I Detest Tax Preparation

[Rich Riddle]

I absolutely detest tax preparation. I have to give my accountant over 50 pages of a completed form so she can do taxes. This last year we repaired property, staged it, and sold it. Then we purchased another property within 90 days and financed that. We also refinanced the home. The joys of tax season preparation. Literally hundreds if not over a thousand receipts do go through and get in the correct slot.

[Frederick Skelly]

I feel your pain Rich. I surely do.
Fred

[Dan Hintz]

Finished my taxes week before last, but before I could get SWMBO to sign them, she took off on a week-long cruise. Got them mailed today... not great, but at least it's out of my head. Looks like I need to rejigger some finances, too... refund was $18k+. Gov is holding way too much of my hard-earned money throughout the year.

[Jim Becker]

I've been doing my own for years using TurboTax. I put tax related things in a file folder throughout the year as well as code things like donations in Quicken so I can just run a report to check that I didn't miss anything. The only thing arduous about it is not forgetting something.

And Dan...yea...you need to adjust your withholding. Not only are you not having that money available to you, you're also making what is essentially an interest-free loan to the government. Quite frankly, I always plan to actually owe a small amount which insures maximum take-home pay throughout the year. I know you know this, but I'll state it anyway for posterity since there are way too many folks who might read this who don't seem to know it...a tax refund is just that...a refund of overpayment. It's not a windfall. It's not found money. It's your money.

[Wade Lippman]

I actually find it easier to do it myself than deal with an accountant. The software asks all the right questions and probably picks up things I wouldn't think to ask an accountant.

Sadly, though Congress is totally paralyzed when it comes to reforming the tax code, they have no trouble making it more complicated.

[Greg R Bradley]

My bills for my CPA for last year are about $23,000 including an Audit for which I owe nothing. Do you feel better now?

[Ed Aumiller]

About 16 years ago our accountant for over 20 years made a mistake on the state portion of our taxes...
He paid the difference (just under $200) but the next year he decided he did not want our business due to HIS mistake.

It normally would take me about two weeks preparing the papers for him every February plus the record keeping through out the year..

So I bought TurboTax and used it with the papers I always prepared for the accountant... Been using it ever since as it is so easy
since 99% of the work is already done and basically just have to type it into the computer..

We find ItsDeductible by TurboTax is great for donations and Quicken is good for the rentals..
I also love that TurboTax will import direct from the banks and Fidelity all the interest, stock info, etc directly without having to enter it manually.
Also imports directly from ItsDeductible & Quicken.

The accountant's dropping us due to his mistake turned into a good thing for us..

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I quit doing personal taxes some 10 years ago.

[Kev Williams]

Just bought and sold a boat from the same place. This same place changed the oil in the outdrive in the boat they sold for us and left the upper plug/dipstick loose. The guy who bought our boat now needs the drive rebuilt...
And the same guys winterized the boat we bought by removing quick-drain lines from the engine blocks. Uh, that's why there's quick-drain lines! --And these same guys will likely rebuild my old outdrive...

Back in the 80's I bought a semi to enter the trucking business. It didn't work out, and had to file bankruptcy. Most people leave court with no bills to pay. Thanks to my lawyer, the court ordered me to sell my share of our engraving business and present them a check for the amount-- which was more than half the amount I filed bankruptcy on--

And because of the paperwork involved with the trucking business and losing it, I hired an accountant to help me. It was 3 years later he finally presented me with the good news: Somehow he determined that the truck actually made $22000 profit, and now I had back taxes and penalties to pay....


For these reasons-- Unless I simply can't fix it, no mechanic will ever repair anything of mine--

Even if I'm totally innocent and get charged with murder in the 1st degree, I will have a fool for a lawyer before I let a real one defend me--

And since my fiasco with the accountant who took 3 years to prove he couldn't count, no one but me will ever touch my books or do my taxes...

And yes, I HATE doing taxes. (I just barely got started too)

[Howard Garner]

I quit doing personal taxes some 10 years ago.

I quit seeing the professionals when they made a mistake on my non-resident return that cost me money.
Started doing them by hand and then transitioned to computers over the years.

Howard

[Brian Tymchak]

I switched this year from TurboTax to HR Block's software. It was $15 cheaper and I thought the UI was easier to use. I also thought its donation software (comparable to ItsDeductible) was easier to use. My taxes aren't all that complicated though.

[Phil Stone]

I switched from TurboTax to TaxAct when I got tired of TurboTax's rather predatory pricing model. TaxAct is great, and about a third of the cost (and they don't jack the rate if you file later in the season).

I resent the fact that it takes me almost a full Saturday to get my records together and fill out three forms (federal and two states). Why is our tax code so complicated that one either has to hire a pro, or else lose 1/365th of a lifetime to file? That doesn't seem right.

[Steve Peterson]

I know what you mean. I have done my own taxes by hand for years. The thing that bugs me the most is how they can make relatively simple equations so complicated.

For example, you add your long term capital gains to your income to come up with a total taxable income. But then every single calculation requires you to subtract away the long term capital gains so it can be multiplied by a different tax rate.

I am all for a flat tax, but suspect that TurboTax and H&R block lobbyists would prevent it from happening.

Steve

[Larry Browning]

I quit doing personal taxes some 10 years ago.

So, Ken you are saying you haven't filed your taxes in 10 years? I wouldn't be making that public knowledge.

[Chris Padilla]

Avid Turbo Tax user. My taxes aren't complicated enough for me to pay someone else to do it however we sold a lot of stock last year and have the opposite problem of Hintz up there: we owe Fed $19k! We also owe California $3k. I ended up needing to sell MORE stock to cover that payment so you can guess that it'll be high again next year!! LOL! It won't be as bad and I'll adjust my withholding a bit so the bite isn't as large. I do like Becker does and always TRY to owe and boy did I crush that one out of the park.