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Thread: I Detest Tax Preparation

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Stone View Post
    I switched from TurboTax to TaxAct when I got tired of TurboTax's rather predatory pricing model.
    If you buy Turbotax from Amazon rather than direct from them it is sometimes cheaper. The same applies to Quicken. If you buy it direct it costs more than buying it from Amazon.
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  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    If you buy Turbotax from Amazon rather than direct from them it is sometimes cheaper. The same applies to Quicken. If you buy it direct it costs more than buying it from Amazon.

    Honestly, I haven't missed TurboTax at all. TaxAct is every bit as good (for me, I imagine if one were a Quicken user, TT would be more valuable).

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Padilla View Post
    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.
    Try to sell some stock that is up, and some stock that is down; that way there is no tax. It can be worthwhile to invest so you can do that.

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Hintz View Post
    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.
    No, that's really OK. They are paying you prime rate on it all year, right??? I try to get back as little as possible but, it does take some "rejiggering" now and again as the "let's keep changing it so they can never get a decent footing" department is working overtime lately.
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  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wade Lippman View Post
    Try to sell some stock that is up, and some stock that is down; that way there is no tax. It can be worthwhile to invest so you can do that.

    Everything was up!
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  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Padilla View Post
    Everything was up!

    Sympathy withdrawn!

  7. #22
    Being self employed and outright owning our house, our taxes are simple once I get the business ones done. I do them myself, as I have to get everything in order for someone else to do them. Heck, when you got the figures right in front of you, why not write them on the forms. As for "nationally" known tax software, friend, who is also self employed used one of the better knowns (which has been mentioned in this thread.) Program didn't figure any social security for three years. IRS caught it though, and with interest and penalties it was VERY EXPENSIVE, to the tune of several thousand dollars. Software program offered him his purchase price back- BIG DEAL!

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Padilla View Post
    Everything was up!
    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Stone View Post
    Sympathy withdrawn!

    This made me chuckle...
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  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    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.
    Ditto & Ditto
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  10. #25
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    I have used Turbo Tax for years, and it seems to work for me. But then I get a letter that some of the retirement plan members of which I am a part got incorrect 1099-R tax forms. I had already filed my taxes and now they tell me I will probably have to file an amended return when I get the correct form. Never have had to do that before. Always something new to learn.
    John

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Meyer View Post
    I have used Turbo Tax for years, and it seems to work for me. But then I get a letter that some of the retirement plan members of which I am a part got incorrect 1099-R tax forms. I had already filed my taxes and now they tell me I will probably have to file an amended return when I get the correct form. Never have had to do that before. Always something new to learn.
    John
    Turbo Tax can handle that

  12. #27
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    I had used Turbo Tax for many years. I would always get an email from them informing me when the current year's version was available. It usually came bundled with both federal and state versions. Now I don't remember the exact cost numbers, but the general jest of it was that the previous year's version was $39 for both versions. I get the email, saying "Great news! The price of Turbo Tax has dropped to $29. That's a savings of $10 over last year!" Upon reading the fine print, it turns out that the federal version was $29, and the state version was $15 for a total of $44. So, they were pushing a price increase of $5 as a price drop. This marketing strategy did not sit well with me, and I have refused to purchase Turbo Tax ever since. I switched to Tax Act, and used that for several years, until my taxes got to be pretty complicated and started using a tax accountant.
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  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Wrenn View Post
    Being self employed and outright owning our house, our taxes are simple once I get the business ones done. I do them myself, as I have to get everything in order for someone else to do them. Heck, when you got the figures right in front of you, why not write them on the forms. As for "nationally" known tax software, friend, who is also self employed used one of the better knowns (which has been mentioned in this thread.) Program didn't figure any social security for three years. IRS caught it though, and with interest and penalties it was VERY EXPENSIVE, to the tune of several thousand dollars. Software program offered him his purchase price back- BIG DEAL!
    I have serious trouble believing that tax software didn't figure your friend's SS for 3 years. Millions of people with SS use them; somebody (probably many thousands) would have noticed the first year and it would have made the national news. Surely the error wouldn't have persisted for the 2nd year.

    Two years ago my federal taxes on H&RBlock were much lower than I expected. I certainly got to the bottom of it before filing. Turns out Congress failed to renew the tax on qualified dividends and the software was correct. (Thank you Congressional gridlock!)

  14. #29
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    I am not certain what happened in the circumstance discussed. What I have noted in the past while using tax software for folks with much simpler taxes was that the software remembers from year-to-year what you input and didn't input in every box. Consequently, if a person didn't input an item in a specific box on the initial year, it becomes very easy to gloss over in subsequent years. It's even that way with the taxes I get ready for the accountant. I had to call to ask for answers concerning a house refinance today. She didn't include that in the packet because it was never done in the past. That is just one possibility. It's more than likely, an accidental omission on the initial year.
    Quote Originally Posted by Wade Lippman View Post
    I have serious trouble believing that tax software didn't figure your friend's SS for 3 years. Millions of people with SS use them; somebody (probably many thousands) would have noticed the first year and it would have made the national news. Surely the error wouldn't have persisted for the 2nd year.

    Two years ago my federal taxes on H&RBlock were much lower than I expected. I certainly got to the bottom of it before filing. Turns out Congress failed to renew the tax on qualified dividends and the software was correct. (Thank you Congressional gridlock!)

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wade Lippman View Post
    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.
    Wade, you are such a comedian!! Whatever in the world would lead you to believe that "reform" means "simplify"? Heck, "health care reform", whatever one may think of the merits of such an undertaking, certainly didn't simplify things. "reform" can mean "simplify", but such is rarely the case whenever City Hall, the State House, or Congress get's involved.

    Finally, with regards to the thread title. EVERYBODY detests tax preparation. Including accountants. Accountants simply detest it less because they at least get to make some money off it.
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