At what point are your taxes too complex for Turbo Tax or Tax Cut?

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I like to do my own taxes with Turbo Tax or Tax Cut. But 2008 was a complex year for me tax-wise. I paid for my own job-related move about 2400 miles from my VA house that started the year as my primary residence and is now a rental. My move was around $5k and I have all receipts for gas, hotels, moving company and packing supplies. I paid personal property taxes on all my vehicles in VA and in AZ and I'm guessing I'm comsidered a partial year resident of both states for 2008. Is this too much for one of those tax cd's?

VincentVega · 01-24-2009, 08:17 PM

I would pay some one this year. Too many chances to mess up or worse, miss out on something. Try tubotax, but dont submit until you at least get a second opinion.

legion · 01-24-2009, 08:18 PM

Do the online version of TurboTax. It will let you go right up until the point of filing before you pay. That should give you some idea of whether or not the software can handle your tax situation.

stomachmonkey · 01-24-2009, 08:20 PM

Pay a guy.

Seriously.

Got a good one who is n VA these days.

Does it all by mail.

Saves me tons, costs nothing in comparison.

Has been doing mine for 10 years.

Don't know what I'm gonna do when he finally retires for real.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Ok, next question. What's the going rate to have someone do your fed. taxes one time? I get bombarded with junk mail from H&R Block and I seem to recall friends paying around $300 to have it done.

HardDrive · 01-24-2009, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Ok, next question. What's the going rate to have someone do your fed. taxes one time? I get bombarded with junk mail from H&R Block and I seem to recall friends paying around $300 to have it done.

My wife and I went to H&R block after years of doing our own taxes. Went there because it was supposedly cheap. We were talking to the gal, and I noticed that she was using exactly the same software we were using at home! On top of that, she missed a bunch of stuff. I was under the impression that she was just a college kid hired for the tax season. On top of the that, because our taxes were more complex, each form added to the cost, so that the cost was triple what were quoted up front. I don't mind paying to have my taxes done properly, I DO mind bait and switch BS.

We pay a guy about $800 to do ours. Seem to be about the same for our friends.

Mr.Puff · 01-24-2009, 11:23 PM

Never use those programs... Everything you need to know is on the IRS website. In my tax accounting class we would get through corporate returns in about 2 weeks. It isn't that bad.

Danimal16 · 01-25-2009, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I like to do my own taxes with Turbo Tax or Tax Cut. But 2008 was a complex year for me tax-wise. I paid for my own job-related move about 2400 miles from my VA house that started the year as my primary residence and is now a rental. My move was around $5k and I have all receipts for gas, hotels, moving company and packing supplies. I paid personal property taxes on all my vehicles in VA and in AZ and I'm guessing I'm comsidered a partial year resident of both states for 2008. Is this too much for one of those tax cd's?

Rick,

I have a similar situation. I did mine with turbo tax. Not a problem.

Dan

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

I don't trust either of those software packages. I hired an accountant to do our taxes several years ago and I'm very glad I did. Well worth the $!

CurtEgerer · CurtEgerer's Garage

I just switched to Geitner Tax Service. Their infomercial claims they can save me at least $37,000 over the next 4 years. There's even a testimonial from their CEO saying "my return was challenged so I told the IRS it was an innocent mistake. They let me pay it back with no penalties or jail time! Last year, I didn't know how to fill out a tax return, now I run the IRS. You can too! "

Seahawk · 01-25-2009, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danimal16

Rick,

I have a similar situation. I did mine with turbo tax. Not a problem.

Dan

I have very complicated taxes because of the Farm/Horse Boarding LLC, a real estate LLC I'm a partner in and the fact that I also own a growing consulting/SETA business and also have a lot of 1099 work.

Turbo Tax does great...but I really enjoy the process. My education background was finance and econ

David · David's Garage

I tried using two different accountants. The first one screwed up twice (I caught the mistakes, fortunately not the IRS) and when they were finally right it wasn't anything different than I'd done. The second one used a program like Turbo Tax. What a waste! I just use Turbo Tax. I don't own a company or anything too exotic, but my taxes are bad enough that there's no way I could get it right without the software.

jcunning · 01-25-2009, 07:28 AM

I switched to a pro in year 2000 (For tax year 1999). I was affected big time with AMT and a massive capital loss at the same time (Damn .com crash). I needed to make sure my taxes were under control going forward so I decided to go to a pro. I'm still getting my AMT and captial losses back since then. I can't believe the government can take tens of thousands of dollars from me in one year and I only get 3,000 back each year.

Another test you can do is run your taxes through turbotax and see what you get and then go to a pro and see what they get. In my case I found turbotax was way off and wanted me to pay money, where the pro was able to get me a refund. You can claim the cost of turbotax and the tax pro for the next year as a deduction!

VaSteve · 01-25-2009, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I like to do my own taxes with Turbo Tax or Tax Cut. But 2008 was a complex year for me tax-wise. I paid for my own job-related move about 2400 miles from my VA house that started the year as my primary residence and is now a rental. My move was around $5k and I have all receipts for gas, hotels, moving company and packing supplies. I paid personal property taxes on all my vehicles in VA and in AZ and I'm guessing I'm comsidered a partial year resident of both states for 2008. Is this too much for one of those tax cd's?

Rick, I have used those things for years and I moved from GA, owned rental property, investments, got married and had kids. They are very comprehensive. You should have no problem.
PM me for more feedback if you wish.

Steve

VaSteve · 01-25-2009, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Puff

Never use those programs... Everything you need to know is on the IRS website. In my tax accounting class we would get through corporate returns in about 2 weeks. It isn't that bad.

Sure everything you need is on the website. Including thousands of things you don't. The software pares it down to what you need to worry about. Rick won't be having an earned income credit for his kids, for instance. I'm an accountant as well, and no way would I go through all of the forms and fill this stuff out by hand to save $40 on the software.

Quote:

Originally Posted by azasadny

I don't trust either of those software packages. I hired an accountant to do our taxes several years ago and I'm very glad I did. Well worth the $!

Those software packages are good. Many many accountants work with the programmers to get the changes in each year. There's even edit checks to ensure you have done it right.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

From your description of your situation, mine is much more complicated...and I have no problem with Turbo Tax.

VaSteve · 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardDrive

My wife and I went to H&R block after years of doing our own taxes. Went there because it was supposedly cheap. We were talking to the gal, and I noticed that she was using exactly the same software we were using at home! On top of that, she missed a bunch of stuff. I was under the impression that she was just a college kid hired for the tax season. On top of the that, because our taxes were more complex, each form added to the cost, so that the cost was triple what were quoted up front. I don't mind paying to have my taxes done properly, I DO mind bait and switch BS.

We pay a guy about $800 to do ours. Seem to be about the same for our friends.

Don't know your situation, but yes, that's how it works. The training is comprehensive, but don't know what the review process is like. My wife did the training but passed with flying colors and decided not to work for $17/hour. Typically a CPA owns one of these franchises. H&R Block has some tough anti-compete rules.

The industry puts a lot of fear into the public about doing your taxes and not getting it right. Avoid *aggressive*tax positions and you should be allright. I have made honest mistakes on my own and it didn't cost me a dime to fix. Just a bunch of my time.

Hey, with Geitner at the help, it should be a free-for-all these days.

Jim Richards · 01-25-2009, 10:57 AM

Turbo Tax is up to the task, RL. I used to be in a similar situation to you and it was no big deal.

oilonly · 01-25-2009, 11:07 AM

Turbo tax! Only way to go!
Endorsed by a leading taxing authority.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKVxGlkPRlo

Mr.Puff · 03:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VaSteve

Sure everything you need is on the website. Including thousands of things you don't. The software pares it down to what you need to worry about. Rick won't be having an earned income credit for his kids, for instance. I'm an accountant as well, and no way would I go through all of the forms and fill this stuff out by hand to save $40 on the software.

Those software packages are good. Many many accountants work with the programmers to get the changes in each year. There's even edit checks to ensure you have done it right.

It's not about the cost of the software. It's about the size of the refund...

Then again, agree with your client 49% of the time and the IRS the other 51...

.

Off the top of my head. Just a few:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sa.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p505.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p575.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5329.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p972.pdf