Poll - Who does your taxes?

[Major Tom]

Many years ago, I was referred to a company of tax accountants in Los Angeles by a musician friend. They do taxes for a lot of people in the various entertainment industries and as I was also working in that industry, with a good proportion of my income as 1099 income, I tried them out. Then for a few years, my taxes became more complex when I owned rental properties, and I was doubly glad to have their services.

Now that my only income is from savings accounts, dividends and, in the future, the occasional fund sale - along with maybe some W2 income for a part-time job, my taxes are much simpler. I still use them, as they know me and will advise in the very unlikely event that I'm audited for a past year. As they charge by the form, they're now pretty affordable. I'll most likely keep 'em at least for a few more years in case of audit. After that, I may go it alone. We'll see.

 

[pb4uski]

Have used TT for years, will continue to do so.

 

[Illbuck2006]

I lucky, my DW works for the IRS, so she is in charge of doing our taxes.

 

[ronocnikral]

Doing a Schedule C in TurboTax isn't all that bad. For a small business I'd think the interview approach would give you a good start. The home office deduction is nice, but the downside is it complicates the return process.

I have surrendered to a tax professional. I was trying to depriciate my home office and since we had two different houses last year (three different mortgage companies), with two different size offices my patience wore thin. Somehow, I fell asleep? DW woke me up around 10:30 to go to bed.

Oh well....

 

[easysurfer]

Efiled my taxes last night with TT. Already got the state accepting. The federal is still waiting approval.

Ended up owing on both. $6 to Fed. A whopping $9 to state.

 

[jebmke]

Efiled my taxes last night with TT. Already got the state accepting. The federal is still waiting approval.

Ended up owing on both. $6 to Fed. A whopping $9 to state.

That's unusual. Many states wait for the Federal ACK before they process.

I filed 13 returns Friday night and the Federal ACK came back in 30 minutes. State ACKS (Maryland) did not come through until Saturday.

Timing is everything. A colleague of mine e-filed on Sunday the 29th and the state refund hit her account on Tuesday.

 

[easysurfer]

That's unusual. Many states wait for the Federal ACK before they process.

I filed 13 returns Friday night and the Federal ACK came back in 30 minutes. State ACKS (Maryland) did not come through until Saturday.

Timing is everything. A colleague of mine e-filed on Sunday the 29th and the state refund hit her account on Tuesday.

Yeah..that is a bit peculiar as reason would say that the Fed comes first, state second. Maybe it's just a case of volume.

Since I started efiling years back, not once have my efiles been rejected (okay, now I just jinxed myself ).

I did however, had to do an amended return once (sent the ameneded the print and send method) as I filed before I had all my 1099's.

 

[easysurfer]

Checking my email again, got the Fed acceptance notice (came in one hour later than state)

Another tax year bites the dust

 

[MDJO]

Agree with GrayHare. Hard part is collecting/keeping the records. Have used TT for as long as it's been out.....

 

[Fishingmn]

Used to use TT but I now pay accountant. I have my own business and 4 rental properties. Accountant charges $150 and TT version I would need is $110. I spend considerably less time and get his advice so $40 is a no brainer.

 

[obgyn65]

HR Block does mine. I have some income from Europe, which makes things more complicated.

 

[Richard4444]

Hmmmm. I've been using a CPA for both a small SubS Corp and personal, ER'd in 1995 at 45. CPA cost $600 for each. Just never thought about TT or anything else as it seemed intimidating. Requesting help here to overcome my fears: SubS is accrual and there is a loan (from myself to SubS); personal has a bunch of GNMAs, other is interest inc. Sounding simple as I type this.. just always was intimidating to me. Using regular Quicken now, no employees. Suggestions (push me) please. Thanks ! Rich

 

[GrayHare]

If you can fill in Quicken's boxes you can fill in Turbotax's. TT has a guided/interview mode that provides a fair amount of handholding. Note that filing S Corp return means you need the TT Business Edition.

 

[devans0]

Maybe I don't understand your post, but when I Google "cdilla taxact" I see lots of links talking about TurboTax and C-Dilla, and people talking about switching to TaxAct, but none about acquiring C-Dilla from TaxAct.

Let me google that for you

You are right! I don't know how I got that switched, but I was wrong.

TaxAct is the software that we use

CDilla was from a competitor to TaxAct.

 

[Tree-dweller]

Did first year of retirement make a diff in how you prepared?

I've always done my own taxes (using HRB software), with the exception of one year when I was executor of my brother's estate when he passed and I wasn't comfortable that there might be a gotcha there I might overlook. Since this is my first full year livin' the Life Of Riley, I'm thinking next April might call for a pro again. Did anyone's first year of RE cause them to swing to the pro side? Did you find it worth it? The only real diff for me I guess is that it's now pension income and 401k withdrawals (no penalty involved) vs actual payroll.

 

[rescueme]

Did anyone's first year of RE cause them to swing to the pro side?

Not me.

Since my entire retirement income comes from my portfolio (since 2007) along with income from an SPIA receiving 1099-R's rather than a W2, it's quite simple.

I can't speak for those who have taxable accounts nor income from other sources (such as RE), but I'm sure any decent tax software will guide you in the process.

 

[scrabbler1]

Did anyone's first year of RE cause them to swing to the pro side?

I have always done my own taxes, and in ER they are becoming easier than they were for many of my working years.

For example,

(1) No more W-2 forms, which for me also means no special IT-2 form for my home state's (New York) wage income. IT-2 is a standardized version of a W-2 form with only the relevant info copied onto it.

(2) From 2001-2008 I worked in another state (New Jersey) which meant I had to file a non-resident tax form along with a New York resident credit form. Both forms are now gone.

(3) Because I make only estimated tax payments now, I can choose the calendar year I make the 4th quarter payment, enabling me to "bunch" my state income tax deduction to some degree. Because of this, and my decreasing medical expense deduction, I will be itemizing my deductions every other year starting in 2012, further simplifying my taxes.

(4) Although not directly related to my ER, I for the first time since investing in mutual funds in 1990 won't be filing a Schedule D (or that new Form 8949) because I made no mutual fund share redemptions. If I can avoid Schedules A and D in the same year, I can switch to short Form 1040A, a form I have not filed since 1988!

On the negative side, New York in 2011 got rid of its short form (IT-150), forcing everyone to file the long form. I would have been able to file the short form for 2011 had this not happened.

 

[Tadpole]

Well, as of 31 Dec 2010 we were both retired. We had always had a tax expert do our taxes but I decided our taxes were simple enough and I had time enough to do it ourselves. I downloaded TaxAct, added MD and upgraded. It seemed simple. I just answered the questions or filled out the blanks and sent the result in. MD immediately sent my refund but I am getting nervous about the feds. The "where's my refund" at the IRS initially said go away and ask me next week; "next week" it said I'd see it by 3 Apr; now it says six weeks (from 15 Mar).

Is this a normal pattern or normal amount of time for e-files. (TaxAct said I'd have it by the 28th (tomorrow).)

 

[FinanceDude]

I do them, and have for 25 years. I did have a pesky little argument with the IRS, and used a CPA to do a 1040X and pound the IRS over the head with it, which worked.........

Going to send it in next week, along with a check, what are refunds?

 

[martyp]

I've always done my own taxes. At first using a Tax Guide book. Then I set up an Excel spreadsheet. In the past 10 years I switched to Turbo Tax and filed the returns on-line. My taxes are pretty simple so I am confident that TT is doing it correctly. This is the first time I've done my taxes after a full year of ER. This is also the first time I've taken the standard deduction because my mortgage interest is so low (i.e. I'm in the last 2 yrs of my mortgage). I am seriously considering skipping the cost of TurboTax next year and just filing on-line with the IRS downloadable forms.

 

[H2ODude]

Done by self for years, used accountants who were very reasonable too. I have one now who charged $250 for F&S. Yes, it was relatively simple but there were years when it was not (for me to do anyway) and same price. Most importantly, I can (and do) call him with investment questions/tax question maybe once a year, and never any charge for that. So I think the $250 is well worth it for that and the peace of mind it gives me to have it done professionally. Now, about those places with the dudes in green Statue of Liberty costumes, not sure about them!!!!

 

[Danmar]

Always done it myself. Actually I really enjoy doing them. Really.

 

[unclemick]

Turbo Tax.

heh heh heh - getting easier by year as I eliminate 'a few good stocks'. Of course I could suffer a hormone attack and screw up my goal of getting to only a balanced indexed fund in retirement.

 

[justplainbll]

I've been preparing my own tax returns for over fifty years. In 1989 I tried T.T., doing my return manually to check T.T. results. Did the same in 1990 for myself and my parents. For a few years I switched back and forth between T.T. and Tax Cut. For the past 5 years I've used an H&RB package.
I find it helpful to independently generate supporting schedules for items like interest, dividends, capital gains, and foreign investment tax credits. I use these schedules to verify the H&RB results. This year the supporting schedules highlighted a problem with the way H&RB handled the allocation of bond premium amortization and discount accretion for tax exempt bonds between home state taxable and tax exempt interest income.