Do you do your own taxes?

[Mike Sellers]

Michael wrote: I did use HR Block once years ago but they wouldn't let me input the extra catch-up contribution to our Roth IRA's even though I knew it was legit starting that year (2002, I think).

Why would you need to include a Roth contribution? They don't affect your taxes.

[clay]

mattkime wrote:
I've hired an accountant twice - once when I was freelance and another time when I had income across two states and I needed those states to agree on how it was attributed.

When I was a freelancer, the accountant made some minor tweaks regarding expenses but otherwise there weren't any big changes.

When I had income across two states, the accountant made an error - I owed a couple of grand and had a fine larger than the fee the accountant charged. The accountant covered the fine, losing money on me.

By now I think I've likely irritated everyone with my support of FreeTaxUSA. TurboTax thinks it has two jobs - convincing you that taxes are difficult and then helping you with your taxes. I find FreeTaxUSA stays out of the way more which I prefer. Switching from one to the other was relatively easy. Also its cheaper.

Generally speaking, I think people should understand how they're affected by the tax code. I really don't think its as difficult as its made out to be. I'm sure there's a level of investment sophistication where it makes sense to have an accountant but I doubt I'll see that in my lifetime.

This might be the year I try FreeTaxUSA. Been using Turbotax for 10+ years, and while it has worked well, they keep jacking up the price. Always kind of assumed that other options wouldn't work as well as TT does for a self-employed person. But it sounds like that may not be an issue.

[macphanatic]

What's the security with FreeTaxUSA?

[Wags]

I still use Turbo Tax but they've downgraded their support of local taxes in the last few years. Annoying.

[wurm]

I feel a bit like mattkime touting the virtues of FreeTaxUSA. It may not be for everyone, but as mentioned above, I haven't found a reason to switch. As for security, I just checked. Seems pretty thorough...at least according to them. https://www.freetaxusa.com/safe

But it's also hard to know what to believe any more after waching the Netflix documentary on Ashley Madison. Yikes.

[graylocks]

I did up until 2023. 2023 broke me. I file two Schedule C's and began to feel I was ripping myself off by not carrying some losses forward or doing depreciations correctly so I found an accountant very familiar with the music business. Going to use him again for 2024 but hoping he can teach me how to handle things myself so I can go back to TurboTax or TaxCut.

[mattkime]

Mike Sellers wrote:
[quote=Michael]I did use HR Block once years ago but they wouldn't let me input the extra catch-up contribution to our Roth IRA's even though I knew it was legit starting that year (2002, I think).

Why would you need to include a Roth contribution? They don't affect your taxes.
Its still reported, not sure exactly what the IRS does with the info.

[graylocks]

mattkime wrote:
[quote=Mike Sellers]
[quote=Michael]I did use HR Block once years ago but they wouldn't let me input the extra catch-up contribution to our Roth IRA's even though I knew it was legit starting that year (2002, I think).

Why would you need to include a Roth contribution? They don't affect your taxes.
Its still reported, not sure exactly what the IRS does with the info.
Maybe it's a check that you didn't exceed your yearly contribution limit.

[Rick-o]

FreeTaxUSA for the win, in my case. Used MacinTax and Turbotax for years until Intuit got me P.O.ed. Switched to H&R tax software for a few years, then I tried FreeTaxUSA after hearing it being praised here by the Mac Resource Forum brainiacs.

It does everything I need to get the job done.

[Acer]

I've used HR block for a number of years now. I started using software when I got into the weeds with the kids college 529s and tuition tax credits. I did not want to miss an optimization opportunity. Before that, essentially paper with FreeFillableForms for a polished final printout. The college era has passed, retirement distributions are some years off, so I think I'll try FreeTaxUSA this year.