Well, it is February 1st, and time to start working on my income tax. I have an accountant do it as she keeps up with all the new rules and our state tax offers some refunds that it takes an expert to understand. Usually what I get back extra from the state pays for her fee. That is a comfort since any minuscule tax oversight may soon be enforced by armed federal thugs ready to kill. One would think that with just Social Security and a Union retirement that my taxes would be straightforward. The problem is I get paltry royalties from from writing I did years ago and she knows the best way to submit that. Also, an inherited oil lease in Texas that I haven't received any royalties from in years still complicates things. I gave my share to another cousin but don't want to pay a lawyer $1000 to make it a direct payment to her and remove my name from ownership. Too many forms and just preparing the packet she sends is daunting, time-consuming, and causes me stress. Just laying it all out on the table yesterday, caused me to utter some foul language. I must smooth out the forms I made paper airplanes with and try to retrieve the one that landed behind my couch. I will need my grabber for that and it seems to be missing. How is tax preparation at your place? What programs do you use if you do it yourself?
My husband has always done our taxes. We get earnings statements and forms, and he uses TurboTax to submit our taxes We have some stuff like NUA accounts, rollovers, etc. but with the forms provided by our financial planner he never has a problem.
Since my wife is a Degreed (Bachelors) Accountant/Financial Analyst, she does our taxes online. However, and note the word "however", there has been a couple of times that she told me we owed Federal, but we ended up getting a refund, not owing. Unfortunately, with the salary she is currently making from her "at home" job, we will definitely end up owing. But, always ready for that, in case it happens.
I am still working FT and last year made the switch from being an independent contractor to working for a company again so given that complication I am needing to hire an accountant. I actually should have done so last year after I moved, but I waited so long that I had to do my own online at the last minute so I took NO deductions and really got nailed in taxes...maybe when I find a good accountant I can re-file 2020. I despise taxes, they are so complicated!
I have the exact same problem with royalties on an oil/gas well on a piece of land in WV my grandfather owned. Shared with who knows how many cousins. There used to be a place to put it on 1040 form in "other income," but they keep tinkering with the forms. Now it requires a whole separate form. I got messed up last year because I didn't get a 1099 form. There probably never was one. I just used the number from the previous year. Figured it would slip through. Just got a letter this week wondering what the $46.68 income was for. Now I have to go find a Fax machine to explain. The hard part is getting the stuff together. I know where everything goes on the form. I just need something to do the arithmetic. [begin rant] Don't get me started on outsourcing/privatizing of tax preparation and filing. According to the National Society of Accountants, the average fee in 2021 for preparing Form 1040 with the standard deduction, plus a state income tax return, was $220. The IRS could obviously make it possible to file electronically online directly through IRS more efficiently without bringing in private business middlemen. The IRS software is almost there right now. Another way to allow private industry (tax preparers and software companies) to take their cuts when you pay taxes, while these companies pay lower tax rates than ordinary middle class citizens. [/end rant]
You sound like us. We have had an accountant handle our taxes for decades. Any IRS issues, they will work with them. Ours “should” be straightforward too but there are a number of little bothersome things that complicate matters, especially this past year. They’re a bit expensive but their audit protection and the fact our return covers the expense, has kept us going back. He is also a certified financial planner and got us steered onto something about 15 years ago that turned out to be extremely helpful in our retirement. All of this mess they could completely eliminate with a national sales tax but no, all this complexity makes it useful for manipulations of endless sorts.
when I realized I don't make enough to file, I was one happy camper and that was 19 yrs ago....an older friend and I were talking about filing and I told her I did not and she was not aware that she had been filing needlessely for many yrs and her tax person kept her as a customer...
Since my wife used to work for H&R Block, she uses their online form as they have our past history on file. She hates TurboTax because she spent so much time correcting errors from that system. As far as I know, she has no prejudices against the other online systems.
I have done our taxes for years using TaxAct. Now I use the free version. Hopefully we will be fine this tax season. But next year, ɗont know. This state has a state tax, and taxes in general are higher anyway. Crossed fingers.
I worked for Block many years ago when I was in-between jobs. Then I kept with them part time for several seasons after that. I always respected the folks that worked there and the quality of their work. My office manager and another guy who worked in their Executive Tax Department became a Enrolled Agents. I had my own clients on the side for quite a while. I did most of the stuff in spreadsheets, since it made the calculations easier as I'd change/correct figures. I just had to update the formulas every year, but none of their stuff was too complex. I've not had to file since I retired, because I've not taken 401(k) withdrawals. I guess I'll have to start taking mandatory withdrawals soon.
Short form How much did you make? Send it in actually, I use Turbo Quite straight forward No complaints One time I tried a tax chain (I think it was Liberty) Saw the guy was using Turbo Watched him screw it up Thought; 'Hey, I can do that!' 'I can screw it up for free!'
You might check with your banking institution; our credit union provides free Turbo Tax filing if you have a simple return.