Tax Preparation

[Faron]

Bout finished for this year.   :  I hate doing taxes.  How do you figure yours?

[GHRoberts]

My wife is a CPA. She does my taxes for me.

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While I can not speak for all CPAs, EAs, or other people who prepare taxes ...

Someone who does the job full time can often give money saving advice.

[rebocardo]

H&R Block, for me it is just not worth doing myself since I am not good at it and I do not care to keep current with the latest software at $100+ a year for TurboTax or something like that. Some year I might upgrade Microsoft Money 95 too   ;)

[Warren]

Been married 28 years.  Have had a professional CPA / Accountant prepare our taxes each year. Spot checked 3 out of the first 10 years by doing my own prep and then comparing to the professional's.  Each time found that the professional provided additional tax savings worth multiple times his cost of preparation.  Stopped checking after the third time.  I count it as money well spent to not worry about "Did I inadvertantly screw something up..."

Warren

[breederman]

I have done my own for years.  The last several years I have used turbo tax online.  For $29 you can't beat it! It walks you through every thing,makes sure you have taken all the deductions etc. that you are eligable for then file electronically.

[CLL]

Only use CPA's have found the price well worth the savings. Tax companies only as good as preparer. Most are not up to speed on specifics of specalized tax returns.

[Paschale]

Mine were done last Sunday...only because my accountant set up the appointment for me.   :D

He's great, and I continue to recommend him to friends of mine.  I agree...your return is only as good as the preparer.  I've known him for years, since my mother ran a daycare and took care of his children when I was in school.  He comes right to my house, and he has remarkable ways of finding a way to turn expenses into deductions.  He stretches things right to the very edge, without becoming unethical.  He's never lost an audit in his 20+ years of doing taxes, so I feel that I'm in good hands.  And it sure beats doing it myself.  For $185, a housecall, and taxes DONE!  Should have a couple of grand in the bank in a week or two.   8)

[SwampDonkey]

I use Quick Tax for small business. This year most of my inputs are already in Quick Books, so it's just a matter of running through the forms and making sure stuff makes sense. I have always done my own taxes. I can see why some folks go through tax preparers, but there are some that have simple returns and should be doing their own. Most tax guides from the government are pretty good. There are a few unanswered questions, but for the simplest tax return I would think a person would do ok. Can't speak for everyone though. My folks use a Farm accountant, and they are a special breed as not every accountant is knowledgeable enough to handle it.

[bull]

I use quickbooks for the for all buisness records.... My sister reconciles the books, hands me a CD and I deliver it to the accountant and wait for the tax return......

Best thing I did was higher an accountant..... depending on the year costs $300 - $600......

No quarterlies and I have gotten a return for the past 6 years !!!!!

[fat olde elf]

The only time I did our taxes in 50 years got us audited by the IRS....Ended up paying under $200 more total but that was in 1966 dollars !!! We have a great young CPA working with us.  Plus Mrs Elf is a fabulous record keeper..........My role is to stay out  the way and not talk too much.........

[Raphael]

  Until I got married I used to almost always do my own, even when I had a job, two separate businesses and no calculator.  I used a friend (CPA) twice, he found some stuff I missed the first year and lost half my records the second.  :
  SWMBO did them the first couple years after starting at the bank, but we've got a CPA doing them now as they just kept getting crazier (three state forms, etc.).

[DWM II]

We started out doing them ourselves but about 10 yrs ago I had a large descrepency that I couldnt resolve so I had a cpa check the problem. She ended up finding where I went wrong and cut my expense in half. My wife's business requires to use a cpa now, she's registerd as a sole proprieter which gives us a alot of lee-way in what we can deduct from personal purchases. What I really like about her cpa is he sees no gray area, its all black and white, he will not ecnourage a shady deduction which helps us to stay out of trouble with uncle sam.
Thats alway a good thing.

[exssnelt]

I have done my own taxes for close to 20 years. I used a calculator for most of them, then I used Turbo Tax and H&R Block for a few years. 3 years ago we used a CPA because we sold some land and we were going to have to pay capital gains on it. They found deductions I never would have thought of. I have used them ever since. In fact, our taxes are done with money in the bank. I agree it is worth it to hire someone that does it for a living.

[Bill Johnson]

I do my own, as there are no complicated deductions to consider.  All I have is employment income, and standard deductions.  15 minutes to do, 30 minutes to check :D, then wait a day and check it again.....just in case :D.  Filed using tele-file and 2 weeks later cash the refund 8)

[tcsmpsi]

Currently, I have 3 separate DBAs.  For many, many years, I kept, collected, catagorized, organized and calculated everything and took my CPA one page of totals.
As she had other properties, as well as her different offices, we traded work. 

In recent years, something about my digging under an old house, leveling, fixing 50 yr old plumbing, etc., finding/making mouldings, hardware, etc, somehow was becoming a bit off balance in the trade arrangement.  And then, we would sometimes have have all our stuff turned in the first part of Feb., and would end up having an extension filed.  Or took a couple months to get ours done.   
There's no capitol gains, or interest money (other than expenditure, that is), retirement, investments, etc.  So, I know it is only a matter of putting in current numbers in an already long established database.

Now, one of my daughters is a CPA, but she is involved in the forensics end of the game, rooting out and litigating big frauds/embezzlements and the like and is kinda lost at just old income tax filing.   :D

Two years ago, I started using Tax Cut and doing my own.  Prints out the same novel that my CPA would present us. 
Get all my stuff done, wait on my wife's W-2 from Valero Energy, key in all the numbers, electronically file and done.

Now, I've been doing all my own checking, updating IRS, etc. on my own for many years so as to know of any significant changes.  Any 'gray' area is always given to the side of IRS. 

There were times I would have to remind my CPA as to a deduction or so.

Being a 'returning member' with Tax Cut, I get the whole matter accomplished, including electronic filing, without all the anxiety, for less than 75 bucks.

[Furby]

In case some of you don't know, the fee to have your taxes done by a "pro" is deductable. ;)
I may be going that route this year.

[Dan_Shade]

it completely blows my mind at how some people are so happy after doing their taxes that they are getting a refund....

it's your money, and you let uncle sam take too much of it!

I made an appointment the other day with an accountant to do mine, I've always done mine before, but the older I get, the less I want to mess with the stupid things....

[beenthere]

Yur right again Furby. That deduction isn't off the tax, but it does mean you will get 15 - 20 cents back on the dollar spent.

[Faron]

I agree, Dan.  Way too many people consider that "free" or "found" money as if it were not their's to begin with.  I know of one young couple who want to get as big a refund as possible, then file the return with some outfit and get an advance on that money, at a huge rate of interest. : :(  Since they consider it a bonus or something, they don't worry abut the loss.

We had ours prepared for years.  Became unsatisified with the results and the ever increasing cost of using a CPA.  I have used Taxcut Business for several years now.  Seems this year the program, or perhaps it is me, works best I have seen so far.

[jon12345]

I used online tax software.  Between ages of 21 and 50 I think and certain income guidelines, the federal was free to e-file, and the state was only 13$ on the site I used. 

[Paschale]

it completely blows my mind at how some people are so happy after doing their taxes that they are getting a refund....

I totally see your point, but another way to look at it is that a lot of people make a guesstimate at how much they will have to pay, and they would rather have that paid out throughout the course of the year, rather than paying all in one fell swoop.  There were years where I didn't have Uncle Sam take out enough, using the exact logic you're talking about.  My income is different from year to year, and I always have a boatload of W-2 and 1099 forms, and it's hard to always gage how much I'm going to need to pay.  I finally started having Uncle Sam take out a little more, for my benefit, and I'm always pleased if there's a bit that I'll get back.  I don't view it as found money at all, but I'm content with the arrangement, and always prefer getting a little something back, instead of having to pay something.  And this is where I think a good accountant comes into play:  I've always gotten a return when I use his services.

[Dan_Shade]

my personal opinions on the matter is that withholdings should be illegal all together, Apr 15 would wake up washington, and we'd have a government that is a little more by the people, and for the people...

now I understand that's not going to happen, and I can understand why people do what you do, but I always look at people with a raised eyebrow that are happy to get a refund.

[SwampDonkey]

Dan, I think maybe it should be looked like this. If I haven't got to pay any more extra from what I've already paid, then I'm happy. If I get some back I feel better than having to pay more. Don't you? ;)

Unfortunately, I have to pay a little this year, not much, but I think the basic exception is way too low, it's below the poverty line. Make a politician live on that and they will die within a month.

[Tom]

I never understood why, if you pay-in too much, you get some change back.  But, if you don't pay in enough, you get fined when you send them the rest. :-\

[SwampDonkey]

 :D :D :D :D

[pigman]

I let a CPA do my taxes. I am just too dumb to keep up with all the tax laws, especially the ones dealing with farming. I have had four different CPAs do my taxes over the last forty one years and I have had to pay in every year except one . :( The year I didn't owe any taxes wasn't because I had a good tax preparer, it was because I didn't make much money. : On a few good years I have had to pay in enough to the IRS and KY treasurer to buy a fancy car. Those years I left the CPA's office  smiling knowing I had made some money that year. 8)

Bob the poor farmer, sawyer and furniture maker
Edit:
I will say that paying all of one's income taxes; federal, state and local, at one time will make a person realize just how much money our governments wants from us.

[bull]

Im smilin 8) 8) 8) 8) Went to the tax man last night..... My Uncle Sam from DC and The folks from the statehouse here in Taxachusetts are each sending me a nice check !!!  I love earned income credits !!!  It will be Christmas time all over again.

About two hours at the accountants, coffee,convesation and a nice vist w/ a gift when I left !!
No headache, heartburn,indigestion, or high blood presure....  Worth every dime of the $360.00
we pay him each year......

Great way to start the season !!!   8) 8) 8) 8) 8) ;D