Who does your taxes?

[zabbkoff]

With "that" time of year quickly approaching, I was curious who people trust to do their taxes? Do you go to a company such as H&R Block? A tax advisor? Do you do it yourself?

For those that do it yourself, do you feel that you know enough about taxes to make sure you're not missing a deduction? For those who go to tax advisors, what would you say is a fair price?

We used to go to H&R Block when we rented, but now that we've moved, own, and have various mutual funds & IRA's, I feel we need to go to someone with a bit more knowledge of the laws. I hope to do them myself someday, but am worried that I will miss out on a deduction, possibly costing me more than going to someone would cost.

Just curious about what others do. Thanks a bunch!

[sweeps]

I'm old school -- paper and pencil.

[disneysteve]

My cousin is a CPA and he does my taxes. My father was an accountant. He and my uncle, his brother, started a family accounting business 50 years ago. Later, my two cousins joined the business. My father and uncle retired and now the cousins run the business.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I used to do it myself with turbotax until last year. But our income more than tripled, and we just couldn't understand all the deductions and with moving cross country, two state taxes were a headache. This year I was going to be cheap and try to do it myself, but for $300, my DH said it's not worth us fighting over it.

[instantinfo4you]

I use H&R Block, it usually costs around $200, but they save me WAY more than that.

[Mr. Furley]

I usually do it myself. But this year, I'm letting my friend's business accountant do it for me. I work part-time at this business. He says he can get me much more back than I have been getting. We'll see.

[scfr]

We use Turbo Tax. We want to do our own taxes so that we are sure we completely understand everything, but we really appreciate the help from Turbo Tax (especialy since we are both self-employed). I would estimate that it takes me less than half the time it would without the program, and it prevents me from overlooking things or making stupid mistakes.

[Hez]

I go to H&R Block. I'm a student so it's fairly cheap plus they give students a coupon for free pizza, haha.

[safari]

I use H&R Block's online program and do my taxes myself. Usually I am able to find a coupon, so it doesn't cost me anything. I also do taxes for all my family members.

[rduell]

I've used Turbo Tax the past 2 years and will again this year, especially since the course I'm taking next semester is on Turbo Tax.

[MonkeyMama]

I am a CPA so I do them myself. I would do them myself anyway, because I like doing tax returns, but that is probably why I am a CPA!

I highly recommend Turbo Tax. Even more so, Tax Cut. We switched to Tax Cut a few years back when Turbo Tax was putting cookies on your computer and some other weird stuff. IT's the same thing overall.

H&R Block is convenient, but frankly I Am not sure most of those people really know much more than you can figure out with your own software.

I do some friends and family stuff on Tax Cut. My own stuff with my software at work. Oh yeah, used to do it by hand - those were the days...

Unless you have a rental or a business, more complicated things, there is not that much to know. Tax software covers all the basics. But, I Wouldn't knock H&R for the convenience factor. Of course by the time you gather all the info, tax software may be just as fast, and a lot cheaper.

OF course if you have more complicated issues I would recommend a CPA. Whatever the fees would be worth saving you taxes now and headaches down the road. I See a lot of people crossing the line on the penny=wise pound-foolish thing when it comes to small businesses. They don't realize how helpful a CPA could be. Most of the time we save these people more money than we charge.

At the same time I get people all the time wanting help with their plain old W-2. I tell them to buy Turbo Tax or go to H&R.

[markio26]

safari:
please post where you locate the h&r block cpn.... or tell where to look....i am interested in doing the h&r block online... is it the same results as an h&r specialist doing it??? how much does it cost... do tell.

thanks in advance... thanks for the comments, from the above members, thanks for posting this...z....

[safari]

Originally Posted by markio26

safari:
please post where you locate the h&r block cpn.... or tell where to look....i am interested in doing the h&r block online... is it the same results as an h&r specialist doing it??? how much does it cost... do tell.

thanks in advance... thanks for the comments, from the above members, thanks for posting this...z....

First of all, if your adjusted gross income is less than $52,000, you can go to the IRS website in mid-January, where they publish links to companies that offer free eFile, and H&R Block is usually one of them. Here is the link http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

If you rincome is greater than $52,000, you can try googling in January for H&R Block coupons. One year I got a coupon emailed to me directly from H&R Block, another year I got it through my work, so there is no single source of coupons that I can recommend. For Federal taxes, H&R Block offers a basic program, which usually costs $9.95 and a Premium program, which costs $19.95. Premium program offers extra guidance, which is helpful in case of itimizing deductions. They also offer state tax filing for most states for another $20 or so.

I know enough to do my taxes, so I don't need a tax professional. Their online program is very easy to use and it guides you through the whole process. I usually receive my tax refund in 2 weeks after filing.

[creditcardfree]

I used various tax software in the past. My father in law was a CPA and he did our taxes a couple of years, but then he would file extensions for us because he was so busy to get to us. That's when I started using the software and his past returns to get similar deductions. He has since passed away and I may have to resort to a CPA this years because of moving to a new state and selling our house, but I may see what I can do on my own first.

Oh, I love e-file. Quick refunds!!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by creditcardfree

Oh, I love e-file. Quick refunds!!

And yet thousands of people still fall for the "instant refunds" pushed by H&R, Liberty, and other shopping mall tax preparers. Folks either don't understand or simply don't care that they are actually getting a loan with interest rates that can exceed 500%! All to get a refund that takes only 2 weeks to arrive when you e-file.

[Diolla]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

And yet thousands of people still fall for the "instant refunds" pushed by H&R, Liberty, and other shopping mall tax preparers. Folks either don't understand or simply don't care that they are actually getting a loan with interest rates that can exceed 500%! All to get a refund that takes only 2 weeks to arrive when you e-file.

I actually just started with H&R and will be doing other people, not just me and family, for the first time this season. I can't say I agree with some of their products but for now I am just not planning on selling them. Alot of people who go to H&R are living on the edge without even a checking account so e-file with direct deposit isn't available, they even usually have to pay a fee to get the check cashed. H&R has alot of education requirements and tries to make sure that you get someone with experience doing your type of return. Us newbies are only allowed to do the simpler returns whereas we have one lady who 'specializes' in daycares.

There are also premium offices who are staffed by EA's and CPA's and they only do the complicated returns like businesses and farms.

I will have to wait until I actually get to do the job (right now I am doing practice returns) before I make a final judgement on whether this is where I want to be right now. I would eventually like to help these edge people without the profit motive but before that I have to LEARN.

[lrjohnson]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

I'm old school -- paper and pencil.

Me too. No plans to change.

[Hypersion]

I use Turbo Tax. Fed is free, state is only $20 plus free efile!!!

[shadon]

Do it myself. I have 15 years experience with the Tax Office esp. in Income Tax. Lodge online and get refund back in around 7 days.

[genmed]

I do them myself with pen and paper. I definately don't feel like I'm missing tax deductions, but we just have standard things (medical, mortgage interest, school tuition, 401ks) -- not owning our own business, investments, or other pretty complicated tax stuff.