Question on doing my own taxes this year ?

I'm thinking about doing my own taxes this year. Mainly because the person that was preparing them before isn't being very helpful with the examination of my 2004 return.

1) Is TurboTax OK? They have a Basic for $40 and a Deluxe for $55. Anyone know the difference? 2) Should I go to H&R Block, Jackson-Hewitt, etc? 3) Or should I just read IRS pub. 17 and try it on my own?

I'd also be peparing my wife's return also. Thank you for your help!

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Reply to
kade714
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Deluxe includes the state program. If your state has income tax return requirement, I'd say Deluxe is worth it. Otherwise, basic.

I would avoid them like the plague. They're trained monkeys that punch numbers into a program very similar to turbotax.

Turbotax makes things quite easy. I've used it for several years. Had a paid preparer one year when I had a lot of interesting sales of stocks that split, spunoff and what all. TT is a pleasure to use, actually.

-- Todd H.

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Reply to
Todd H.

it depends on how complicated your return is and how tax knowledgeable you are. I have done our taxes (including a small S corp) by hand and on paper for years. HTH,

Maren (software engineer in my day job, and:) Palms, Etc.: Tropical Plant Seeds - Hand-made Jewelry - Plants & Lilikoi

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Reply to
m.purves

There's a gaping hole in the narrative, but we'll move on.

$15 and some bells and whistles that won't do squat toward a more accurate or less-tax return. There may be something about state interface or e-filing. Check their website. They have a comparison chart, I'm told.

No. I have no doubt that the vast majority of returns they prepare are good, but I've cleaned up too many of their messes to ever recommend to someone's taking that chance.

If you can explain why you and your wife are filing separate returns or, if that's too personal, what the tax implications are for the two of you, I'd say go with Pub 17 and some free software. Otherwise go to a non-storefront preparer or, if your income qualifies, a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site.

-- Phil Marti Clarksburg, MD

Reply to
Phil Marti

Too bad your former return preparer will not stand by the work! A competent Tax accountant, CPA, or EA would! It's time to look for someone with the above credentials Regarding TT, you might be up to the task, depending on how complex your financial issues are. I have been using TurboTax on the WEB for the past four years, the service is pretty good, This years interview process had one bug , when entering the data from the W-2's it asked about the letter code regarding 401k (and the like), but did not have a box entry for the dollar amount, the missing data was detected near the end of the preparation phase, at that pint the system asked me to enter My & the Wife's contributions to the plan. During the interview process, they will try to sell you upgrades on the package level, near the end they will try to sell you special services to ~reduce~ the chances that your return might be audited in the future, you may or may not need to do this, but then again, that's what you did not buy from your former provider, and that which many tax professionals ~will~ charge you for. Ya get what Ya pay for.

Good luck.

The Taxmans returns were accepted as of 5am (IRS) & 9am (MASS) today,YEEEHAA

Reply to
Taxmanhog

The Deluxe includes "free" state software, if you live in a state with income tax.

By all means, read PUB 17, then you will understand what the software is doing (see below).

I am not a tax professional but I have always done my own taxes. I have used TurboTax from the start. I always use the forms (manual entry) views rather than the interview because I am a firm believer that having tax software is not an excuse to not educate myself on the current tax law and the proper way to fill out the forms. I just don't trust the software enough to blindly follow the interview without a full understanding of what the entries actually mean. To me the software is a very useful tool to neatly fill out the forms and do the math (and I do do a visual sanity check of the math to see if it seems reasonable). I would never again do taxes by hand. The software takes most of the work out of it but doesn't replace a basic understanding of what you are doing. I don't want to discourage you from doing it yourself, but I do encourage you to understand the forms and not just blindly input data.

--

-Ernie-

Reply to
Ernie Klein

This depends on (a) the complexity of your return, (b) your comfort level, and (c) how quickly you need your refund. Some folks are quite confident filing their own complicated returns complete with schedules A, B, C, and D, but as a seasonal tax preparer I have had clients happy to pay me (or, more precisely, pay the outfit for which I work) to tackle their lone W2 on a 1040EZ. Most of those just want a refund loan, but others just aren't comfortable doing it themselves - I really do get EZs where the client pays out of pocket to have me do their return and has the IRS mail them a paper check. If your income is earned and interest and you have regular W2s and 1099s for everything, pretty much any of the popular tax prep packages or online services should be more than adequate. If you itemize and have paper on all of the major items (interest on home mortgage, real estate taxes paid, et cetera) it's a bit more complicated but the packages will walk you through it. If you have income from more than one state or military pay, or took an early distribution from a retirement plan, or think you may qualify for the earned income credit, or have a small business or a farm or oil-and-gas income, or any of a lot of other stuff, things can get real complicated real quick.If you have copies of last year's tax forms and your situation hasn't changed much, it can be helpful to look that over as well. Your mileage may vary with the big tax prep outfits like H&R Block and Jackson-Hewitt. I'm not going to tell you which one I work for, if either. I will say that in my case I got plenty of training, both in tax law and on their tax-prep systems, and the office in which I work always has uberexperienced folks ready to deal with any complicated issues that may arise on a return. For most people my outfit is even a bargain this year; most have no idea about things like the phone excise tax credit that we get for just about everyone, and for a lot of people that credit offsets a fair chuck of the tax prep fee. OTOH most clients at these outfits this time of year are there for the refund loans, not for any real expertise in tax preparation, and most of the returns I'm doing now are quite straightforward (at least when separated parents and grandparents aren't arguing over who gets to claim the kids and grandkids :) The complicated ones - and around here, that means farm and / or oil-and-gas returns - will start to show up in about a month. Pub 17 is a good reference but a lousy textbook; essential to have on the shelf, but reading it won't be of much help to a novice. You say you are also going to prepare your wife's return as well. Married filing separately creates a whole 'nother set of potentially troublesome issues, so be careful with that.

-- John D. Goulden

Reply to
John D. Goulden

It all depends on how complicated your tax return is and how well you understand the tax preparation process. I did my own return for years, using both TurboTax and later TaxCut. The basic versions work fine, the deluxe just add in things like tax advice or the ability to talk with reps. I have 2 schedule Cs, rental income, interest and dividends, and the occassional stock sale and did fine on my own. I now work for H&R Block and do my tax return there. If you go to H&R, call to make an appointment and ask for someone who has experience preparing a return similar to yours. This will ensure that you get someone experienced and capable, rather than just walking in off the street and getting the next available preparer. Unless your return is very simple, I wouldn't do it with paper and pencil. It's too easy to miss something, and the software interview helps avoid this. Plus, when you change something, it carries to all the necessary places. Dennis

Reply to
bono9763

Generally it is best to have someone help with your return, as the average taxpayer misses a lot of tax attributes and planning opportunities. Much of the work that I do (I am a tax attorney who helps taxpayers with IRS controversies and litigation) is a direct result of taxpayers preparing their own tax returns. Given this perspective, I say invest the few dollars and let a CPA prepare your returns for you (besides, a good CPA can typically save you more in taxes than the cost for their services -- and you get to avoid the braindamage associated with doing your own return...). :)

Kreig Mitchell

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Reply to
Kreig Mitchell

The web versions of some of these products costs less. Your bank or insurance company may offer these at lower price from what I've heard. Some peole debate about online security.

Reply to
rick++

TurboTax is OK, but IMO TaxAct

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ismuch easier to use and it's half the price. Many pros usethe "Pro" version which is the same engine as thehome/personal version. There is a TaxAct unofficial support group at

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which is very helpful.

-- To email me directly, remove CLUTTER.

Reply to
Vic Dura

Thanks for all the help everyone!

It's a long story, but my last preparer hasn't been very responsive with my current Examination, so I will not be going back to him. I've also used H&R before and once or twice the person didn't look very sure of himself. After everyone's advice, I'm leaning towards buying TurboTax Deluxe (desktop) and preparing the returns myself. I've read over Pub 17 so that should help a little. My return should be fairly straight-forward since I am not self- employed, but I do have two houses, and three dependents. My wife's should be easier since she just has one dependent. From the comments here, it also sounds like we should be filing a joint return?... I thought I read somewhere that we should file separate if we both make close to the same amount of salary. Is this not the case? What are the main reasons to file joint vs. separately? Maybe I could run the numbers for both and see which method saves us the most money...?

Reply to
kade714

Amen, I say again amen........

Regards,

Mark Rigotti

Reply to
Mark X. Rigotti, CPA

It may or may not be. For example, if you live in Ohio it may well be to your advantage to file Married, Filing Separately because of the effect of the Ohio income tax. Ohio requires that you use the same filing status as the Federal. OTOH, DC, which has a rate structure similar to Ohio's, allows a different filing status for state than for Federal. Thus it's common for DC working couples to file joint Federal returns and separate DC returns. The way to find out for sure is to compute your returns, including the state, both ways and see which gives you the lesser total tax. If you find you've been doing it wrong you can amend 2003 and later. The deadline for 2003 is April 17.

-- Phil Marti Clarksburg, MD

Reply to
Phil Marti

I will add one note to this that hasn't been mentioned yet (I think), and that is many married people work the numbers and FALSLY think that there is a huge advantage to MFS because they max out itemized deductions for one filer and take the standard deduction for the other. They do not know or realize that doing this is a huge no-no and not allowed. When they redo the calculations following the law (if one itemizes, both MUST itemize, even if the second filer has no deductions) they find out that the advantage swings the other way, to MFJ. If they have made that mistake in the past they will be in for a rude awakening when the IRS matches their returns down the road and presents them with a huge tax bill. Hopefully, that is not what is happening here.

--

-Ernie-

Reply to
Ernie Klein

Which state you live in does make a difference. Texas is a community property state and the only reason I've seen in real life NOT to file joint is if the taxpayer or spouse is so angry and bitter that even saving hundreds or thousands of dollars can't get them to agree to work together long enough file. Crystal Houston, TX

Reply to
pleasedontemailme

I just had to laugh out loud when I read that. Again, I won't say who I work with, but it's a standing joke in the office that we're always having to clean up the messes left by the "other guys." No doubt they say the same about us. I had an "other guy" return (and not just any other guy, but our arch-rival) come in for a double-check just the other day and saw that they had missed a pretty obvious adjustment (forced-itemize on Federal to save big on State) that would have increased their client's net refund by $300. They left pretty upset at the other guy... Stories like this are just part of the business, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most of the people working in a seasonal tax office (whether HRB, JH, Liberty, independent, or whatever) do a pretty good job and take pride in their work.

-- John D. Goulden

Reply to
John D. Goulden

I live in California. Should I file MFJ then?

Just checked out TaxAct and it is definitely cheaper (~50%) than TurboTax. Anyone have anything to say about how the two compare? I've just never heard about it until now... so it's hard to defend saving a few bucks for something I've never heard of. Thanks as always

Reply to
kade714

Two comments. First, any decent tax prep program will allow you to compare MFS with MFJ with a click or two. That is a big advantage over doing your taxes with pen and pencil. As for TurboTax vs. TaxAct. I know this is not the proper forum to discuss tax software, but let me quickly say that I have used both. TurboTax is a very nice program but messes too much with my computer. It installs advertisements on my desktop and demands certain versions of IE, even going so far as to install the version it wants instead of just living with the version I have. In addition, it has been reported that TurboTax will not allow updates to be installed if you are running certain operating systems and do not have administrator rights. TaxAct is a bit less slick, but doesn't mess with my computer. I have been using TaxAct ever since the TurboTax "activation" fiasco of 2002. And, there is a very good Yahoo Group for discussion of TaxAct issues, with some of the friendly people you have already met here.

-- Vic Roberts Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

Reply to
Victor Roberts

Also, apologies for continuing this tax software discussion, but I just want to point out that as far as I know, TurboTax is the ONLY tax software available if you are running a Macintosh operating system.

None of the installation problems, browser requirements or any other computer related problems that Victor pointed out, exists with the Mac version of TurboTax. The activation fiasco that Victor referred to was a PC only problem and never affected the Mac version at all (only because Intuit couldn't figure out how to implement it on a Mac). I have used TT for years, trouble free and highly recommend it if you have a Mac.

--

-Ernie-

Reply to
Ernie Klein

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