Just wanted to know what other people do when filing their taxes...ie, programs, online shizzle, old fashion paperwork at home??
What's your drug of choice for getting your taxes done and your refund back??
I still do mine the old fashion way, but a friend went over mine from the last couple years and said I should be in jail...I'm pretty sure he was joking, but deductions are a creative art in my mind
I've used Turbo tax for about the last 10 years or so. It lets me compare my return using standard deductions or itemizing to see which gets me a better return pretty quickly.
Heh, I've worked for a Tax/Accounting software company since 1996 and I've never even looked at a 1040 form. I'll probably send mine in to my accountant as soon as I get my W-2.
I can't remember a year that I didn't have my accountant file an extension for me for one reason or other. (He does it automatically - don't even have to ask - he just knows). Got my 2002 taxes done in October of 2003 - that's pretty much par for the course for me.
I'm having my friend who works for H&R Block do them again. Last year I sold all the Lucent/Avaya stock I'd accumulated though the ESPP and splits and such, and I took a huge capital loss. I didn't wanna fuck with doing it myself. I'm prolly not going to have to pay taxes for another 10 years.
"There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships." -Theodore Roosevelt
My Federal tax return is done, in the envelope and waiting to be mailed on February 1 (easiest taxes evar...one source of income, no capital gain/loss, no itemized deductions, no state income tax).
I used to do taxes by hand every year until back in 1995 when I had income from both Massachusetts and Connecticut and each state wanted information from the other state's 1040 to calculate the proper tax liability. Drove me nuts. I bought Turbo Tax and the two state packages and 30 minutes later I had all forms printed and ready to file, with a bigger refund than I had calculated when I muddled through by hand. I've bought and used Turbo Tax every year since then.
I am a big Turbo Tax fan. Install it and my taxes, including itemized deductions and whatnot are all done in about 5 minutes. It imports all your information from the previous year automatically so all the shit that never changes is just poped right in....good stuff.
Install, import, w2 info, deductions, efile, wait for direct deposit.
Turbo Tax for the web has always been my choice. I norm have to go with the reg version which cost alittle more but it takes me roughly 10 mins to do my taxes and have them sent. For instance I have already received my Income Tax from State and Federal.
for non-accountants, and people with fairly simple taxes (minimal capital gains/losses, not a business owner etc) I highly recommend turbo tax as well. It's fairly cheap, fairly fast to do, and I've never had a problem with it being wrong.
The only time I don't recommend turbo tax is when you are a business owner, or have some other complicated tax issues (an estate, etc etc), then go get someone like me to do them, as an accountant will be able to find loop holes that turbo tax will not.
But like i said above, for 95% of the people out there, i truly think turbo tax is the best bet going.
I think I will use Turbo Tax this year... I want to write off my moving expenses and whatnot. Of course, I am waiting for my former company to send me my W2! BASTARDS!
I use an accountant, having a business it's just easier to have her do all the calculations and find where else we can squeeze out a deduction.
Haven't had a refund for the last 8 years or so, but I guess it's good, we make more and more money every year.
Back in college I filled out a regular 1040 to get the lifetime learning credit, but now there's no point to it. Am I the only single renter with no debt or capital gains who posts here? You folk are a lot more domesticated than I'd have guessed!
Actually, you make me wonder what I don't know . . .
I've used TurboTax for the past 3 years. I switched to it from an accountant when I found out that that was what my accountant was using all along. Fuck if I am going to pay them.
I run several rental properties and a home business and I have no problem doing it myself using TurboTax. The only hard part is that I am not organized during the year with my receipts and so I have to take several days typing them all into a spreadsheet before I can enter them into the program. TurboTax is also good because they have the audit protection. They will cover your audit for an extra $25 a year. Definitely worth it to me. The last two years I have paid 12% and 11% in taxes after all my deductions.
Stock gains and losses are a breeze as well. I have taken the maximum out for several years now and they always keep track of what I have left to use as a deduction.
Wifey and I both own businesses and we have 3 kids so ours is pretty complex. Last year we paid a CPA about $300 to get it all done. This year we should get a bigass refund. One business did poorly and we adopted a young boy in 2003 so in our state we get a one time deduction of $10k in addition to the usual child exemptions.
Vaemas wrote:Let's see...I have pay as a contractor (1099), pay as an employee (W2), and early distributions from my IRA that covered education expenses.
I'm thinking this year is going to be taxes from hell. Depending on how bad it looks after I do it myself, I may have to hand it off to a CPA.
If you have your documentation all at hand and organized Turbo Tax will certainly be able to help you with this.
I mostly did mine by hand since I don't have a lot as far as deductions go. I never exceed the standard deduction limit since I don't own property and stuff. Last year I used TaxAct. It's basically a TurboTax knockoff but it's free. I went with electonic filing last year so that was a $10 charge or whatever it was. Maryland had an online filing system so I used that for State. I got both returns within two weeks.
Of course, I am waiting for my former company to send me my W2! BASTARDS!
