What's the advantages or disadvantages of using Turbo Tax or H&R Block online? Versus having an individual (CPA) do your taxes? The reason I ask is because my wife and I now have a rental property, I have 1099 pay, we have 1099 pay from a couple of investments, etc... There's a lot of quirks to our taxes and I am wondering if we would be better suited paying someone to maximize our return. Any help would be appreciated!
You can get your taxes done for $500-900 by an individual.. I have never tried H&R and maybe they are good? I used to use turbo tax when younger and wasnt getting great results. One year I did it on Turbo Tax, then went to this tax guy after and he was able to get me more. He turned out to be a sex offender.. That shouldnt matter but I switched tax people after found that out. Lately I have been using a tax professional and she charges me $500 to $750 depending on what she is doing for me. We have businesses in CA,TX with LLCs and wife working in CA paying into that whole scene, CA TX franchise taxes etc. we chose to use a professional since filling out IRS forms is not my cup of tea. The lady I work with ( I can give you her name) had like 38 pages of tax forms and we got back a nice amount. Not sure what it would have been with turbo tax or H& R. Everything we reported was normal and there were no BS expenses or mileage so my lady reports clean. If you want to declare mileage and other crazy expenses then I can give you the name the sex offender guy.. We chose to fly clean and we still seem to get a nice amount back.. so thats why I like the lady we use. I should try to do mine on turbo tax just to see what it says. I wonder if anyone has shown numbers of tax professional vs. software? Study? In my limited anecdotal situation turbo tax was not 'paying' the best results.. Besides our lady runs it through her own softwares as well.. maybe she is using turbo tax too:grin: and supplementing it with her skills. Maybe not, who knows.. but reasons to have someone else do it -taxes are not fun -you want a decent amount back, or limit the total bill if paying out -be able optimize your situation from a tax point of view -fly clean -be compliant and up to date -move on 1040 EZ and yeah probably the turbo tax... H&R I am sure is fine I just like dealing with an individual I talk to every year on these matters. she knows me and my issues.
There are some things you shouldn't ever skimp on. Paying for a quality tax preparer is one of them. by the way -- the good ones typically have a cut-off of you getting your information to them by end of Feb or early March. Do work, son
Thanks for the info guys. My brother sent me the information to the person he uses. I figured it would make a big difference but I was just trying to save a few bucks. Maybe I'll get back that much more to make up the difference!
H&R Block or Turbo tax are perfect for people with a regular return utilizing a W-2, taking a standard deduction, or doing a simple itemized deduction form. Once you start adding in other investment income, K-9s, 1099s, capital gains, etc, it is often better to have pro do it.
