Is it easy to do your own taxes?

Question

I am thinking about doing them myself next year. I'm sick of paying these accountants to do my returns for a high cost when I've heard it's easy to do them on your own. Is TaxAct any good?

Answer 1

Yes it is easy. Just read the forms and do what they tell you to do. Or get a tax software program. There are lots of good ones. Especially if you are single and dont itemize. The 1040EZ form I can do in under 5 minutes. Good Luck!!!!

Answer 2

I think it depends on your situation. If you work for salary or wages and don't itemize your deductions or have any other sources of income, then doing them yourself is a snap. TaxAct is a good site for tax preparation. Just remember this.... all of the programs out there TurboTax, TaxAct, TaxCut, etc do a great job of calculating your tax and preparing the forms. What they don't do is put the correct information in the correct spots or answer the questions correctly. They're like any other program: Garbage In = Garbage out!

I've been preparing tax returns professionally for 10 years. Every year I have at least one client who brings in a letter from the IRS regarding a prior year self prepared return. In most cases the client made a fairly simple mistake and it costs them additional tax, interest and penalties. On the other hand many people who prepare their own returns end up paying more tax, because they're unsure of what is deductible and fear making a mistake.

Good luck

Answer 3

I am not familiar with TaxAct.

I pay an accountant to do my taxes every year. I think it's worth the pain and aggravation.

Your situation may depend upon how complicated your tax preparation is. Do you have a lot of deductions? Do you need a lot of supplemental forms to your 1040? If so, you may want to keep your accountant. I am not comfortable doing my own taxes- I don't know enough about what deductions are possible and the math sometimes confuses me. If you can do it yourself, more power to you!

How much is TaxAct? Would you be able to use a friend's copy to see if it's worthwhile?

Good luck. It's probably a good idea to think ahead... I really don't want to think about taxes, though! I would rather think about fun stuff like Christmas. ;)

Answer 4

It depends. If you have a job with wages with tax taken out, and don't own a house or have huge medical bills, is pretty easy to do yourself even without buying software. Anything a little more complicated, like child care or education expenses, and you might want something like TurboTax. If you own a business or rental property, you might want an accountant.

If your income is under $35,000, there is a free service sponsored by the IRS called VITA where trained volunteers will do your taxes for you, including electronic filing, at no charge - call 1-800-829-1040 to find a site near you - sites are usually open February thru April 15.

Answer 5

Yes...in most cases. Unless you own a huge business or have a lot of complicated assets, doing your taxes is very straight-forward. I own a small business (an LLC) and I do my personal and business taxes each year. The trick is record keeping...keeping track of your expenses and income as you go along. Its a pain having to go through 365 days worth of check stubs and receipts on April 14.

I just use Microsoft Money to track my income and expenses and the IRS Web Sight to get forms and find answers to my questions.

Like everything else in this country, the tax business has been turned into a huge industry for no particular good reason.

Answer 6

It is easy to do your own taxes. I have only used Turbo Tax and H&R Block online.

One comment on software: One year, I had a question in my free H&R Block software that I could not find the answer to at all. I called my brother, an accountant that does not do taxes. He wouldn't answer. Cost me almost $300 to go to H&R Block only to find out the question didn't have an answer in the software because it phased out at different income levels. They did not find a single deduction or save me a single penny that I had not already found. When I went to use the H&R online the next year, I couldn't because they wanted me to keep coming to their office. Needless to say I switched to Turbo Tax and their software had the answers I could not find the year before. I looked since I wanted to see which program was better. So my one advice is stay away from the H&R Block software.

Answer 7

I have used TurboTax for years and have been very pleased. Of course it depends on your tax situation, if you own a home or a business, but if you're fairly bright, they are easy to use. And if you keep the software year to year, you can always use it again if you need to amend a return.

Answer 8

go in human being on your interior reach inner sales Taxpayer tips place of work. Take your identity,Social safe practices card,and all W-2's for very last twelve months. they'll fill out the necessary varieties and report your taxes for you for loose. once you've funds back coming to you,they supply help to comprehend how a lot. the draw back is that is going to take about 4 to 6 weeks till you spot the refund.

Answer 9

I recommend TurboTax. It is quite easy and the software program itself is deductible. You have nothing to lose. You can even do the rapid file electronically for very low cost and have your refund within a week. They have both the Federal and State versions.

Answer 10

Depends on how complicated your taxes are.

If you just have a job and some savings, then doing your own taxes is simple enough.

It's only when you get into complicated stuff, such as stock options, or owning a business, or W2s from several states, that it gets complicated.