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Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
50 bucks to file my taxes?
Posted by:
HRBlockhead
()
Date: February 02, 2014 10:09PM
Gettimg it done early. $50 bucks to file on-line, WTF???
Re: 50 bucks to file my taxes?
Posted by:
Debbie Downer Democrat XIII
()
Date: February 02, 2014 10:13PM
Even places like Turbo Tax will charge an on-line fee to file. Normally, the Federal tax forms are free, but the state is where they can get you. Or, at least it was that way for me last year.
Check the federal site out and see if you can file through the IRS, and the same with Virginia. It might cost you less.
Best of luck,
Check the federal site out and see if you can file through the IRS, and the same with Virginia. It might cost you less.
Best of luck,
Re: 50 bucks to file my taxes?
Posted by:
Thanksdebbie
()
Date: February 02, 2014 10:16PM
It was the IRS site. I guess i make to much money?
Re: 50 bucks to file my taxes?
Posted by:
Rockhound
()
Date: February 02, 2014 10:23PM
Check out freetaxusa.com - a decent service if you make less than 30-40K.
If you make more than 50k, it's worth it to see a professional.
If you make more than 50k, it's worth it to see a professional.
Re: 50 bucks to file my taxes?
Posted by:
Debbie Downer Democrat XIII
()
Date: February 02, 2014 11:01PM
Rockhound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Check out freetaxusa.com - a decent service if you
> make less than 30-40K.
>
> If you make more than 50k, it's worth it to see a
> professional.
For the common person, yes. I've been doing my own taxes for nearly 30 years now. I stay in tune with the tax laws and the appropriate changes.
We had a windfall a few years back and paid a person to prepare ours. The cost was about $175.00 and the person was a knucklehead. His fees included the electronic filing fees, too. But, I couldn't stand the guy, so I ended up redoing them myself.
Even if a person makes close to $100K and doesn't have enough to exceed the standard deduction, they really don't need a professional to handle their taxes. It's if things get down in the weeds, a good accountant will be worth the effort. Not those bozos who set up shop at Walmart.
It's just a pain in the arse to wait until mid-February when the brokers will issue the tax statements on investment accounts. I'm ready for my money.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Check out freetaxusa.com - a decent service if you
> make less than 30-40K.
>
> If you make more than 50k, it's worth it to see a
> professional.
For the common person, yes. I've been doing my own taxes for nearly 30 years now. I stay in tune with the tax laws and the appropriate changes.
We had a windfall a few years back and paid a person to prepare ours. The cost was about $175.00 and the person was a knucklehead. His fees included the electronic filing fees, too. But, I couldn't stand the guy, so I ended up redoing them myself.
Even if a person makes close to $100K and doesn't have enough to exceed the standard deduction, they really don't need a professional to handle their taxes. It's if things get down in the weeds, a good accountant will be worth the effort. Not those bozos who set up shop at Walmart.
It's just a pain in the arse to wait until mid-February when the brokers will issue the tax statements on investment accounts. I'm ready for my money.
Re: 50 bucks to file my taxes?
Posted by:
Louis Theroux
()
Date: February 02, 2014 11:07PM
Debbie Downer Democrat XIII Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rockhound Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Check out freetaxusa.com - a decent service if
> you
> > make less than 30-40K.
> >
> > If you make more than 50k, it's worth it to see
> a
> > professional.
>
>
> For the common person, yes. I've been doing my
> own taxes for nearly 30 years now. I stay in tune
> with the tax laws and the appropriate changes.
>
> We had a windfall a few years back and paid a
> person to prepare ours. The cost was about
> $175.00 and the person was a knucklehead. His fees
> included the electronic filing fees, too. But, I
> couldn't stand the guy, so I ended up redoing them
> myself.
>
> Even if a person makes close to $100K and doesn't
> have enough to exceed the standard deduction, they
> really don't need a professional to handle their
> taxes. It's if things get down in the weeds, a
> good accountant will be worth the effort. Not
> those bozos who set up shop at Walmart.
>
> It's just a pain in the arse to wait until
> mid-February when the brokers will issue the tax
> statements on investment accounts. I'm ready for
> my money.
+1
I'm waiting on Scottrade to send my 1099, everyone else has sent me my tax forms. It's too bad they don't have the same deadline as everyone else, Jan 31.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rockhound Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Check out freetaxusa.com - a decent service if
> you
> > make less than 30-40K.
> >
> > If you make more than 50k, it's worth it to see
> a
> > professional.
>
>
> For the common person, yes. I've been doing my
> own taxes for nearly 30 years now. I stay in tune
> with the tax laws and the appropriate changes.
>
> We had a windfall a few years back and paid a
> person to prepare ours. The cost was about
> $175.00 and the person was a knucklehead. His fees
> included the electronic filing fees, too. But, I
> couldn't stand the guy, so I ended up redoing them
> myself.
>
> Even if a person makes close to $100K and doesn't
> have enough to exceed the standard deduction, they
> really don't need a professional to handle their
> taxes. It's if things get down in the weeds, a
> good accountant will be worth the effort. Not
> those bozos who set up shop at Walmart.
>
> It's just a pain in the arse to wait until
> mid-February when the brokers will issue the tax
> statements on investment accounts. I'm ready for
> my money.
+1
I'm waiting on Scottrade to send my 1099, everyone else has sent me my tax forms. It's too bad they don't have the same deadline as everyone else, Jan 31.
Re: 50 bucks to file my taxes?
Posted by:
Rockhound
()
Date: February 02, 2014 11:21PM
Debbie Downer Democrat XIII Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> For the common person, yes. I've been doing my
> own taxes for nearly 30 years now. I stay in tune
> with the tax laws and the appropriate changes.
>
> We had a windfall a few years back and paid a
> person to prepare ours. The cost was about
> $175.00 and the person was a knucklehead. His fees
> included the electronic filing fees, too. But, I
> couldn't stand the guy, so I ended up redoing them
> myself.
>
> Even if a person makes close to $100K and doesn't
> have enough to exceed the standard deduction, they
> really don't need a professional to handle their
> taxes. It's if things get down in the weeds, a
> good accountant will be worth the effort. Not
> those bozos who set up shop at Walmart.
>
> It's just a pain in the arse to wait until
> mid-February when the brokers will issue the tax
> statements on investment accounts. I'm ready for
> my money.
These days, you can just go on the internet and check out reviews for a CPA if you want to use an accountant. Most big companies will help you out even if they don't care about you, or if you "can't stand the guy", you have a corporate office to call who will help you until you shut up.
At 100k, even at 50k, a tax professional will always be able to save you more money than it costs to hire them and in most cases it will be much more money. Note, this is not always the case but 9/10 it is. Tax professionals know much more than you and Turbo Tax and will save you money regardless of whether you "stay in tune with tax laws". Another perk is if they ever do end up messing up your taxes and you end up with an audit (which is rare), they are partially responsible. Most taxes prepared by a pro never get audited.
Another thing to note is the IRS is pretty corrupt, it has been since the day it was born. Given your posting history, I would take extra care filing your taxes under this current administration.
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> For the common person, yes. I've been doing my
> own taxes for nearly 30 years now. I stay in tune
> with the tax laws and the appropriate changes.
>
> We had a windfall a few years back and paid a
> person to prepare ours. The cost was about
> $175.00 and the person was a knucklehead. His fees
> included the electronic filing fees, too. But, I
> couldn't stand the guy, so I ended up redoing them
> myself.
>
> Even if a person makes close to $100K and doesn't
> have enough to exceed the standard deduction, they
> really don't need a professional to handle their
> taxes. It's if things get down in the weeds, a
> good accountant will be worth the effort. Not
> those bozos who set up shop at Walmart.
>
> It's just a pain in the arse to wait until
> mid-February when the brokers will issue the tax
> statements on investment accounts. I'm ready for
> my money.
These days, you can just go on the internet and check out reviews for a CPA if you want to use an accountant. Most big companies will help you out even if they don't care about you, or if you "can't stand the guy", you have a corporate office to call who will help you until you shut up.
At 100k, even at 50k, a tax professional will always be able to save you more money than it costs to hire them and in most cases it will be much more money. Note, this is not always the case but 9/10 it is. Tax professionals know much more than you and Turbo Tax and will save you money regardless of whether you "stay in tune with tax laws". Another perk is if they ever do end up messing up your taxes and you end up with an audit (which is rare), they are partially responsible. Most taxes prepared by a pro never get audited.
Another thing to note is the IRS is pretty corrupt, it has been since the day it was born. Given your posting history, I would take extra care filing your taxes under this current administration.
Re: 50 bucks to file my taxes?
Posted by:
9upGx
()
Date: February 02, 2014 11:50PM
Debbie Downer Democrat XIII Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rockhound Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Check out freetaxusa.com - a decent service if
> you
> > make less than 30-40K.
> >
> > If you make more than 50k, it's worth it to see
> a
> > professional.
>
>
> For the common person, yes. I've been doing my
> own taxes for nearly 30 years now. I stay in tune
> with the tax laws and the appropriate changes.
>
> We had a windfall a few years back and paid a
> person to prepare ours. The cost was about
> $175.00 and the person was a knucklehead. His fees
> included the electronic filing fees, too. But, I
> couldn't stand the guy, so I ended up redoing them
> myself.
>
> Even if a person makes close to $100K and doesn't
> have enough to exceed the standard deduction, they
> really don't need a professional to handle their
> taxes. It's if things get down in the weeds, a
> good accountant will be worth the effort. Not
> those bozos who set up shop at Walmart.
>
> It's just a pain in the arse to wait until
> mid-February when the brokers will issue the tax
> statements on investment accounts. I'm ready for
> my money.
^ This.
There are few tricks or unknown strategies these days. If you're a salaried employee with only the usual tax circumstances then nobody is going to be able to find some 'secrets' to save you any more than you'll find using standard tax programs. They just don't exist. Sorry. If you have some unusual circumstances possibly so given options for how things are treated, but still fairly rare. Most of the 'professionals' at the tax places are just some average Joe who's been through a brief training program who's there to make a few extra bucks during tax season and all that they do is plug your info into the same tax programs.
Audit likelihood is no lower with professional prep. In fact, it can be just the opposite if you have someone who's found to be doing things wrong in some way across returns or pushing some particular strategy that they don't like. I worked for one of the big accounting firms and we saw audits all the time.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rockhound Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Check out freetaxusa.com - a decent service if
> you
> > make less than 30-40K.
> >
> > If you make more than 50k, it's worth it to see
> a
> > professional.
>
>
> For the common person, yes. I've been doing my
> own taxes for nearly 30 years now. I stay in tune
> with the tax laws and the appropriate changes.
>
> We had a windfall a few years back and paid a
> person to prepare ours. The cost was about
> $175.00 and the person was a knucklehead. His fees
> included the electronic filing fees, too. But, I
> couldn't stand the guy, so I ended up redoing them
> myself.
>
> Even if a person makes close to $100K and doesn't
> have enough to exceed the standard deduction, they
> really don't need a professional to handle their
> taxes. It's if things get down in the weeds, a
> good accountant will be worth the effort. Not
> those bozos who set up shop at Walmart.
>
> It's just a pain in the arse to wait until
> mid-February when the brokers will issue the tax
> statements on investment accounts. I'm ready for
> my money.
^ This.
There are few tricks or unknown strategies these days. If you're a salaried employee with only the usual tax circumstances then nobody is going to be able to find some 'secrets' to save you any more than you'll find using standard tax programs. They just don't exist. Sorry. If you have some unusual circumstances possibly so given options for how things are treated, but still fairly rare. Most of the 'professionals' at the tax places are just some average Joe who's been through a brief training program who's there to make a few extra bucks during tax season and all that they do is plug your info into the same tax programs.
Audit likelihood is no lower with professional prep. In fact, it can be just the opposite if you have someone who's found to be doing things wrong in some way across returns or pushing some particular strategy that they don't like. I worked for one of the big accounting firms and we saw audits all the time.
Re: 50 bucks to file my taxes?
Posted by:
Debbie Downer Democrat XIII
()
Date: February 03, 2014 12:53AM
Rockhound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Another thing to note is the IRS is pretty
> corrupt, it has been since the day it was born.
> Given your posting history, I would take extra
> care filing your taxes under this current
> administration.
Thanks for the heads up on the IRS. I guess my 2012 political contributions would certainly open their eyes a bit if they were to personally look at my returns.
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Another thing to note is the IRS is pretty
> corrupt, it has been since the day it was born.
> Given your posting history, I would take extra
> care filing your taxes under this current
> administration.
Thanks for the heads up on the IRS. I guess my 2012 political contributions would certainly open their eyes a bit if they were to personally look at my returns.