Taxes, do you do your own?

designer · #1 12/30/08, 07:07 AM

Or pay someone. I have been doing my own for years and don't know if getting someone else would maybe get more deductions then I'm finding. I have been using Tax Cut software and taking business deductions. But have been coming out oweing the same amount we get back from state. I'm affriad we might not break even this year because we are in that unfair state of supporting a child who is now too old to get a deduction for.(19) He has worked part time for a few months and will file his own taxes for the first time this year.

My husband's hours have been cut and there is no way we could come up with a couple of hundred dollars to pay in taxes this year.

lharvey · #2 12/30/08, 08:28 AM

Do your own or pay someone.

This is a tough question.

I used to do my own but keeping up with the changes in the laws from year to year and this form and that form, payments 10-99's and all that stuff.

I found an accountant that takes care of all that stuff. He suggested that I use Quick Book Pro for all my stuff. He came to my office and set it up and it has been working very well. QB allows me to track my invoices and actually keep track of everything that I may have been missing using the old spread sheet system from before.

I e-mail him the Accountants Copy of my books once a month, he then looks it over and then makes his adjustments and e-mails it back to me all fixed if he finds errors.

At the end of the year I send him the same AC of it and he prepares my taxes from the reports contained in there All done slick as a whistle and sent to the State and IRS by the end of January.

This has worked for me. The cost per month is more than offset by tracking unpaid invoices and getting them paid where they may have previously slipped through the cracks.

My Son-In-Law still does he own for his business. I know he can do better if he would let a pro take care of it for him.

Alice In TX/MO · #3 12/30/08, 04:19 PM

I use Quickbooks for the companies I manage and then send the copies of the QBfiles to my accountant so he can do the taxes.

There's no way an ordinary human can keep up with the changes in tax accounting. Accountants are special people.

goatsareus · #4 12/30/08, 06:10 PM

I guess dh is a database and spread sheet geek. He does our personal taxes, the taxes on his two businesses (computer and homebuilding businesses), the taxes for a commercial roofing business he works for, and the personal taxes for his mom and two friends. Pretty sure he uses Tax Cut software

sisterpine · #5 12/30/08, 06:11 PM

I have been using turbo taxes for home and business as i am a sole proprieter. This has been working well for me the past 5 or so years. I think if things took a turn towards a more complicated tax report I would probably hire it out. Although I think as an American that the people of a country ought to be able to understand the system well enough to do their own taxes. It is sad that our government does not feel the same way! sis

edcopp · #6 12/30/08, 07:42 PM

I do my own, and have for over 50 years. It is not likely that I will change any time soon. In the past I worked for a time, doing tax returns for others. That is when I became willing to study the information provided by IRS. That pays off for me.

If I had an adult child that I supported, and that caused me some financial problem, I would quickly make the problem his. Give him a bill. It is time for him to contribute to his own support.

designer · #7 12/31/08, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edcopp

.....If I had an adult child that I supported, and that caused me some financial problem, I would quickly make the problem his. Give him a bill. It is time for him to contribute to his own support.

I agree, and he is. We are in a rual county with very high unemployment, he is working at Wendy's but only gets part time hours. It is complicated by the fact that he doesn't drive due to his epilepsy so he can only work when I'm off and can take him. Most of his pay is going to his medical bills. He has no health insurance and his medication is very expensive.

On taxes, I am a sole P. and don't make much money at it(very bad at marketing). I also work fulltime. I have been using the Tax Cut software but can't help but worry that I'm missing some deduction. I'll check out the IRS website, maybe I need to research it more before doing it this year.

Oldcountryboy · #8 12/31/08, 12:26 PM

Varies for us. We usually hire someone to do ours but come the second year and nothing has changed on how we make our income or any deductions then we do it ourselves using last years income tax as a guideline.

However, the last few years something has always changed for us such as trying out different self employment business and have had to hire help with our taxes. But back when I worked for one company year after year for several years my taxes rarely changed except for maybe a annual raise that very seldomly put me in a higher tax bracket. Then I would just basically copy the exact info from last years tax preperations.

Jennifer L. · #9 12/31/08, 03:22 PM

I've done mine for years but will have someone do them this year because I sold some property and that's a new thing to me, and since I never depreciated it, etc, there's things going on that I'd rather have a professional have a look at it at least this year. I use Turbo Tax and in fact have already started doing my taxes for this year---I'll compare what my taxes look like to what the professional does and see how tax savvy I am. I'm hoping there won't be a big difference between the two!

Jennifer

edcopp · #10 12/31/08, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by designer

I agree, and he is. We are in a rual county with very high unemployment, he is working at Wendy's but only gets part time hours. It is complicated by the fact that he doesn't drive due to his epilepsy so he can only work when I'm off and can take him. Most of his pay is going to his medical bills. He has no health insurance and his medication is very expensive.

On taxes, I am a sole P. and don't make much money at it(very bad at marketing). I also work fulltime. I have been using the Tax Cut software but can't help but worry that I'm missing some deduction. I'll check out the IRS website, maybe I need to research it more before doing it this year.

Check with your sons medical provider, or have him do it. Find out if assistance is available for low income people (him). Also there may be some help available with the medications. Some manufacturers of drugs have foundations to provide meds for low income people, sometimes free.

Jobs and extra income seem to be pretty scarce all over, so just keep plugging along.

whodunit · #11 12/31/08, 04:55 PM

I have mine done. The cost is worth the headache for me.

Interesting story, the guy who has done them for me for probably the last 12 years them lived 45 miles from me and I had never met him until a few years ago. I just sent him everything and we got our checks a few weeks later. I wouldn't have known him if we walked past each other!

He gives us a good deal. He's partially disabled and lives very rurally, so it's a great income for him.

He is also on MY side rather the government's. Although being in the profession I have been in, I've had to encourage him in the past to be "conservative" rather than "creative"; to make sure I get what's due, but that I do it honestly.

**clovis** · #12 01/01/09, 12:22 AM

I do my own taxes, and have done so since the beginning.

The first few years, I am embarrassed to say that I was too ashamed of how little I had earned to show to a tax man or CPA.

Those CPA's also charged more than I had to spend, and wanted a year long committment of doing my books...or better yet, a profit and loss statement per quarter. I simply did not have the money, nor did I see the value for the cost versus the service I would recieve. It might have been worth it though.

One thing that I hear over and over is "I cannot believe you do your own taxes. Do you know how much you are losing each year?!?!?!?".

After 15 years in business, and really, really, truely trying to study the tax forms, and what write offs honestly apply to me, I still haven't found anyone that can tell me how I can do something better, optimize and reduce my tax liability, etc.

Most of the people that make the afore mentioned comments generally, I find, don't really know alot about taxes, the forms, the laws, etc. The last guy that said that to me followed up in total amazement by saying "Did you know you can actually write off your mileage?"

Yes, I am sure that there are things that I have missed, and probably would have saved money in the long run, and would not have had the headaches of doing tax forms.

If my business would have been alot more profitable, or if I had greater assets, employees, etc, I am sure a CPA would be needed, and well worth the cost. For instance, I know a super wealthy businessman that owns a ton of property, and has a huge income. His CPA recommended that he buy a new Lincoln for the tax benefits. While I understood fully the deduction, my income would not have supported the same purchase without going into debt. A CPA was great for him in that situation.

I also, looking back, feel like knowing and learning the tax forms has helped me be a better businessman. Understanding how taxes and business spending is advantageous is key, I think. It has helped guide me in a direction that I wanted to go with my business in being debt free.

Clove

Baba · #13 01/01/09, 12:41 PM

I usually do our taxes too.

foxtrapper · #14 01/04/09, 06:32 PM

A lot depends on how complex your tax situation is. As well your understanding of the tax law. Then there is the matter of how risky you're willing to play it.

For a long time I did my own because my taxes were dead simple. Paying someone to fill out a 1040EZ is silly. When I got married, my taxes became much more complex. So for a while I hired the work out. The accountant was good and we could easily talk about how much risk I was willing to take, and where.

Turbotax came out, the accountant was using it, and kept bragging about how it did everything for him. Eventually I bought a copy and tried it. What I most liked was the ability to go "what if" and set up all sorts of different scenarious. The questions turbotax asked me that my accountant never did helped me save a good bit more money.

Today, and for some years now, I've been doing my own taxes, on the computer. I do not file electronically, I do it by paper.

MorrisonCorner · #15 01/05/09, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by designer

I agree, and he is. We are in a rual county with very high unemployment, he is working at Wendy's but only gets part time hours. It is complicated by the fact that he doesn't drive due to his epilepsy so he can only work when I'm off and can take him. Most of his pay is going to his medical bills. He has no health insurance and his medication is very expensive.

On taxes, I am a sole P. and don't make much money at it(very bad at marketing). I also work fulltime. I have been using the Tax Cut software but can't help but worry that I'm missing some deduction. I'll check out the IRS website, maybe I need to research it more before doing it this year.

I think you might still be able to claim him as a deduction. You'd want to check on that but there is provision in the tax code for supporting a disabled adult.

designer · #16 01/06/09, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MorrisonCorner

I think you might still be able to claim him as a deduction. You'd want to check on that but there is provision in the tax code for supporting a disabled adult.

My understanding is that you have to be be certified "disabled" by social security for that. Since he is capible of doing some work he can't get certified. He is stuck in that area of limbo between totally disabled and being able to support himself.

HOTW · #17 01/07/09, 07:50 AM

We use Turbo Tax I have never had a problem with them and it dumps old info from previous years into the new progam every year. Been using it since 1998-99 can't remeber which year. I have tried using accountants several times and gottne screwed by them. I had a better grasp on the taxes than them! But my mum always taught us a lot about bookkeeping so to find stupid mistakes by an accountant was pretty dismaying!

mosepijo · #18 01/17/09, 03:07 PM

Three self employed business' and rentals.. I would not touch ours with a ten foot pole. Have a really good accountant right now who does our. Had H&R Block do it for a few years and got audited twice. Over tiny mistakes. So If they could goof up I am sure I could. Audits aren't any fun.