Do you pay to have your taxes done?

[PennyPincher]

I'm thinking ahead here and trying to get prepared for next tax season. I've done my own taxes most years, but opted to go to a source last year and paid quite a bit. What do you all do/what do you recommend? I'm curious to know if paying a professional can actually help get a larger return... I bought a house last year, and along with some other things my taxes are starting to get more complicated. Any input is appreciated!

[terry1156]

This is one of the best moves I have ever made. I used to be afraid of taxes and always had someone else do them. Then about 10 years ago, I took tax preparation course from H & R Block. The course cost about $200 (tax deductible), but I have never even thought of having someone else prepare my taxes since then AND I can get part time work during tax season from H & R Block anytime helping them prepare other people's returns!

[lieweheksie]

I pay someone to do our taxes- he's a qualified accountant and also does our most of our investment planning. He charges a set fee, for doing both my and Dh's tax returns- we file separately in SA.
I've just banked DH's refund cheque and yes the fee was worth it- he is also reasnable.About 8% of our total refund. Unless you are prepared to go on a course, get someone else to do it- get recomendations from friends and family and don't go for the person who claims unrealistic refunds- get someone who will get you all the refunds legaly and ethically allowed

[sarah]

I use tax soft ware. I've been extremely happy with it. The first year I used it the software caught a 1500.00 mistake that H&R Block had made. I use tax cut but there are other brands that are probably just as good

[Tree0164]

I pay an accountant to do mine. I have home business so I work with my accoutant to do it. He is quite reasonable and I starting using him when I working in the tax department of a financial services firm. I hated tax season.

[DivaJen]

We have an accountant, but we've had a series of businesses and such, so our taxes have been more complicated. What's great about our CPA is that we can go to him throughout the year for advice and suggestions on various money-related things and he's always there for us. He only charges us his fee at tax time. He's good guy. Before we had businesses to worry about, I/we did our own taxes.

[Bev S]

My hubby took the H & R Block course a few years ago and has done ours ever since. He uses Turbo Tax I believe.

[seaar2000]

My sister-in-law does it for me. Only charges me $25. She is a CPA and is up-to-date on all the new tax laws, naturally. When it comes to doing taxes I am very ignorant on this.

[Momtwo]

No! I am an accountant. I do my own.

[amomof4]

Our taxes are way too complicated to do them ourselves.

[Lori63]

Every year they seem to get more complicated, but I do ours. I love math and numbers-should have gone into accounting.

[Luv2shop]

I do my own It saves my over $100.

[Fern]

I have an accountant who probably charges too much--$225--but i hate the thought of doing my taxes

[ender513]

I don't pay to have my taxes done, but I have very simple taxes No mortgage, income from just one job. The only thing I have to adjust is my student loan interest. I'm sure at some point I might think of taking a course or going to an accountant, but for now I can do it easily myself.

[jmjj215]

$225 isn't a lot to do taxes It's awful you know! (the tax part)

I used turbotax last year and didn't like it. I prefer to just do the paper forms and read the instructions and read the irs.gov website - you can learn a ton there! Also, two tax classes at the university have certainly helped me grasp underlying principles of taxation, and how to make sure you're not paying too much (most do).

[gakline]

I have my mom do them. She loves reading all that stuff, seriously. I think she uses some software too. She waits for the sales and rebates and buys the software fairly cheap.

[shelbylovesmelby]

we just buy turbo tax & call it a day. We went to h&r block because of issues w/ me loosing my job. But it was like $300 for them to prepare our taxes & I paid like $35 & did them myself.

GB TURBO TAX!

[lrjohnson]

I do the 1040 EZ myself; single, only earnings, no kids, no special deductions I think. One year I did a 1040 and itemized just to see if I was missaing anything, but I didn't have education/medical/mortgage or other costs that would make it worth it. If it got more complicated I would probably still try myself, or get software.

[CRFSaver]

I have a sister that is a tax consultant... guess who does my taxes?

[StressLess]

Have never paid to get ours done, even the 3 years when I had my little online business. I did ask my mother's tax lady one question about figuring inventory, that's about it. I don't know, I saw my dad do my parents' every year when I was growing up, and when I got my first job it just seemed the natural, grown-up thing to do my own. (With instruction from DDad the first few years.) Felt like a badge of honor, like getting your driver's license or something.

Last year I did use tax software, sort of. Did you know you can do your taxes online for free, through the IRS website? The one we used was H&R Block, and it worked fine (although slowly, with a dial-up modem.) Here is a link to a page about it: http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

DMom has paid to have hers done ever since my dad and other relatives died, and she had estate issues. But what gets me is, at this point she is paying the tax person several hundred dollars to plug numbers into forms. The really hard work, like figuring the cost basis on stocks she's owned for 40 years (and have split several times), we have to do ourselves. Meaning, at this point, me rather than my mom. And, every single tax preparer has made mistakes one time or another. I can make mistakes myself, for nothing! I can't see where I will EVER pay anyone to do them, unless I'm severely ill or something.