Do your own taxes?

[spec4]

Wife says we don't know anyone who does their own taxes like we do. I have never paid someone to do mine, it strikes me as odd that one would pay someone to find out where they are tax wise. This discussion started as we were going over her deceased aunts papers. We saw that she paid H&R Block $300 last year to do a return that I could do in 15 minutes.

So how many of you do your own and how many pay someone else to do theirs? Let's not consider Sub S or corporate filers.

 

[PaulJF]

I am a small business owner/ self employed and we do our own taxes. Always have, always will.

 

[Suprtek]

There are many on line services or software programs you can purchase that make it very possible for the average person to do it themselves. This is what I have been doing for years. So I guess I am still paying a fee, but not to a tax preparer and not as much. If things change to make mine much more complex, I would consider it though.

 

[OakRiver]

My wife and I do our own taxes

 

[alexIndy]

I do my own taxes. Pretty easy if you have everything organized and kept in one place throughout the year.

 

[SouthernIndy]

I do my own and the rest of the family.

 

[Jarhead77]

For the past 38 years....

 

[gregkl]

I do my own. Last year I finally reached the point where the standard deduction was worth more than itemizing. I imagine this years will be the same since I sold my home in September.

 

[pute62]

Always did my own in the past. I used the Turbo Tax free today to file since it was all the EZ forms. Even easier and only took about a half hour.

 

[edporch]

I use a very sharp but honest CPA to assist me because he saves me more money than he costs.

I show up at his office with detailed categorized reports that break down all monies in and out.
By doing this, I use very little of his time and his fee is reasonable.

He takes my numbers and does his magic on them in about 30 minutes and saves me a lot of money because he knows the tax laws to a degree that I never could.
It's paid off me for for over 20 years.

PLUS, when there's any questions from the IRS, he's there to answer them and clear things up.

BUT I do agree that in many cases, one could do well just doing their taxes their self.
Mine just isn't one of them.

 

[possum_128]

Wife does ours and my son"s.

 

[CitiusFortius]

Taxact.com - $17 and keeps info year over year. All I have to do is update it. Does that count as me doing my own taxes?

 

[SkullDaddy.45]

We did our own up until about 5 years ago. I like being able to blame someone other then myself if something goes wrong!

 

[Jeepster48439]

We do our own. Always have.

 

[eldirector]

We do our own as well. My wife was an accounting major in college. I swear she enjoys it.

 

[TTB Yeee]

I have always done my own. I don't have anything outlandish I need to worry about, and I have a MBA with a focus in Accounting (not that I do taxes professionally or anything, but I have a bit of knowledge).

Tax programs make things pretty simple.

 

[rhinoabe]

I do my moms and the wife does ours.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I use a CPA. She's never failed to get me more back then what I did on my own.

 

[Crbn79]

I've had mine professionally done by family each year. It used to be free, but now it costs me $20. $20 investment and I know I have a 100% audit guarantee, if the IRS finds any fault in my prepared taxes it's all covered. Sure I could pay $0 and do it myself, but I consider it a $20 insurance policy that the IRS won't bother me.

The IRS also changes it's tax code EVERY STINKING YEAR! I'd rather not have them keep any extra of my money, nor do I want to sit through an 80 hour class on how to maximize hidden deductions. The tax person I know just got a friend of mine back $11k on 3 years of taxes they had prepared themselves.

 

[PapaScout]

Yup! Since 1991.