Death and ..

[SilentUnicorn]

Taxes.... i think death is going to be less painful....


m

 

[DrEntropy]

No doubt about it, Mark.

None whatsoever.

 

[JodyFKerr]

Agreed. Just filed. Started my taxes in January. blech.

 

[drooartz]

About 12 years ago when I started working for myself for a while I decided to use an accountant for the yearly taxes so I wouldn't have to deal with depreciation tables and expenses and all that. Have used one ever since (still have self-employment income/expenses as a musician). Best $200 I spend each year. Takes me about an hour of prep on my own, and 1/2 hour with the accountant. Helps that I'm a money nerd and super organized all year I suppose.

Do my taxes in February, been done (and paid) for a while now. No stress at all.

 

[JPSmit]

Mine got sent yesterday. Canada tax day is the end of the month. Use an accountant - I'm happy.

 

[elrey]

This thread is taxing and awfully close to the "art and science of administration of government"....

 

[DrEntropy]

feh... nowhere NEAR politics.

Keep Shakespeare in mind. :wink:

 

[elrey]

I am familiar with Shakespeare's two certainties, and find it of interest that this year's tax code is reported to be four times the size of William Shakespeare's completed works.

 

[aeronca65t]

....I decided to use an accountant for the yearly taxes so I wouldn't have to deal with depreciation tables and expenses and all that........ Best $200 I spend each year.

Yep.
I spend about $250 for that here.
And my accountant is a motorcycle nut so we always have a good chat about bikes after the taxes are done.
In other words, I <span style="font-style: italic">enjoy</span> having my taxes done.

 

[NutmegCT]

Back when I did my first 1040 (college student, 1967), I thought - wow, this stuff is complicated.

But I decided I'd keep doing them myself as long as my brain held out.

This year marks my forty-fifth self-prepared federal 1040. Did I do everything perfectly? Probably not. But I'd guess even the accountants slip up sometimes.

Fortunately my brain is holding out!



Frugal Tom

 

[PAUL161]

<span style="font-size: 11pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">Got a check back from Uncle Sam for $65.00!</span> </span>It's the first refund check I've received from them in 38 years. I always pay and pay and pay. Naturally it didn't cover the cost of having the taxes done, but I got so excited, I took a picture of it! I almost framed it, LOL, no kidding. :banana:

 

[NutmegCT]

<span style="font-size: 11pt"> </span>It's the first refund check I've received from them in 38 years. ...

Yikes! You either had the most efficient tax preparer in the world ... or the most IN-efficient!

T.

 

[martx-5]

I've always done my own taxes, and for the last four or five years, I've been using one of those programs that you download each year from the internet. With the program, I get done with both the Fed and state taxes in about two hours. When you use the same service year after year, the program just imports the info from the previous year that doesn't change from year to year. All you have to do is fill in the numbers. Along the way, it constantly asks you questions, so it's pretty hard to miss anything. It also keeps a running total of how much you owe or are getting back as you fill in the blanks. I mean, you may have to find some of those lost contributions you almost forgot about. :laugh:

Since my situation is pretty straight forward, an accountant probably wouldn't be able to lower my tax bill.

 

[PAUL161]

<span style="font-size: 11pt"> </span>It's the first refund check I've received from them in 38 years. ...

Yikes! You either had the most efficient tax preparer in the world ... or the most IN-efficient!

T.

I always considered myself very fortunate to be in a higher tax bracket. Sound crazy? No, you have to be making a fairly decent income to be there. So I never minded paying taxes. A couple years I almost broke even, but the business expenses were pretty high then. So, I don't bit-h, now being retired, it's a different ball game and we have no expenses, other than utilities. And, the reason I was so surprised when the $65.00 refund came. :laugh:

I do wish the market would be nicer though.

 

[rkep01]

I've always done my own taxes, and for the last four or five years, I've been using one of those programs that you download each year from the internet. With the program, I get done with both the Fed and state taxes in about two hours. When you use the same service year after year, the program just imports the info from the previous year that doesn't change from year to year. All you have to do is fill in the numbers. Along the way, it constantly asks you questions, so it's pretty hard to miss anything. It also keeps a running total of how much you owe or are getting back as you fill in the blanks. I mean, you may have to find some of those lost contributions you almost forgot about. :laugh:

Since my situation is pretty straight forward, an accountant probably wouldn't be able to lower my tax bill.

Agree. I've always done my own taxes using either TTax or Tax Cut, but last year I had a friend talk me into using his accountant. "He'll pay for himself with what he saves you." sez he. So, I wind up paying him $400 and paying Rich Uncle the same as I would have if I had done them myself for $20. Never again! :madder:

 

[Boink]

I've always done my own taxes, and for the last four or five years, I've been using one of those programs that you download each year from the internet. With the program, I get done with both the Fed and state taxes in about two hours. When you use the same service year after year, the program just imports the info from the previous year that doesn't change from year to year. All you have to do is fill in the numbers. Along the way, it constantly asks you questions, so it's pretty hard to miss anything. It also keeps a running total of how much you owe or are getting back as you fill in the blanks. I mean, you may have to find some of those lost contributions you almost forgot about. :laugh:

Agree. I've always done my own taxes using either TTax or Tax Cut, but last year I had a friend talk me into using his accountant. "He'll pay for himself with what he saves you." sez he. So, I wind up paying him $400 and paying Rich Uncle the same as I would have if I had done them myself for $20. Never again! :madder:

This has been my experience as well. I used to use TurboTax and liked it a lot. Then, one year I had a partciularly complext return (related to some inheritance). I did the return with Turbotax and owed about $9000! So contacted a recommended tax-preparer and the amount owed dropped to about $3500!!! Needless to say, I'm now of the option that:
a) $300 is easily covered by any overpayment I might make
b) an hour of my time with an accountant is easily worth about $300 when I add up all my time dealing with it all (if I did it myself). As Drew said above, the money I pay to my tax guy is some of the best money I spend each year.

 

[ecurie_ecosse]

This has been my experience as well. I used to use TurboTax and liked it a lot. Then, one year I had a partciularly complext return (related to some inheritance). I did the return with Turbotax and owed about $9000! So contacted a recommended tax-preparer and the amount owed dropped to about $3500!!! Needless to say, I'm now of the option that:
a) $300 is easily covered by any overpayment I might make
b) an hour of my time with an accountant is easily worth about $300 when I add up all my time dealing with it all (if I did it myself). As Drew said above, the money I pay to my tax guy is some of the best money I spend each year.
[/quote]

And I concur!

Stuart.

 

[JPSmit]

Mine are complicated and I gratefully pay my accountant, not just for the job he does (I am paying about $150) but for the stress relief.

Taxes $150
Stress relief: Priceless