Tax Preparation...who to go to?

[EweSheep]

H and R for us, and it costed us $150. I guess they go by the income bracket you make. One year, they goofed up our income tax and they refunded our money PLUS the amount of what we were expecting from our income tax. We will continue to use them even we are so low income....those waiting lines at the library to get our income tax filled out was riduculous and I know its free but it would take us longer to get our refunds back.

I figured we will get less this year because we have not made much.

 

[shelleyd2008]

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It is not hard to do your own, even with 3 w-2s. You can go online to the irs.gov site. They should have listings for companies you can go through online to file, often times they are free. The cost is based on how much you made. They also electronically file them, which means you get your return back faster. This is how I've done mine for the past 3-4 years, it is very simple.

 

[EweSheep]

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It would be NICE if the IRS can give us a free website where we can file our income tax without all those wonderful computer programs to help us file our taxes! It is direct and they can store it all they want.

Would you guys think that the IRS will go paperless in filing taxes and publications???????? I used to work for the IRS CADC in Bloomington back in the 80's and it was a great place to work there! Now it is a few employees working there for odds and ends for those taxpayers who hates computers or one does not have access to computers LOL!

 

[Southernbelle]

I do ours myself using TurboTax online. It walks you through every little step. I've read quite a few of your posts, you strike me as a very intellegent woman and I think you'll be surprised at how easy it will be. Give it a try before you go to a tax person, you dont' have to pay for anything until you file and it might even be free for you since you can fill out a simple return.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I use H&R Block online. Doesn't matter how many w2s you have or even if you have w2s and a 1099. They walk you through the whole thing. You can deduct interest on loans, charitable donations, everything! The efileing is free- you just pay for what type of form you use. We do deluxe business or something and it's like 39 dollars.

 

[PineappleMama]

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Let's Get Her!! *grabs torch and pitchfork*

I found that one through the IRS website... someone had said that you could file free so I went there and there was a link that had a list... of course they included a disclaimer saying "This is not the IRS, not the US, these are companies and if you use them you're on your own, we aren't recommending, just listing, etc" Goobs.

But I can say we used this one, it was easy to navigate/use, didn't take long, electronic filing, direct deposit came through smooth as silk, updates via email about the status of our return, with absolutely NO FEES and I will be using them again this year.... I can't think of a better recommendation than that. *shrug* Can't speak for any of the others that may be on that list though.

 

[thechickenchick]

I have always used H & R Block. The year I got married my DH said he was going to do them on line. It turned out to be a pain with the two rentals, medical bills, etc. From then on we have always paid them to do it. I think it was $130 last year. However we got over $4000 back so it was worth it to us to know they were done right.

 

[ranchhand]

When I was dealing with Mom's estate and multiple jobs I went to H & R Block. First year fee, $150.00, not bad for all the complications. By the third year there were no estate taxes or other BS to handle, easy as could be. Fee? $350.00. Last year I did them myself, and it was a total of 2 hours and we got a good refund because the program spotted things I wouldn't have thought of.

RoPo, you are a smart lady, you can do this! Gather ALL the papers you need ahead of time, a bottle of wine and pad your forehead for the times you will feel like pounding it against the wall. Then have at it, you will be delighted at the results!

 

[LarryPQ]

If you are feeling confident, just do it yourself. I use esmarttax.com, and have never had a problem. If you go to irs.gov, they have a list of trusted sites that will do the federal part for free, and only charge you for the state. The programs are just like turbo tax.

I have used esmarttax for 3 or 4 years, and have only paid $10-15 for the use of the program.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

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What other papers do I need? Don't I only need the W-2s?