Do I really need to pay someone to do my income taxes?

I usually do them myself but we bought a 2nd house in 2004 to rent to a family member. Do I really need to pay someone $350+ to do my taxes, or is this something I can do on my own and cover all the bases? I would rather stick the $$$ into the house and yard which need some TLC. No offense to any accountants or tax preparers here :0)

Thanks,
Sandy

You might consider buying Tubo Tax "Premier" for $39.99, after rebate. The "premier" edition handles technicalities associated with rental properties that the Deluxe version doesn't include . It also includes a full rebate for the State Tax edition.

actually you can call the tax offices listed for your area and tell them you need help filing your taxes. they can tell you how to over the phone or give you a list of free tax help offices in your area.

we have a free federal tax office and a state office here that do them free of charge.


also i believe on the federal government tax site they now have the option to do them over the net for a small fee or even free in some cases.

We have two rental houses and I use Turbo Tax deluxe and love it. It carries over and will download a lot of this year"s infor next year when you use turbo tax and the second and all the following years are a piece of cake using it. It is alot cheaper than the tax account I used before I did them on the Turbo Tax. He charged twenty dollars a page and with depreciation, rental income, etc. it added up to 18 pages. EEK!!!!!! Lou

The person you are paying that money to is probably using Turbo Tax anyway!!!! We have kinda complicated stuff and DH uses Turbo Tax...no problem...always correct.

Turbo Tax is definately the way to go. I've been using it for about 9 years, and Love it. It's made simple work of home, home office, sole proprietorship, expense, investments, and anything else tax related. If you can answer yes and no questions, it's a snap.

Chris

Well, I AM a CPA and not offended. :) I was an auditor, in all fairness, and only did taxes because they "made me" at my particular firm. Now I work for a real estate investment company. All that to say, I am NOT a tax preparer. But over the years I have found people are just generally afraid of taxes and the IRS and quite simply, intimidated. I was horrified that our admin gal took her W-2 to a CPA to prepare her taxes for her! That's all she had- a W-2! You can do Turbo Tax online without buying the software- of course there is a fee to file using the online software. I use H&R Block's website. They just lead you through a series of questions and you provide information and the forms get completed. If at any point you feel you need tax advice, you can pay for the additional service. But for most people that isn't necessary. In any event, it would be cheaper than paying an accountant. Unless you have really complicated issues, it isn't necessary, IMO. Also, you can call your local IRS office or go by- they answer questions for free and really are nicer to deal with these days. That "kinder gentler IRS" campaign wasn't TOTAL ****. :) And whoever said your tax preparer just uses Turbo Tax themselves is 100% correct! All that software is similar, and most CPA firms do use Turbo Tax. You can fill in the information just as easily as they can- the software even tells you EXACTLY what to put in EXACTLY which spot. Good luck and happy tax season. Ha!

Jamie

Go to the IRS.gov website. Click on "Free File", then read the "Before Getting Started" section and see if you qualify (most people do.) I used this service last year and it was easy, quick and absolutely free. I chose the TaxAct program and had no problems at all. The set up is nice because you don't have to fill everything out at once, and it will be saved online until you get back to it. Because of DH's business, we had to file 2 extensions while waiting for paperwork from the accountant so we didn't even file until October. Regardless, the return was waiting patiently for me every time I logged on.

The only thing I recommend is that you be sure and print out your completed return, otherwise you will not be able to access it after you file.

I agree w/Carol...they probably use that software!

I've done mine online for the past 2 years, and one of the initial questions they ask is 'did you buy or sell a home in 2004?' If you 'check' yes, they ask further questions regarding the purchase.

I found it very easy with the previous years' return and documents in-hand.

I used esmarttax.com, I think, and it cost $14.95 to do both returns...this year I received a discount for being a past customer, so both State and Federal returns were filed for $8.95!