DIY Tax advice???

[Coach1310]

Who does their own taxes? What is the best way to learn the ins and outs? Do you recommend it? Just looking for thoughts, experiences, advice etc.

We are a typical 2 income household. We own(not free an clear, but you get what I mean) our home, have 2 kids and are under the 100K mark for per year earnings. If any of this matters.

Thanks for any help.

[jwmiller33]

get a computer program like turbo tax. the program will basically run you thru everything adn tell you what to do. i wouldnt reccommend doing it any other way if you dont know what your doing... dont wanna screw up and tick off the IRS

[CJH]

My Dad is a CPA and after helping him out during tax season through the years, I would say that if its pretty straight forward, then the software would do the trick (most use some sort of software themselves) or you might even be able to do it by hand. If you have a business, or investments, other land, inheritance, etc....then its definitely worth it to have someone who knows what they are doing fill in the blanks for you. He runs into people all the time that encounter "surprises" when they talk to him and realize they didn't report something correctly or at all!!!

[jwhjr]

Your return sounds pretty straight forward from the information you've given. A program like Turbo Tax will probably work just fine for you. It walks you through everything if you need it to. I've been using it for close to 15 yrs and haven't had any issues with it. Good luck!

[Sandmannd]

Your return sounds pretty straight forward from the information you've given. A program like Turbo Tax will probably work just fine for you. It walks you through everything if you need it to. I've been using it for close to 15 yrs and haven't had any issues with it. Good luck!

Agreed, very easy to do when you are pretty straight forward for income and it sounds like you are. I've done my own in the past and it's really easy. Now I have side business' and a rental and it's gets more complicated so I go to the tax man.

[IFallsRon]

I use Turbo. It helps me manage my side business taxes. No problems in over 10 years.

[Tom7227]

And Turbo does all the math for you. You can download the state you need and the software automatically gets all the updates every time you open it up. My guess is that every first time user says "wow, I didn't think of that."

Plus you can write it off as a deductible expense.

[dfv87]

I used to use a HSOforum Tax Act and it was nice as they ran your return through the checker and found possible errors missed deductions etc. was easy and they kept records so next year they sent a memo to use again and if nothing changed for employer etc they prepped the questions with previous info. Quick and easy. Turbo also checks it I think. Nothing beats sound professional advice IMO and I now have a CPA do mine as my life got more complicated. (AKA getting older)

[echotrail]

I vote for Turbo Tax too, it's very simple. The only guy who admits he can't figure out how to use it is the one who wants to head the Treasury Dept., including the IRS. Is there a problem with that?

[ndsufootball]

I've done my taxes for the last 4 years. Have about the same as you do and it's not too hard, more time consuming and double checking. I had to use the federal helpline number that's printed on the book you getfor a few questions. They were/are really helpful.

[MNice]

I've used tax cut by H&R block for about 4 or 5 years without compliant. I see this year they offer 5 free fed e-file which is nice because I do my 3 daughters taxes also.

[hanson]

I used TaxACT online last year upon the recommendation of many FM members here. Was pretty easy and painless and cost $14 for both Fed and State returns. It costs a couple bucks more this year I think.

Biggest change to my taxes this year was purchasing a house so I was finally able to itemize rather than taking the standard deduction, TaxACT walked me through it pretty easily.

They store you previous returns for you and that information can be uploaded to the next year. After a few years, the program will do side by side comparisons of your returns so you can see the differences. Pretty slick like I said!

[wannaeye]

I vote for Tax Act online. East to use, identifies every possible deduction and best of all it's CHEAP!!!