Do you prepare your own tax return?

I've used TT for about 20 years (or more)... I used to get a disk from dad (he'd make copies)... then I started buying my own. I often did roommates taxes also, since I had the program already.

Now I also do my MIL's taxes... Pretty simple - DH has all the financial info as he's her financial guardian. (BIL is guardian of person). She's down to SS, RMDs and a small federal pension.... But at 92, almost 93... you wouldn't expect complicated taxes.

This year I'll add my younger son's taxes to my to-do list. He's been working part time since 2 weeks after he got his drivers license. Only complication might be that he gets social security (minor of a parent collecting) and his income will make some of that taxable, I think.

Older son is a college student who has yet to get a job (despite firm, loudly voiced, encouragement.) So no taxes yet for him.
 
pb4uski said:
Intuit here.... where should we send the revised invoice?
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:LOL::LOL: Well, maybe not THAT valuable. I tend to look for a coupon even when it first comes out. Usually I can get $10 off, but probably still pay more than if I waited a few months.
 
We have what is (to me, anyway) quite a complicated tax situation (K1's, LLC, rental properties, mortgage notes, real estate syndications, LTD partnerships, etc), and I've found a wonderful lady that can make sense of the chaos. It takes me a several days to compile all the information needed, so I put it into a spreadsheet. I then meet at her office and she does our return (business, personal, state) right there, asking me questions along the way.
Took her about 3 hours this year, but when she was finished it was all done. I signed the returns and she electronically filed it. Charged me $600 which to me is a bargain!
 
Tried using Turbo Tax for many years, and the taxes were too complicated for it to handle - until last year. Doing them with TT going forward (hopefully). We may have to use a CPA one year in the future due to the potential sale of a multi-use property that had a residential 1031 go into it. TT doesn't like things that are too far out of the norm....
 
I've always done my own. Many years ago, I remember going to the federal building downtown every year to get all the paper forms. Switched to TT a couple of ~decades ago and never looked back. IMO, TT is worth many times it's cost even considering all the price increases and misleading product switches they have had/made in the past.
 
I have done ours and our sons for many years now using Tax Act. But this year we sold our home and we are currently renting a house until my husband retires the end of the year. Plus we are having a little house built in NH and will be moving after the first when it’s done. We will then be living off our savings as well. A lot of changes in a short period of time. So I am going to have someone do ours for 2019 because I just won’t be able to handle
everything. Then I will take it back in a couple of years if I think I can.
 
To me, the hard part of taxes, is getting all the paperwork saved info, together. Once everything is gathered, of course I do my own taxes! Always have..and in last 10plus years it's extra easy with using turbo tax. Turbo saves all prior years. Love it..and I'm weird, I love doing my taxes..looking up laws, rules..playing the game. Love it.
Glad to see so many others that do their own taxes!
 
We have an accountant prepare our S corp taxes and then I do our personal taxes. Have done my own taxes for 35 years either on paper or started using turbotax when that came out.
 
RobbieB said:
TurboTax. I don't care how much it costs.
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I've aways done my own since the mid-60s. In the old days, I knew what all the percentages, limits, rolloff points, etc, were as the applied to my situation. With TT, I don't know those things anymore, I just turn the crank. I still read up on tax procedures, and try to do a sanity check on my completed returns, but I don't feel as confident in the sanity check as I used to. And mistakes are easy. For 2017 I checked the wrong box for the withholding from my RMD on the TT page and raised my tax bills by about $4,000, which I didn't find until I was reviewing before preparing the 2018 returns. Schedule X's for fed and state were needed to correct the error. If I had done the taxes by hand, I probably would have noticed that the total tax already paid didn't make any sense and fixed it the first time. Oh well.

I also do the taxes for DD and SIL, and the grandkids. It is interesting to see IRS and TT's improvements from year to year. A few years ago, to compute kiddy tax required that all grandkids' forms and their parents' form had to be open on the screen at the same time. Last year, each form could be completed by itself. (Dear GD's total tax was $1 to the state-- no federal at all. Her older brother, who had received more total money from Granddad but was invested differently, paid nothing.)
 
Turbo tax charging full price every year is one of the great marketing scores of all time. I expected to only pay a fee to upgrade each year. It’s not like they rewrite the whole thing every year. TaxCut OTOH is priced much lower, meets my needs very well, so I don’t mind.
 
Do my own taxes & lots of others, as a volunteer with AARP Tax Aide. IRS provides the software & we are IRS certified preparers after passing a test. I encourage others to give this a shot. Info can be found on the AARP web site.
 
Midpack said:
I’ve always done my own, manually when I was young and stupid, but I’ve used TurboTax for 15-20 years IIRC. Like most, my tax situation is a little (not a lot) more complex now than years ago so TT saves me lots of time, and it’s handy for projecting this years taxes most years too (unless there’s a radical change in IRS rules). I buy TT at Costco at a good discount every Feb or thereabouts.
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+1
 
I don't. I could, but my husband has a business, and he wants me to deduct things that I think are kind of iffy (or that I happen to know are not legal). I dislike arguing about this. We have a good CPA who isn't afraid to tell him what's what. When DH retires, I'll resume doing our taxes with TurboTax.
 
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I've been using a CPA since the late 80s. They've always referred me to another CPA when they retire or move and then transfer records electronically. When I FIRED I thought I would switch to doing my own taxes again but then I encountered some very complicated tax years due to inheriting properties, etc. It was worth every penny having a professional handle that stuff. I've grown to appreciate being able to call someone I know I can trust when I have tax-related question, so I don't anticipate that I'll start doing my own taxes again.
 
This year I may need advice only. I've done my own with the HR Block software, but I'm not sure how to deal with multiple states. Federal is relatively straight forward, but DW got a job in another state and maintains an apartment there. It is only Oct, Nov & Dec income for her in that state (WV). All other income is my IRA withdrawals. From what I've read, WV has reciprocal agreement with VA, but the residency rules/definitions are a bit confusing.
 
I’ve always done our taxes. Our tax situation has always been pretty simple and straight forward. Two incomes, mortgage, kids. I started using TT about 10 years ago, until then it was all by hand. When I retired earlier this year, I asked my financial advisor for an accountant recommendation. He said ‘why? If you’ve always done your own taxes, it gets simpler in retirement.’
 
rjsob58 said:
This year I may need advice only. I've done my own with the HR Block software, but I'm not sure how to deal with multiple states. Federal is relatively straight forward, but DW got a job in another state and maintains an apartment there. It is only Oct, Nov & Dec income for her in that state (WV). All other income is my IRA withdrawals. From what I've read, WV has reciprocal agreement with VA, but the residency rules/definitions are a bit confusing.
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I’ve found TT to handle multiple states very well. I’m guessing HRB would also. For the cost of the additional state software, I’d bet you’ll be good to go. Especially if your only concern is reciprocity. That’s pretty common and should be no problem for HRB to handle.
 
Jerry1 said:
I’ve found TT to handle multiple states very well. I’m guessing HRB would also. For the cost of the additional state software, I’d bet you’ll be good to go. Especially if your only concern is reciprocity. That’s pretty common and should be no problem for HRB to handle.
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+1 When I was working I routinely filed in multiple states as I provided client services in multiple states and each hour on our timesheets required a location code.... the firm provided us with access to TT iuding as many states as we needed.. and it worked flawlessly.
 
Carple Tunnal said:
Printed and filled in the blanks with a pen. Did the arithmetic with a calculator. Federal was 18 pages this year.


Saying you prepared you own taxes when you used Turbo Tax is like saying you prepared your own Thanksgiving dinner after microwaving a TV dinner.
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I'm not into masochism. And I think I'd probably make a lot more mistakes trying to do it on paper myself.

Your analogy is bad because the end product of using TT is as good, if not better than doing it all by hand. It's more like you are raising a turkey from when it's hatched, and also butchering it, rather than just buying it ready to cook from the supermarket. Or something like that. A lot more work.
 
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