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is it worth it to let an accountant do your taxes?

spanky

spanky

Lifer
how hard is it to do your own taxes? is it worth it to go to an accountant do all the dirty work for me? or should i save the extra loot? does anyone have a helpful site i can frequent?
 
I started letitng an accountant do mine about 6 years ago, I would never go back.

1 hour to gather all the stuff I need, 1 hour at his desk, $125-$175 for a complex return ( 1040 form, I have a bunch of 1099 forms, self employment forms, schedule C, I also have some K-12 forms, Partnership forms, rental income, royalty income, a crap load of various stuff. In addition to having to apply all that to State forms as well) ......its a sweet deal.

I could easily spend 15-20 hours doing it myself. Plus if I get audited, he will come with me and help.
 
spankyOO7, if you can have an accountant do your taxes it's nice to have another signature on the dotted line in the event you are audited. If you don't want to pay for an accountant to prepare your taxes, TurboTax is a pretty simple software program, great if you have no idea about taxes and the like [me]. Before you ask, my taxes are done by a professional accountant, but comparing them w/ TurboTax, the difference was negliable. Needless to say, I submitted the accountant "prepared" version. Hope this helps 🙂
 
1040EZ hell no.

1040 with anything It's a bargin really to hire at least H&R Block.
 
Dude, go with TurboTax. It's fairly simple. It was my first time filing for a tax return and everything was done in a flash.

One question though. I printed out the forms from the site and not sure which to send in. I've received my money from the State and Federal but not sure if I need to send in any of the forms still. 🙁 I'm a student (If this matters) 😀
 
If you just have 1 W-2 and can file a 1040-EZ, by all means do your own taxes. All it is is simple addition and should not take more than 20 minutes if you have all your stuff.

If you are worried, get help from a tax professional the first time and ask questions, if you are still intimidated by what he/she did, continue to see him/her in the future. If you understand it all do them yourself in the future.

For someting like a 1040 EZ and one W-2 I think my accountant would charge about $30-$40 ( he charges by the number of pages he files.)
 
damn... i should have gotten in on those turbotax deals that used to float around where u get it for free after rebate. now i gotta pay retail....

OMG!!! OH NO! AIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! NOOOOO!O!OO!O!!!! :Q
 
Do you have a complicated return to file, or is it just standard deduction, wages, some interest income, no capital gains, few investments? If you can file a 1040EZ, or even a 1040A, then do it yourself, or use tax software. If you need a 1040, I suggest a trustworthy accountant to
1. save time
2. peace of mind

Or just don't file a return==why bother? You afraid of the IRS?

You should be! 😉

1YP (I used an accountant--too lazy to do it myself 😀 )
 
Although not getting an accountant is financial folly if you're really in the big roller territory for the average person I think they are a waste of money. In great part they breed on people's fear of taxes, screwing them up, and landing in jail for tax evasion. Fact is unless you are a complete and utter moron or deliberately trying to cheat even if you do screw them up you're not going to see the inside of a cage or anything even close to that. Probabaly a letter from IRS saying "fix this" and that's it.

One guy at the office was going to go into HR Block for basic taxes and they quoted him at $200+. He had a few things he needed itemized and although their non-itemized basic tax preparation is not that much they wanted a lot from him. In the end he bought turbo tax and did them himself in no time.

The problem with these places is you go into HR Block you can't expect a highly trained professional all the time. I called one up because I'm a non-alien resident and basically they knew as much about filing that as I did - which wasn't a heck of a lot. I wasn't about to pay $250 to watch them stumble through it so I just did them myself.

Now if you're doing a basic 1040NR (simple income and not much else going on) it's a sin to pay somebody else to do it.
 


<< If you buy TurboTax, is it tax deductible? >>



If you are brave enough to write it off.

BTW, any fees you pay an accountant to prepare your taxes is deductible the next year 🙂 At least for me, since he files it under a business expense for me (I think)

Also any taxes you pay during the year are tax deductibl..... property taxes, taxes on a new car, state taxes are deductible on your federal return. lots of goodies if you know the tax laws, thats why it pays to go to a professional.
 


<<

<< If you buy TurboTax, is it tax deductible? >>



If you are brave enough to write it off.

BTW, any fees you pay an accountant to prepare your taxes is deductible the next year 🙂 At least for me, since he files it under a business expense for me (I think)

Also any taxes you pay during the year are tax deductibl..... property taxes, taxes on a new car, state taxes are deductible on your federal return. lots of goodies if you know the tax laws, thats why it pays to go to a professional. >>

Very good points that I failed to mention. Unless you're reasonably confident of what's going on the amount you pay a tax professional can be payed for many times over in the money they can save you on things you didn't know about. Just remember you get what you pay for with accountants.
 


<< or is it just standard deduction, wages, some interest income, no capital gains, few investments? >>



yup.... that would be me 🙂 i guess i will try to get it done myself this weekend. if i am still befuddled by monday.. i will bend over at H&R or something...
 
i got a dumb question... i never got the form from my employer about my income this year. so i won't look like an idiot tomorrow, what is that form called? 🙂
 


<< Zim Hosein: thanx for the reply. looks like i am gona pick up a copy of turbo tax >>


Glad I could help 🙂


<< i got a dumb question... i never got the form from my employer about my income this year. so i won't look like an idiot tomorrow, what is that form called? >>


It's called a W2 spanky007 🙂
 
I'm familiar with corporate taxes and not individual, but I think for average joe schmoe something like Turbo Tax is fine. If you have a lot of stuff like rental property, gambling winnings, travel expenses, moving expenses, vehicles used for 80% bidness 20% personal, kids in college or self in college (lifetime learning credit, etc), taking care of others, etc. you may want to consider one. While most of that stuff is basic, there are lots of little things like that can help out, and a really good accountant can minimize your taxes.
 


<< how hard is it to do your own taxes? is it worth it to go to an accountant do all the dirty work for me? or should i save the extra loot? does anyone have a helpful site i can frequent? >>




I use quickbooks pro and save all my receipts, I also keep a daily budiness log, at the end of the year I drop iy all off at my CPA's, I build computers ,he figures out ways to let me keep more of my money, it works well.
 


<<

<< or is it just standard deduction, wages, some interest income, no capital gains, few investments? >>



yup.... that would be me 🙂 i guess i will try to get it done myself this weekend. if i am still befuddled by monday.. i will bend over at H&R or something... >>



Dont go to H&R block, if worse comes to worse, file an automatic extension (4 months) and find a real accountant.
 


<< Dont go to H&R block, if worse comes to worse, file an automatic extension (4 months) and find a real accountant. >>


Bad experience Sluggo, or do you know something we don't? Just curious.
 
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