Im interested in hiring someone to do my taxes next year and am hoping to find out if others have found a good and trusted tax professional and how they went about it.
Any tips?
Eric
I used to pay someone to do my taxes but he retired. So I started using TurboTax. It’s very easy to use. It’s step-by-step and walks you through it.
You don’t pay until you actually file so you are free to go into it and try it out.
It depends on your situation. Are you new to income tax? Are things just more complicated for this year? Has something changed?
Or do you just want some eyewash to be sure of things?
Possible solutions range from zero $ to big $.
Yes things are more complicated this year and it seems like i paid too much in taxes in 2023. I don’t like being at the mercy of whatever numbers the tax software spits out after i plug everything in. Im curious to find out if a professional can look at my taxes and help me find some savings and make sure everything is being taxed correctly.
Eric
When I had to start doing my dad’s taxes, I took them to HR Block.
They straightened out some mistakes he had made in a previous year, and from then on I used them. They show you the price list in advance, and I didn’t think it was unreasonable. The tax preparer I had was excellent – very experienced and knowledgeable.
I had the opposite experiences with professional tax preparers vs doing my own taxes. For most of my working life I was either an outside salesman or an independent contractor and did my own taxes. In the two instances where I used a professional I was not satisfied I took the return, redid it and ended up paying less.
Now that I am retired and things are limited to retirement, rentals and passive income streams things are simple enough to use TurboTax Premium. It’s pretty easy and straightforward stuff and takes half a day to finish both FIT & state.
Disclosure: I’m not a tax expert and my knowledge is limited to my own tax situation.
If you can afford it, and the 2023 overpayment warrants the expense it’s probably not a bad idea to talk to a tax professional .
In addition, if it’s worth your time, you may want to dig into the details of the mistakes you made on previous tax decisions.
Many tax preparers use a professional version of TurboTax to do taxes. They simply walk through the interview process and collect information that you provide to them. If you do not provide the correct information, then your taxes will not be done correctly. If there are errors, the taxpayer will still be liable for the taxes.
Many years ago, I took a tax course at a local community college. The course explained the process and was long before tax preparation software. Only paper forms were used. I paid a tax preparer one time to do my taxes. I did not feel that the time that was spent doing my taxes was adequate. I have used Turbo Tax for many years and spend much more time making sure my taxes are completed correctly. The interview process in Turbo Tax is excellent and makes filing easy.
This year, I went through an extra effort to check my taxes. I used H&R Block software to also do my taxes. The H&R Block software did not consider an Energy Tax credit that I was due. If I had filed using the H&R Block software, it would have cost me $385 due to not taking the credit.
The key to filing taxes and not paying any more than necessary is understanding and taking deductions and credits. The IRS is great at collecting information on your income, but collects no information on deductions and credits unless you tell them and you file accordingly.
Most people have income from W2’s and 1099’s and they do not have enough deductions to exceed the standard deduction. If a person is in that situation and they pay a tax preparer, they are getting RIPPED-OFF.
You can have someone look at your 2023 return and see if there are any errors. If so, that person can file an amended return on your behalf. If the amount you get back is more than their fee, then you will have found someone you can justify paying to do next year’s return.
But beware, they may find that your return is just fine (or even that you underpaid). That doesn’t mean they aren’t worth hiring. But it can help you feel more confident that it’s done right.