I've always used Turbotax, but 2017 was a lot more complicated since we moved states and jobs. I think we might just let a professional take care of it this year and I have no idea how much that is supposed to cost compared to just doing it online.
H&R Block has a really easy online tool I have used the past few years. I had to pay around $35 to use their premium package because I moved states but I would recommend it filed on Sunday during the Pats game
if thats the only change turbotax is still super easy and walks you through it i always use turbotax ftr
So for people who get them done by a pro, how much is it supposed to cost? I've basically gone through all of turbotax and honestly I just don't like the number I saw at the end and I'm hoping someone who knows what they're doing can help. But if it's gonna cost a ton I'd rather just do it myself. Basically I'm using you people as a cost benefit analysis.
It depends on how involved your stuff is/how long it would take them to do it plus their markup but it can easily be in the $300 range even for fairly small returns
My accountant charges around 2-250 an hour, so comes out to about $800 for personal and about $800 for my s-corp taxes. He's on the more expensive side, but he's worth every penny to me. He has saved me much more than that, plus I don't have to do anything besides pretty much forward him my quickbooks backup and W-2's and he takes care of everything else. Also, I can contact him at any time to answer questions throughout the year.
Like you, I’ve flirted with the idea of paying a pro but I have 2 W-2’s to fill out, negligible mortgage interest since the house is almost paid off, strait forward investments, and that’s it. I can’t see how a pro could do anything for me, especially with the new standard deduction. Hopefully in the next year or so I can start investing beyond what I’m doing (rental property or something) and I’ll definitely need some help.
Same. W2, mortgage interest, some investment income and deduct whatever I gave to goodwill/donations. Can't see how $300 will be worth it to me vs just using turbotax
TurboTax/Intuit is a pretty despicable company. They've abetted likely billions in federal tax return fraud over the years. I think they've cleaned up, but they made a boatload of money allowing fraudsters to use their service.
Do your deductions even matter? I’ve never totaled to an amount, after hours of poking around on TurboTax, where they didn’t say “yeah, standard deduction for you.” I’m no Scrooge, I do better when I donate cash to someone I know who is struggling rather than a church or charity whose motives I question.
With my mortgage they do. Before I owned a house, no it didn't matter. Next year, with the doubled standard deduction, no I doubt it will matter for me.
the accountant in my wife's office does it for us over his lunch hour and he usually ask us for a jar of macadamia nuts in return
Found out I can use my firm's software for this year (was strictly forbidden when I worked at a Big 4) but I used Credit Karma last year and will use it for my gf's return this year. It's a great tool if you have some idea of what you're doing and you have a relatively straightforward return.
I’ve done both. TurboTax works fine unless you have a really complex tax situation IMO. When I hired a professional, it was $350.
TurboTax for me. I just have a W2, my mortgage interest, and charitable donations. Would already have it filed but still waiting on a 1098 from the company who serviced my mortgage in early 2017, before they sold it.
My favorite part is clicking random buttons I don't understand and watching to see if it makes my refund go up. Haha free money!!
I clicked something earlier that made it say I owed $5k and I about shat myself. It went away a minute later, but that’s when I basically said fuck it I might let someone else handle this.
CPA. Pay about 1g for the taxes but his availability to answer investment/trust questions throughout the year is more than worth it.
I use a CPA and he charged me about $600 a year originally. Now that things are a little more complicated i think it maybe $1k a year. I can call and ask him questions at any time and its included in the price.
Guys chan and gfa have asked us not to use the names of particular products unless they've paid for TMB sponsorship
I'm in roughly the same situation (minus almost having my house paid off :lolsadface:) plus a rental property and claiming my dad as a dependent, H&R block online seems to handle all that pretty easily or I'm going to be audited in the near future.
The sad part is i usually cut a check for close to $10k every April because the practice where my wife works is small and they let a lady with a high school education handle the W4’s and she doesn’t withhold enough.
Yes. Will she listen and do it? Apparently not the past two years in a row. The problem is my wife was a part time RN for them while she was finishing her nurse practitioner graduate studies. Same company, but now she makes 5x the amount of money. It should adjust according to scale but it didn’t/hasn’t and the HR person refuses to listen and comply. Probably because it requires effort.
When I did them the average ‘easy’ return was $150-200. Depends on the schedules used, multiple states. An easy return could be knocked out in a few minutes if our intern pre-copied everything. Do them yourself unless you get k1s with a little bit of complexity.
pro tip you can make quarterly estimated tax payments on the IRS website through electronic checks. Prob help you avoid the underpayment penalties and interest you have for withholding so much less than what's necessary. Same thing people do that don't get W-2s at all to be able to do federal withholding.
this. no idea if turbo/H&R ask for/track basis schedules and not all firms give you those to factor in disallowed loses with your K-1 package. same with passive activity loss carryovers for offsetting other passive income. curious if people have to keep up with those themselves to type in Turbotax or if it remembers I do my friends returns that just have W-2s / few itemized things for a bottle of liquor. takes 15 minutes to do no reason for people to pay money for that on a CPA that's gonna charge them a minimum of an hour of time.