My parents generally always claimed me as their dependent and my mother generally filed everything herself. That being said, with various investments, capital gains, being in a different state, my tax situation has gotten too complicated for her to reasonably do.
What do you all use? Local CPA? Something like turbotax?
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Similar situation to you. With previously being a dependent and now a 1000 different capital gain transactions, crypto, moving states, etc. Turbo Tax has been pretty great for me
Turbo tax is easy if your finances are straightforward.
Sounds like TurboTax is the move
I'm a big proponent of Eberhard Faber #2. (I would not recommend Dixon Ticonderoga)
Outside of one year I've just done it myself, but my taxes have always been pretty simple. 1040, and schedule A, plus that one for HSA distributions once and a while. I only had my old college roommate (accountant and tax lawyer) do my taxes once, but I was dealing with two part year state residencies while working in two other states at the same time.
I still use Turbo Tax. I guess I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to most things personal finance related but I get some satisfaction out of doing my own. I keep my taxes fairly simple with mostly liquid investments and W2 income but every year I question whether this is still the right move.
In Europe Govt does it for you and you get at the end of the year your debit/credit. Though you can get an accountant if you want to optimise.
Big 4 CPA/EA/JD
Leave Turbo Tax and H&R blockheads to the non target muppets.
I use FreeTaxUSA (Yes it's legitimate, millions file on it). It's cheaper than Turbo Tax. Federal is free and if your state requires one it's $15. It covers everything you would need more than likely.
My buddy actually only takes friends and friends of friends too. It's a side hustle for him, He left the DoD to teach tax law at Penn State. I'm trying to move my parents over to him, because their accountant sucks.
I also use FreeTax USA and would recommend it over TurboTax.
Me too, really use to use and only like $13 or whatever for the state return.
My commie country automatically deducts wage taxes, which means the only time you really have to do them is if you´re self-employed, or want to claim some deductions. Funny, I hear burgers making fun of high yuropoor taxes, but with insurances and all, you people make even less per currency unit than we do lmao
One man local CPA - doesn't advertise, only takes new clients via recommendations. He's $125 for simple taxes (W2+1099 with standard deduction) which is competitive with TurboTax.
Get a CPA. If you filed your own taxes and do it improperly, the IRS may charge you a penalty. Whereas if you get a CPA and they do something incorrectly or something in a gray area, the IRS will just make you pay back what you owe. The IRS normally doesn't punish people if the CPA did something incorrectly. Thats not to say you cant get in trouble with a CPA, but just get a reputable one thats not too expensive. In reality, you may not save a ton more, but the benefit you get is the ability to put the burden on someone else.
How much should a CPA cost? I do mine for $500+ because my tax returns are complicated, but interested in knowing if I'm getting ripped off
It all depends. A simple return needing to be filed should only cost a few hundred bucks. For me, I have multiple RE investments meaning multiple K1s which require more work for the accountant so he charges me a bit more.
I'd say if your a clean filer meaning a W2 and some other investment income from stocks, then its a pretty easy filing. If you have multiple businesses, investments, or are a 1099, then it would cost more because the CPA may be able to get you additional savings but it requires more time for them to file.
used HR block forever. I do 1099R for backdoor roth, 1099 for investments, w2 income with some minor equity comp & deferred comp. all of my charity is anonymous and my property taxes are very reasonable so I use the standard deduction
if I have all of my forms, I can get it done in <30 minutes and it's incredibly easy. if I had to itemize or if I had more complicated investments like real estate or partnerships or a private business I may feel differently, but absent that I see no reason to pay somebody to do a simple return
have also had to file an amended return because of a late document one year, was hardly an issue at all. block helped me calculate what I owed, I sent it in with the payment and never heard from the IRS again. they also have an accuracy guarantee so if there is an issue, they say they'll help out. who knows
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