Do You Do Your Own Tax Return Or Pay Someone To Do It For You?

I've had mine done with the same tax service company for the last 20-ish years. Two tax preparers (the first one moved out of the area), they have both been great and I think they are rather reasonable.

My stepfather went to some senior free place but they don't seem to be doing it this year due to Covid. He'll have to find a place. They did extend tax filing into May I think.
 
If I were paying, it would be to an accountant rather than to HR. An American friend is extremely qualified. She said that there’re many who are hired & given quick training. That’s not good if you have anything more than simple taxes.
 

We just got our income tax claims back after 4 years of not doing it and were pleasantly surprised.🤭
Yayyyy! It’s definitely worth having a professional do it. Our accountant moved away but we tracked her down and finally got it done. 💰
 
Was just mentioning on the "What are you doing today" thread that there's a volunteer group of accountants doing taxes for seniors every year and they are great. But, thanks to the goddamned virus they're doing it online this year and that's more confusing than just slogging through it myself.
 
SetWave said:
I paid a guy who came highly recommended. HA! He and his staff were extremely rude and inefficient. What a mistake.
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I’m sorry this happened to you. We lucked out by getting a very shy, introverted accountant who we found in the area when we moved here and she’s been doing our taxes since.

I’ve got a disability which has been claimed for years and she makes sure it goes through so we get the extra tax break. When we had a small business she gave us lots of tips so we’d get a better return. Very well worth the cost.

My in-laws used to do their taxes every year and ended up paying about $800 every year. This year they got an account and are getting between two and three thousand dollars.

I don’t know enough about taxes to do our own accounting. It’s not something I’m good at but my mom was an accountant by trade and she was a math whiz. From ‘our’ accountant experience, it’s been worthwhile. I hope you find a better one next time.
 
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We use a tax professional. I did our taxes myself while we were working; it was usually the EZ1040 form. But once we took retirement, I was tired of both managing the asset portfolio and doing the taxes, so we now use an independent CFP firm and are on our second tax pro.

Our first tax adviser was a family friend - very good but he was elderly. After a bout with skin cancer, he became noticeably frailer. I finally decided to find someone closer to us and was referred to the woman we now use. She mostly does work for small businesses so she considers us one of her "easy" clients. This is our second year with her.

As we take regular distributions from our taxable portfolio, it's worthwhile for us having pros for both asset management and tax filing. Our distributions are managed with an eye towards taxes, which definitely helps keep our effective tax rates lower.

This is important as Spouse's pension is fully taxable which thus bumps my SocSec into the highest taxable bracket.

Our federal and state tax forms totaled 42 pages this year. We figure our CPA is worth every penny of her cost.
 
Bejjks said:
how was the issue resolved?
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I thanked him for his effort

Went home

Fired up Turbo Tax

Listed everything he didn't
including the obvious (to me) deductions

Got a refund

Turbo made it so easy (for me)
Their program asked questions I hadn't considered
and found places I'd omitted

Last year I had an issue with them
Went live with one of their guys
Either I wasn't making myself clear, or he just wasn't getting it
Went a couple rungs up their tech ladder
Got the issue resolved
No refund, but didn't have to pay anything in
 
I have a whole team of accountants & CPA's. A big hassle for someone as wealthy as I am. 😂
 


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