Do I pay a tax accountant or file my own taxes?

[Aerides]

Most any stress in taxes for us is "oops can't find that form" or some data point I haven't properly calculated for my business. An accountant wouldn't help with those. So we file our own. One afternoon, once a year, using Taxact, usually with some discount or another.

 

[sleddy]

Should I pay 250 dollars this year to do my Federal and 3 state tax returns, because of the extra expense for each state tax filing?

I can use TT, but the total cost would be about 110-130 dollars to buy the software and electronic filing plus the 3 state tax returns.

Is it worth my time and stress angel, or pay to get it done?

What do you all think?

Appreciate your thoughts, thanks.

$250 for federal and 3 state? Could I get your accountant's number?

 

[Yoheadden]

https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

I saw that the OP decided to use an accountant, but I just wanted to share something I came across this morning.

Apparently, the IRS has a Public/Private agreement to help tax payers prepare their taxes for free. It is called IRS Free File. If you have an AGI of $73,000 or less, you can file for free. There are also state forms available for free. I did see something about an option to file for free if you have an AGI higher than $73,000, but I didn’t read into it.

 

[Healthy Lifestyle]

https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

I saw that the OP decided to use an accountant, but I just wanted to share something I came across this morning.

Apparently, the IRS has a Public/Private agreement to help tax payers prepare their taxes for free. It is called IRS Free File. If you have an AGI of $73,000 or less, you can file for free. There are also state forms available for free. I did see something about an option to file for free if you have an AGI higher than $73,000, but I didn’t read into it.

Appreciate the great feed back from everyone, and in the future I now see a few more self preparation options to consider.

 

[socca]

A disadvantage with DIY tax filing is that you are your own IT support department. Software, hardware, and/or network issues are your problem, and the IRS isn't interested in excuses. If you hire a pro, IT issues are her problem. My approach to mitigating DIY IT risk is getting tax stuff done early so there's sufficient time before the filing deadline to handle any issues. Unfortunately, some entities who issue 1099s do it late (e.g. Vanguard), which prevents getting tax stuff done very early.

 

[target2019]

Either you're into DIY tax prep, or not. It becomes easier as you go along each year. Of course there's always that first step. You kinda have to like it, too, as pointed out in another thread.

Organizing data to get the correct inputs is an art. If you're not labelling and organizing transactions, well, you're missing out on something useful there, too.