Tax Time!

[slo]

We use an accountant

 

[leebee]

We use a tax accountant. I did our taxes for YEARS but as things became more involved, I decided it was worth it to let someone else have the headache. Our tax guy also found all kinds of things that I didn't know existed (depreciation on equipment, for example). Saves us time and money; we actually got a refund the past two years!

 

[mumto3girls]

We have a tax accountant do ours currently. We own two businesses that also need to file so they do all three returns. Prior to owning the businesses, DH did it on turbo tax. I usually do the kids’ returns. Oldest DD might have filed her own last year.

 

[Kimkimba]

Me. I was an accountant in a former life so it’s always been me.

It’s so much easier now than the olden days.

 

[TAX GUY]

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.

I absolutely agree, which is why I and many in the industry support licensing and regulations for paid preparers. Unfortunately anyone can grab some off the shelf software and be a "preparer". When one starts price shopping for a tax preparer is when they find themselves in situations they require some follow up or correspondence.

I've also seen first hand that not all software is fool proof. Questions, prompts and walk throughs are only as good as the person interpreting the question. Making sure income and/or deductions are properly reported/taxed/applied is key. As an example, there's a very different effect on how investments/stocks are taxed, if they're input the wrong way. Especially with ESOP's and restricted options, even though there are statements that are issued, if you aren't familiar with how added basis works and where it's noted, they'll pay LOTS more tax on them, to which the IRS will not pick up on and therefore would go "unnoticed". I had a new to us client several years ago that overpaid their taxes to nearly $20k (yes, twenty THOUSAND dollars) because of improperly reported and taxed stock options. Those were originally prepared by one of the big franchise places.

I'm not saying people aren't capable of doing their own taxes, I'm just saying it's not as easy as many people think and they wouldn't otherwise know mistakes are being made unless they were either told (notices) or it was later pointed out to them.

 

[Karin1984]

Myself, in the Netherlands a lot is prefilled so all I have to do is check if it is correct. Compare my bank, mortgage and salary statements, usually it is all correct.

I live a simple life, single with one job, no extra income sources, no kids, no big donations. Last few years I had some study stuff that was deductable. That's it.

But all in all, it takes me 10 minutes or so.

 

[nw6675]

HR Block.

@TAX GUY I'm glad you trust yourself

 

[Mysterian]

I file online through H&R Block.
It's not too involved, I can upload my form and the data is automatically populated.
All my income comes from work, and I don't have any special circumstances that require additional steps.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Do them myself with FreeTaxUSA. Used to use TaxAct-don't remember why I switched, but I like this one. For 17 years I worked almost full time doing taxes for the United Way, for filers with an income <about $58,000. As a result, our taxes were left until about early April, because the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was another tax form! But this year, I did our taxes last week-just waiting for our refund.

 

[georgina]

Do them myself with FreeTaxUSA. Used to use TaxAct-don't remember why I switched, but I like this one. For 17 years I worked almost full time doing taxes for the United Way, for filers with an income <about $58,000. As a result, our taxes were left until about early April, because the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was another tax form! But this year, I did our taxes last week-just waiting for our refund.

Congrats! Vanguard says we will get our last 1099 by Feb 17, so can't do yet. Not in a huge rush, I will have any overpayment applied to estimated taxes for 2023. But it would be nice to be done!

 

[Cheburashka]

I just filed on my own online using IRS Free File.

 

[EACarlson]

I will be filing this weekend using Tax Act. I make enough on my side hustle that I get 1099'd so have to pay for the self-employed edition. Got a nice discount and bonus points from AMEX for using them also. My day job involves filing very niche business taxes for 1,000 companies.

 

[sam_gordon]

Do them myself with FreeTaxUSA. Used to use TaxAct-don't remember why I switched, but I like this one. For 17 years I worked almost full time doing taxes for the United Way, for filers with an income <about $58,000. As a result, our taxes were left until about early April, because the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was another tax form! But this year, I did our taxes last week-just waiting for our refund.

I switched from HR Block ($80 for Fed & State) to FreeTaxUSA ($0 Fed, $15 State) thanks to your post! The numbers came out the same (pretty basic return).

 

[Music City Mama]

I will be filing this weekend using Tax Act. I make enough on my side hustle that I get 1099'd so have to pay for the self-employed edition.

Funny you should mention this. I have used Tax Act for years (more for convenience at this point since it has the previous year's info). My husband always had self-employed income so I had to pay for that edition, but last year, he was strictly W-2, so I was happy that that was one less thing I was going to have to do today.

It took a little less time than usual without the self-employed stuff, but still took me about an hour and a half because of educational expense stuff. I go to file/pay and the only option it gives me is the self employed edition/price, even though one of the first questions it asked me was if I had any self-employed income this year.

I didn't see a way to change it, so I requested a call and someone did call me within minutes, but they said because I previously filed self-employed and it used other info unrelated to the self-employed stuff from last year (my employer, etc.), that I had to start over and specifically make a point to select the not self-employed options (even though I didn't select anything to begin with -- I just "started" my return once I logged in). I was sooooo pissed! This was after I put away all my documentation in various folders.

So now I can do it all over again, just say the heck with it and pay the higher amount, or just start over with another online platform. I'm so damn mad today that even though I'll probably do it over, I don't have it in me to do it twice in one day. I will NEVER use them again. I don't believe for one second there wasn't a workaround with that, he just didn't want to inquire.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Do them myself with FreeTaxUSA. Easy peasy, takes about 10-15 minutes.

 

[tvguy]

I switched from HR Block ($80 for Fed & State) to FreeTaxUSA ($0 Fed, $15 State) thanks to your post! The numbers came out the same (pretty basic return).

H and R Block website here says they charge $60 to file a Federal Return and an additional $85 to file a state return. Of course in states with no income tax, you can avoid the second charge.
My mom used them once. She had an annuity come due that year, and she knew that will have tax consequences. H & R Block said she owed $10,000. When she contacted her Financial Adviser to withdraw money to pay those taxes, the adviser, who had nothing to do with the annuity told her "wait a minute, based on what you got and what you paid that tax liability should be less than $1,000. She contacted Block, got bumped up within their organization until she finally got an appointment with a CPA.....didn't know Block even had CPAs on staff. He agreed their preparer had done it wrong. He fixed it, filed an amended return, refunded the $300 fee she had been charged, and apologized.

 

[comicguy]

I use Turbo Tax for the wife and I and I also do my son and DIL's taxes as well

 

[tvguy]

. 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.

Latest on this. IRS is saying Californians should wait to file until they determine if that tax rebate is taxable. They are still reviewing it! It isn't like the IRS didn't know about the rebates 6 months ago. Apparently Colorado taxpayers are being told the same thing, don't file yet.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I switched from HR Block ($80 for Fed & State) to FreeTaxUSA ($0 Fed, $15 State) thanks to your post! The numbers came out the same (pretty basic return).

Great! I'm so glad to hear that. I hate to hear from people who pay the paid preparers for what can be done in less than 1/2 hour or so. When I worked for the United Way, doing taxes, I heard it a lot-actually, too much.

 

[QueenIsabella]

We use an accountant. Our finances are complicated, and aren't likely to get simpler, any time soon. The money we pay is minor, compared with the peace of mind that it's been done properly. I'm actually a total math nerd, so I'd be willing to do them from that perspective, but I have less confidence in the nuances of tax law than I do in my math skills.