01-17-2025, 02:41 PM
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.