Taxes - DIY or pay someone?

Erikan73 · January 2014

I had always previously done my taxes myself being single and a basic tax return. Last year single DH & I were still filing seperate due to some tax issues, it wasn't an issue. Well issues resolved and now we're wondering, keep doing them ourselves or paysome. Looking to see if anyone has any experience on if having someone do your taxes for you is worth the cost. Do you really get enough of a difference back to offset what you paid to have them done?

Xstatic3333 · January 2014

Well, I used TurboTax for most of my adult life. Then, for 2010, my parents told me that their CPA had offered to do my returns for free when he did theirs. I wasn't a dependent at that point, he just has a good relationship with my parents and made the offer to maintain that relationship. I took them up on it, and, lo and behold, I was audited for that year.

It was not the CPA's fault at all; there was an issue with the form listing the tuition paid to my school, and several other students were audited that year for the same reason. However, because he had done my return that year he dealt with the entire issue. All I had to do was sign and mail a letter he prepared, and I did not owe anything extra to the IRS. It was awesome.

Now that DH and I are married we will have to pay the CPA, but have decided to go ahead and do it. It will be $300 for us, but we have to pay taxes in two states so that drives it up a bit. I've gotten good refunds from both the CPA and TurboTax in the past, so I'm really paying for the piece of mind.

jessica490 · January 2014

My dad does our on H&R block or Turbo Tax, I can't remember which. If he wasn't around to do it, I wouldn't have a clue on what to do.....

jtmh2012 · January 2014

We use TurboTax, but only because I have some investments outside of retirement accounts and it really makes it a lot easier to deal with. Before that, we just handfiled them.

smbenevides1989 · January 2014

I used to go to a CPA until my friend mentioned that I can do it myself on TaxAct. I've done it online for 3 years and have never had a problem. This year I'm on the fence. My DH held 3 jobs last year, one was in a different state. I have SLs, out of state taxes, and a whole bunch of other paperwork. We also got married and have a dependent. I did start my tax preparation on TaxAct just to see how much refund I *could* get. I may just bite the bullet though.

vlagrl29 · January 2014

It's worth it to us to have a CPA because we are both self employed. I don't want to deal with the headache of doing it myself, plus he is a professional and knows all about what can be deducted or not. Ours only charges $150 for me.

ta78 · January 2014

I do ours with Turbo Tax. I pay the extra $20 or $30 and it goes through every little thing. Im not sure I even need to do that because ours is pretty simple.

ta78 · January 2014

If I were self employed, I would hire someone.

dragonstarjk · January 2014

I use H&R Block online; I pay $49.95 for the premium version becaus that includes the extra forms/schedules for my small side business (sole proprietor, so it's all included on our individual tax return). I've used it for several years and haven't had any issues so far. It really makes it super easy because it asks questions that remind me of things I would have forgotten. Before we were married, I did my taxes myself, by hand, on the actual paper form with an actual calculator. I've always thought it was fun though, so I can't imagine paying somebody

IAmSherlocked · January 2014

DH and I have always used TurboTax for our taxes and we've never had a problem. My FIL does taxes for most of the family, and he's always been a great resource for me whenever I have questions. In fact he showed me how to do my own taxes after I got my first job in college.

My parents have run into a lot of trouble with taxes (they're not good with money, at all!) and I'm paranoid about having that happen to me, so I always ask FIL to double check my forms for me. In return he gets a fresh batch of his favorite lemon cookies

If I was self-employed or had some other circumstances that I wasn't 100% sure about I would bite the bullet and hire a pro because I wouldn't feel comfortable handling that on my own.

duckie1905 · January 2014

We pay for TurboTax. We have a few tiny tax things that disqualify us from the free version and TurboTax really makes it a snap. I buy the basic version so it doesn't include state but once the federal is done I usually just print up the form for the state, fill it out, and mail it in.

mbecker03 · January 2014

Unless you have something complicated going on, like being self-employed, I would just use Turbo Tax. Though last year we had a professional do ours because my wife is self-employed (though with a very small amount of business), and I double-checked their work with Turbo Tax and came out to the exact same thing. Actually Turbo Tax found a deduction that they hadn't, which I notified them of and had them update.

Wulfgar · January 2014

For us, I have used Turbo Tax or other software programs for our taxes. Prior to marriage, we could use the free versions.

When I moved to Oklahoma than back, I used H&R Block to file the dual State taxes. There has been other times when I used H&R Block in the past, but I agree with most of the people on here that a CPA only needs to be hired if you have your own businesses or complex tax returns.

Erikan73 · January 2014

Thanks everyone! I worked up the figured over the weekend on H & R Block. But after seeing the figures we have decided that this year we are going to pay a CPA for some advice. My husband owed again this year. So we need some professional advice on how he could change his withholdings around to help prevent that from happening next year. I'm not necessarily looking for a huge refund. I would actually like to have more money in my pocket each month & break even on my taxes. But I want to make sure that we don't end up doing something that will have us owing large amounts to IRS

hoffse · January 2014

Yeah I use Turbo Tax too - I might start doing them by hand if H or I ever partner and are considered self-employed. But for now Turbo Tax works great. It picks up our deductions and school credits too, so I'm happy with it.

VadersValkyrie · January 2014

I did TurboTax through my bank website a few years ago, but then I was working with the Obama tax rebate for my house, and my then-fiance-now-husband was working out of state, so we went with the CPA my parents use. Since we got married at the end of last year, we'll be going back to the CPA to see what's the best way to file.

takmjs · January 2014

My dad is a CPA, so I'm a little biased. He's told so many stories of how people didn't want to pay a CPA to do their taxes, but lo and behold, it saves them a ton of money (more for future years than that year). Part of that is that he and his office don't just do taxes; they also give you financial advice so that you get the best tax benefits for future years in terms of saving for retirement, 529 plans, kids' education, estates, etc. It really depends on what you have on your taxes--like if you're self-employed, if you own a rental property, if you received an inheritance, etc. I will always go to a CPA personally.

Taxes - DIY or pay someone?

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