have to put everything together for them so sometimes I feel like I should just go ahead and fill in the blanks, but it's worth it to make sure everything is done correctly. I sold their house last year so it'll be a bit complicated. It's always interesting working with people in a different state.

 

[georgina]

I use the Free Fillable Forms on the IRS website for federal. State unfortunately is on paper, neither PA where we used to live nor VA where we are now has the same setup where I can just fill in the forms online and submit. I have always done my own taxes, they are not that complicated that I would need to buy software to do it.

I itemize every other year. This year will be interesting because in VA if you itemize federal you have to itemize state taxes. PA was basically a flat rate so no itemizing there.

 

[lynxstch]

Free tax USA-- Federal is free, small fee for them filling out State. We've used them for years.

 

[TAX GUY]

I've used the same CPA since 1977. Most years I probably could do it myself, but every few years something comes up that would complicate things. Like settling my moms estate, or last year, with my wife and I retiring.
My CPA says the fastest growing portion of his business these days is fixing tax returns prepared in Turbotax.
Of course the IRS being slow to clarify deductions doesn't help. Here in California we all got $700 gasoline tax rebates, and the IRS still hasn't said if that is taxable, so basically anyone here is in a holding pattern on filing their taxes until that gets resolved.

It's amazing the amount of work we get fixing self prepared returns for returns prepared at someone's kitchen table (that people actually pay for).

More often than not, when someone makes a mistake or an omission that's in the favor of the IRS/DOR, they won't hear anything about it, so they assume no mistakes were made. However, if there's a mistake against the IRS/DOR then they get a letter, and that's when our phone rings. It's amazing how much people actually leave off that they would otherwise be able to reduce their tax liability resulting in a larger refund OR less owed.

 

[DLgal]

I have done it myself every year. I use Turbo Tax. You have to be a real buffoon to screw that up. They walk you through literally everything. I have never had a mistake on my taxes and Turbo Tax always seems to do a thorough job making sure we get all the credits we are eligible for.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I use TurboTax but we had a professional accountant (family member) do ours for years until they retired. I just follow the old returns as we really haven't had any changes - same investments, same medical, same employers
The lines on the return look the same as other years so I'm comfortable that I'm doing it correctly. We get a substantial amount back.
If anything big changes I would take it to a professional.

 

[Kestryl]

I use H&R Block. I had used Turbo Tax for years, but at some point I didn’t qualify for their free version. H&R Block was still free at that point. Even now that I pay (HSA account), I stick with H&R. It was $25 this year.

 

[wvjules]

I have used TurboTax online for years for federal. To save a few bucks I do my state, MD, on their online portal for free instead of having TurboTax eFile it for me.

 

[mrodgers]

I currently use TurboTax, which makes it easier than when everything was hand calculations on paper forms. Just acquiring all the forms needed by everyone used to take some doing. Especially when unexpected surprises in others’ filings popped up for a given year!

I miss doing it on paper. As mine have never been complicated, only itemizing a few times and never more than 1 or 2 W2 forms, it was so much easier to fill out what you knew you had to fill out compared to software and having to click through countless screens, usually 1 item or line per screen, that I don't need to do anything with. It takes me forever to do them with software with only 1 W2 and nothing else.

I get a refund, which would be the only reason I do it electronically.

 

[georgina]

It's amazing the amount of work we get fixing self prepared returns for returns prepared at someone's kitchen table (that people actually pay for).

More often than not, when someone makes a mistake or an omission that's in the favor of the IRS/DOR, they won't hear anything about it, so they assume no mistakes were made. However, if there's a mistake against the IRS/DOR then they get a letter, and that's when our phone rings. It's amazing how much people actually leave off that they would otherwise be able to reduce their tax liability resulting in a larger refund OR less owed.

I'm sure that's true (that you deal with mistakes). But I doubt the majority of taxpayers can't handle taxes themselves or with online software. I have gotten letters from the IRS a couple of times and dealt with it myself. (The IRS was wrong both times.) I pay attention to tax law changes and am very comfortable with our situation.

My DD in California, however, has had a problem finding a tax pro to competently do her taxes. She has stock options as compensation and a few other complicating issues. Her last CPA, who she thought had filed in April, actually filed an extension and didn't tell her (She paid what they thought she owed on time). She found this out when she checked her IRS account online herself. So it goes both ways - some tax preparers are not great also just as some people make mistakes on their taxes.

 

[wvjules]

Just because someone is a CPA doesn't mean they are tax folks. I am a CPA and want NOTHING to do with taxes! However, my mother is a bookkeeper/tax preparer and takes a tax course annually and gets her PTIN. (Not quite sure how it all works lol) I'd trust her with taxes more than I'd trust me with them.

 

[NYCgrrl]

For the first time in my life I’m employing a tax atty, financial planner and CPA to double and triple check my taxes for last year and future planning. Normally, I’m perfectly capable of doing my own taxes.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I've always done them myself, but I think this year I'm going to pay a CPA. I've had issues with the IRS adjusting my calculations and then not being able to reach anyone to speak to in order to understand what the problems are. My husband and I both have W-2s and multiple 1099s each so I think I'm going to suck it up and try going with a professional this year and see how it goes.

 

[disykat]

I was one of the people who said I use an accountant (for my parent's taxes, we do our own.) I'm going to clarify that the accountant is not who actually does their taxes. They have employees that specifically do that. On occasion they might say they need to run something by the accountant, but generally they just do it. So I guess, even though I go to an accounting firm, the appropriate term for the person who does my taxes would be something like "a tax professional."