Do you do your own taxes?

[mattkime]

.

[Tiangou]

Yes, with Turbo Tax.

Tried H&R Block a couple of times. Simply is not up to par.

Really don't like giving Intuit my business, but they make it easy to do taxes, they have FAQs covering every question I've ever had, and they have even the most obscure forms available.

I have to pay separately for the state filings, and that's gonna cost me since I worked in multiple states this year, but the state taxes are so very easy in Turbo Tax that I can rationalize the cost even as it eats my whole refund.

...When my folks die, it's going to dramatically complicate my taxes. Will undoubtedly use an accountant at that point, and have planned for it and talked about it with family. (Going to use my mom's accountant initially and from what I can see, it's going to cost a LOT. Nice that I can save a bit of money now, by doing my own taxes.)

[Ombligo]

I use HR Block software, I tried others in the past but found issues with them. Most of my tax preparation just involves importing forms from my brokerage, so it isn't too bad

[Bill in NC]

No, "got sold" some things years ago that require much more sophisticated software to process.

After those roll off (fortunately fixed timespan) I'll be able to go back to doing my own.

[STL]

Yes
Turbo Tax

[vicrock]

Turbo tax for many years

[wurm]

MacInTax back in the day, then H&R Block until they screwed up one year and I lost confidence in them, then tried TaxAct which was pretty good. Used a local CPA for 2013 and 2014 when my freelance biz was doing pretty well. Then I heard about and tried FreeTaxUSA in 2017 and haven't had reason to look elsewhere since.

[Michael]

TurboTax. Simply because they carry information over from year to year and that makes my life easier. 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). A week after I ran into that problem I got an email from them saying they'd fixed it. But I lost faith in them and just went back to TurboTax.

Having said that, I do find it odd that TurboTax will update for a long time after taxes are due. I use the previous year's to estimate the current year taxes for estimated taxes. I used the 2023 version a couple of weeks ago for our Jan estimated taxes. It updated before it would run. You gotta wonder whether anything important happens in those updates.

Fidelity gives it free to some account holders; it's never been clear what criteria they use. But I got it free this year. Yeah!

[archipirata]

Yes. Used to use Turbotax but switched to FreetaxUSA a couple of years ago. Just as easy and cheaper. I have 2 jobs and a separate business and the total cost was $15 (you do have to pay for the State return).

[mattkime]

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.