[RocktimusPryme]

For the last 3-4 years Ive been using Credit Karma's free tax software. Worked great, you could be as complicated as you wanted for free, and the prompts did a pretty good job of walking you through it. While its almost a joke, I am technically a small business owner and it made that stuff fairly easy.

Yesterday I sat down to do my taxes, low and behold Credit karma had been bought by Intuit, which also owns Turbo Tax. Hit the link and it routed me to turbo tax.....So now it took me longer to do, and only the EZ form is free, they charged me $200 for the pleasure of taking twice and long as the old free software.

There arent many things I would be a single issue voter for, but dramatically simplifying the tax code would be up there. You owe the percentage you owe with no shell games for the uber rich. You are never going to completely eliminate that, when you can pay a team of people to find loopholes, they will find them, but at least make them work for it. From what I understand everytime tax simplification comes up, the lobbyists for HR block and Turbo Tax that spend the most money against them.

[misterp266]

TurboTax messed up my state return last year.
This year I used https://www.1040.com
$34.99 for both federal and state. Much easier than TurboTax.
At this point, my taxes are very simple. I used to use a Tax guy when they were complicated.
Got both refunds very quickly too.

[SRR]

I won't use anything but a CPA. We have had our taxes screwed up by HR Blk and one of her friends who is a paid tax preparer. Worth every penny to use a CPA. We have 5 incomes and a house so there's that.

[sdbob]

When I was working in my mid 20s at Kennametal I did my own. Then when I was self employed a friend was a cpa did them . Now another friend CPA but had a tire shop where I hang out does mine. He said he likes the math and keeping up with rules.

[fyrffytr1]

My federal paper return was stoleni n 2021 (2020) tax year. The thief had all my W2s and 1099s for both me and my wife. He filed a false return claiming 24,000 dollars in mortgage interest and 26000 in charitable contributions. This and the other deductions he took added up to well over $60000. Our total income for that year was $64000.
The IRS issued a refund in my name to a Green Dot bank account for over $10,000! As soon as it hit the account the thief withdrew it and closed the account. My CPA notified the IRS after I called her about not getting my $2,500 refund. That's when I found out I had been hacked. The IRS said I was hacked and said I would have to have a PIN for my wife and myself. From then on We filed electronically. Guess what the IRS did? They deducted portions of our refunds in 2021,22,23 and 24 to pay back the "overage" the thieves got.
I almost forgot, two weeks after the thieves got my refund the first stimulus check from the government went to the same Green Dot account so they got that money too.
My CPA midi everything she could to help us, but I finally said let it go. Thank the Good Lord we didn't need the money and thank him again because the thieves will have their judgement day.

[KS circutguy]

Originally Posted by fyrffytr1

My federal paper return was stoleni n 2021 (2020) tax year. The thief had all my W2s and 1099s for both me and my wife. He filed a false return claiming 24,000 dollars in mortgage interest and 26000 in charitable contributions. This and the other deductions he took added up to well over $60000. Our total income for that year was $64000.
The IRS issued a refund in my name to a Green Dot bank account for over $10,000! As soon as it hit the account the thief withdrew it and closed the account. My CPA notified the IRS after I called her about not getting my $2,500 refund. That's when I found out I had been hacked. The IRS said I was hacked and said I would have to have a PIN for my wife and myself. From then on We filed electronically. Guess what the IRS did? They deducted portions of our refunds in 2021,22,23 and 24 to pay back the "overage" the thieves got.
I almost forgot, two weeks after the thieves got my refund the first stimulus check from the government went to the same Green Dot account so they got that money too.
My CPA midi everything she could to help us, but I finally said let it go. Thank the Good Lord we didn't need the money and thank him again because the thieves will have their judgement day.

Wow

[george kujanski]

Yep, I would think that at tax time the scumbags are thinking tax returns are easy pickings, even like washing checks from taxpayers.
How would someone get away with 26K in charitable contributions? I can't even claim a few hundred in deductions for that.

george

[TXSTARFIRE]

That story is a good reason to never give the government a free loan by overpaying and getting a refund at the end of the year. You should always owe money on your taxes. Should be hard for someone to claim your refund if you need to pay in.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by TXSTARFIRE

That story is a good reason to never give the government a free loan by overpaying and getting a refund at the end of the year. You should always owe money on your taxes. Should be hard for someone to claim your refund if you need to pay in.

Lots of people actually like doing that, they dont care or understand the "free loan" part... all that matters is they get a big refund and think theyre rich for a week. And they dont have to pay another bill they can barely afford living paycheck to paycheck & in debt.

[Jim Moshier]

Agreed, this way I don't have to interpret all the new laws and I had a business so I wrote it off anyway. Now I'm retired, wife still works for another 2 years. I don't see us not using a tax professional even afterwards.

[carbking]

In a different lifetime, I wrote all my accounting programs for my business, and I did my own taxes for about 60 years.

After my wife and I "retired", the deductions on the SS REALLY added several degrees of difficulty to my taxes.

For the last 9 years, I do the accounting, and turn over the reports to the CPA.

He is very reasonable, and generally finds money that I would not have found. The rules change more often than the post office raises postage rates ! Plus he helps me with any other necessary changes, such as a PIN for both of us; which is a great added protection against the hackers !

I will disagree about over-paying, but I NEVER get a refund. Just leave the money there. With the current interest rates, it doesn't cost that much; and it is a green flag if there is every a *&^%$#@ AI generated red flag for an audit. They figure if you are going to cheat you would take the refund.

We were forced to go through a paper audit several years ago because the company that processes credit cards for us coded us a a used car dealer rather than a parts manufacturer / retailer. Of course, 90 plus percent of our gross was paid by credit card, and the computers didn't think a used car lot would have that high a percentage of credit card sales.

The company found their mistake AFTER the audit was initiated, and informed the IRS; and the nice (she really was nice) lady that I spoke with at the IRS told me they had corrected the problem, but the IRS rules were such that once an audit was started, it has to be completed.

19 very frustrating *&^%$#@ WASTED hours ! If I "waste" a little interest each year, and it lessens the probability of an audit, it is worth it !

Jon

[ta6point6]

Originally Posted by TXSTARFIRE

You should always owe money on your taxes. .

Is that always true as well, I am getting tired of paying every year. I have a friend who also sells on ebay. He used to pay taxes every year until he opened up a SEP IRA and he said this will help with your AGI and reduce what he owes almost dollar for dollar. I guess the only downside is you have to wait till you retire to access those funds. I guess it all depends on how much you owe but better than paying to Uncle Sam. I am sure there are other retirement accounts out there that could also help out to reduce AGI.

[TXSTARFIRE]

I wouldnt mind paying taxes if I knew it would not be wasted on ridiculous things. In order for real tax reform to take place we need to get rid of withholding and everyone needs to write a check on 4-15 for the entire amount due. I can guarantee you things would change.