is my tax situation complicated enough to seek a pro for help?

[ea1776]

i normally do my taxes through h&r block online, free version, and it's always worked just fine. 2011 though, had a few weird things about it, and I'm wondering if i should get a pro to help out.

here's some of the "weird" things I'm not sure how to handle.

- i was a california resident only SOME of the year, not all of it, so I don't want to be on the hook for state taxes as if I was a resident for 100% of they year.
- i paid california state taxes for more of the time than i was a california resident (i was a texan before, no state tax, so i'm hoping i'll get some refund back).

the above is the one i'm mostly concerned about. here are the other facts, that i can pretty much handle.
- married, wife had no income.
- roth contributions, 401k maxed, don't own a home, paid about 3k in student loan interest
- had a little less than 200k in taxable income, so probably won't qualify for some of the deductions that may be available.
- me 29, wife 26 years old
- we did move, so there may be some deduction there in moving expenses (but i don't think our deductions add up to be more than a standard deduction.... ?)


so any advice on what i should do here for my 2011 tax bill ? i have all the paperwork organized and well documented, i wouldn't want to pay more than like $100.00 for tax help.

[Like2Plan]

ea1776,
Would you consider using tax software that included the state versions? Turbotax Deluxe has the state software in the package.
It's been a while since I've had to do a CA state tax return for a partial year (lucky me, I moved from Oregon so I had part year OR and part year CA...then when we moved to VA, part year CA and part year VA ) I think the tax software should be able to walk you through it.

[MonkeyMama]

so any advice on what i should do here for my 2011 tax bill ? i have all the paperwork organized and well documented, i wouldn't want to pay more than like $100.00 for tax help.

If all you are willing to pay is $100 for tax help, you'd probably be better off with H&R online or one of those. You get what you pay for. (& well, California taxes are complicated, plus wages are higher here, so you'd pay more for any decent help).

Overall, the part-year state thing can be a little complicated, but really not much. What you paid for state taxes to Cali is what you paid in - there isn't anything complicated about that part. Any tax software should ask you how long you were a resident, and be able to handle it. Without state taxes to Texas, that makes it even simpler. So, the short answer is just stick with the software and do it yourself.

[ea1776]

ok, thanks. i'd be willing to pay for turbo tax deluxe i guess if it did what i needed. i think i'll just try with H&R like I've been using, and if it doesn't handle things properly, i'll probably seek pro advice.

thanks again,

[dczech09]

Hey OP, you said you had roth contributions but a household income of $200k. That is not possible, unless you did a rollover from an existing qualified plan, or its a Roth 401k you're talking about.

Roth IRAs have income limits.

Roth IRA 2011 vs. 2012 Contribution and Income Limits and Conversion Rules From Traditional IRA Retirement Accounts | Saving to Inve$t

This site shows the 2011 and 2012 Roth IRA rules.

[ea1776]

oh man, didn't think about the roth limits. dang governments. is it EVER enough for them?

thanks for the reminder. i wonder what will happen then, we've already put that money into roth accounts for 2011.... (and we've contributed to roths when our AGI was within limits too, in previous years...)

[SnoopyCool]

You can finish it and go into an H&R Block office near you to have them look over it. It's called a 2nd Look.