turbo tax??

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dafischer

Sorry, Randy, but you're sorely mistaken if you think tax professionals are just data entry clerks.

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

If that’s all your cpa does you need another cpa.

I assume it will depend upon the professional AND the client.

I single person or couple with a single income/W-2 and no complications will probably not require much more than a data entry clerk. Or am I wrong?

I've heard of folks in that situation going to tax guys that say "you can claim up to X for education expenses, and up to Y for charitable donations without requiring receipts or being flagged by the IRS, so I'll put these things down and tada, you get $1500 back. Yeah. I'm not sure that I want that kind of guy.

Sure, if you've got your own business, or a bunch of rental properties and investments or ... your return is more complex, then I can see you needing an accountant and a good one that knows how things actually work.

[David]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

Turbo Tax online this year, lots of little dings. Last year used HR Block online- IIRC cost slightly less.

If you go to a pro, all they're gonna do is input it all for ya.

rjp

Yep. I hired an accountant several years ago and as I sat in his office, he entered my data and was done. I tried another and they made so many mistakes I figured I better do this on my own.

I have some oil and gas properties that have unique IRS rules and my wife owns her own business. Turbo Tax handles these items easily.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by masraum

Sure, if you've got your own business, or a bunch of rental properties and investments or ... your return is more complex, then I can see you needing an accountant and a good one that knows how things actually work.

+1
They changed the rules on LLP (partnership) filing a few years ago. I read something about it, then completely forgot about it. My accountant called me in early March and reminded me that I had to file the LLP taxes by March 15. I don't think Turbo Tax would do that.

[Cajundaddy]

I used TT for 20 years but as my business and investments got more complex I turned to a CPA. They consistently find stuff I would have missed and pay for themselves in tax savings. Not everyone needs a CPA and TT works great for the typical W2 filer. My kids all use it and love it.

[widgeon13]

Originally Posted by RWebb

I use the reduced cost online version thru Fidelity' used to go thru Vanguard (but they dropped that program and their customer support)...

Thanks for the great suggestions.

I am going to try the Fidelity online edition, never used this before. Always used downloadable Turbo tax program. Do I need to log on through fidelity all the time or go straight to Intuit/Turbo tax?

Once again, appreciate the guidance.

Making the transition because my Mac Book Pro bricked while installing Beta Catalina and Apple gave no assistance in getting me back up.Ended up buying a new Mac Pro 16" but unfortunately can't find the Turbo Tax 2018 0n my time machine disc, did find my return for 2018 (but for some reason not pdf format) and of course have paper editions of Fed and state as well.

Going to be interesting.

[RWebb]

I'll recall the exact answer when I do mine again, but I think you login via Fidelity the first time and then can go to turbotax directly after that.

One adv. of turbotax is that it saves a lot of info for year 2,3,4... etc. you'll miss that if this is your first year using it.

I avoid the new "upgrades" from Apple like the plague now... they are not putting effort into the macs anymore. You can call back spend a few minutes with smarmy support level One, then ask to be transferred to a Level Two tech.

Apple will NOT let you talk to Level Three (Engineering) no matter what...


and BTW, Turbotax is a big lobbyist against a simplified tax code (which would take away write-offs anyway)...

[RWebb]

BTW #2 - a CPA can be very worthwhile. They will not be very aggressive with write-offs tho.

Level 2 is to get a tax lawyer.

Level 3 is to get a tax lobbyist.

[dafischer]

One thing that hasn't been discussed here is an IRS audit. If your taxes are done by an EA or CPA, they are the only two, with the exception of a lawyer, that can represent you in front of the IRS. They will stand behind their work and advocate for your case. Do your taxes on Turbo Tax and get audited? You can't bring your laptop to the IRS and say see, Turbo Tax let me do it. They'll laugh in your face and say pay up. Sometimes you do get what you pay for. As they used to say about freeware, it's worth every penny that you pay for it.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by RWebb

BTW #2 - a CPA can be very worthwhile. They will not be very aggressive with write-offs tho.

Level 2 is to get a tax lawyer.

Tax lawyer didn't to crap for me. He charged me $500 to look up the IRS rules and told me I was screwed. I went after the IRS myself and got a HUGE tax bill reduced to $0.

[widgeon13]

Originally Posted by RWebb

I'll recall the exact answer when I do mine again, but I think you login via Fidelity the first time and then can go to turbotax directly after that.

One adv. of turbotax is that it saves a lot of info for year 2,3,4... etc. you'll miss that if this is your first year using it.

I avoid the new "upgrades" from Apple like the plague now... they are not putting effort into the macs anymore. You can call back spend a few minutes with smarmy support level One, then ask to be transferred to a Level Two tech.

Apple will NOT let you talk to Level Three (Engineering) no matter what...


and BTW, Turbotax is a big lobbyist against a simplified tax code (which would take away write-offs anyway)...

Thanks very much for the info.

[RWebb]

sure thing

get a better tax lawyer next time

CPA repr. is a good point; if you are audited, Turbo Tax will however give you tech & other support - I won a low level (letter audit) one with their help a few years ago

and BTW, you do not want to be audited at all - 'winning' the audit does not make up for the time wasted, or the FUD

[David]

I had my first issue with the this year's TurboTax trying to figure out the new Qualified Business Income deduction (section 199A deduction) (actually it was new last year so I may need to refile last year's return to get some money back) . I called TurboTax and a real CPA (at least they said they were) called me back. They weren't completely up to speed on it either but they did help me figure it out.

I've called TurboTax a few times over the years, usually for something I can't figure out about the software, and they're so familiar with the software that they point me in the right direction immediately.

[MBAtarga]

I complained in their survey last year about the Turbo Tax SW always prompting to import dividend information from my "brokerage" house. I commented that if I've already answered that twice as NO, then why do you keep prompting me for every dividend I try to add! This year, after I answered no a few times, it prompted me and asked if I want to be asked again - which I obviously answered no. Afterwards, no more prompting! So it seems they do take suggestions for improvements.

[GH85Carrera]

If your CPA is just a data entry clerk, find a different CPA.

Mine is expensive, but with two companies and the insane tax laws of this country there are many different ways to report the exact same amount of expenses, and income. For an individual, maybe not, but one reason I have two businesses is for 100% legal tax avoidance, not evasion. Big difference. I pay an insane amount of taxes as it is. It makes me think every citizen should have to make that tax payment personally, and get away from payroll deduction.

So I pay a tax pro to file my business information tax form, but a LLC in itself pays no taxes, all taxes are passed to the owner(s) of the LLC. I get to send money and enter that painful amount and see it disappear from my checking account. I prefer to pay a pro to make it as low as possible. I don't mind paying my fair share, but I refuse to pay extra to the government just because I don't look at every legal possible way to reduce the tax liability.