HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

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steve n carol

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May 8, 2004
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459
Being self employed and running a business, I have been using a CPA at the end of the year. I am thinking about using a computer program this year. <br /><br />Whadddyathink???...sl
 
SpinnerBait_Nut

SpinnerBait_Nut

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

S&C, I always use Turbo Tax to do mine.
 
J

jinx

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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

We have a small business, with a fairly complicated return.<br /><br />We have used 2 CPA's in the past, with terrible results. One did not factor in depreciation of the office resulting in refiling of several years of taxes--much to our benefit.<br /><br />The second completely left me hanging and was still screwing around on Oct.14th one day before the final deadline.<br /><br />That being said, we have also done them ourselves, which is a real distraction from the business of making a living. Fortunately, my wife has her MBA and is extremely savvy. Unfortunately, being savvy does not help in the time or effort required to prepare the return.<br /><br />TurboTax is an extremely good tool. In the computer world, however, there is a saying: GIGO (garbage in, garbage out), and Turbo Tax cannot prevent you from neglecting to enter data correctly, or to capitalize on a potential deduction. <br /><br />Bottom line, if you have a CPA you work with well, stick with them. That is the conclusion we have reached, and we have been seeking a replacement for ours. <br /><br />The answer, of course, is to scrap our current tax code and come up with a simple replacement.<br /><br />All in my opinion,<br /><br />Jinx
 
B

Barlow

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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

what are the advantages to doing it this way to you Steve?..<br /><br />knowledge of?<br />complexity/simplicity?<br />expense?<br />time?<br />thoroughness?<br />self accomplishment?<br /><br />for myself.. all these things point in the direction to an accountant.<br /><br />for what its worth...
 
Drowned Rat

Drowned Rat

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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

Turbo Tax does tax software for businesses. I think it's on a special deluxe version (green box). I've used it once and it was really simple and seemed to cover all the bases. My business, however, was very small with only one employee so that may have made a difference.
 
J

jinx

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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

We've never had a problem with TurboTax, but errors can easily made in the bookkeeping end of things, and hence you can enter bad data.<br /><br />This tax talk is getting depressing already.<br /><br />Jinx
 
KaGee

KaGee

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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

Turbo tax..... the CPA asks for the same info, you pay them by the hour. CPA only if something is complex.<br /><br />And yea... what jinx said! :(
 
f_inscreenname

f_inscreenname

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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

I have had the same CPA since I was 17 (in a way). My first was Mr Pitt. A big old black man (he would tell you so). I remember him saying many times “there (IRS) not getting this old black mans money”. The funny thing is he was talking about my money and I was a little, young, white guy. Kind of made you feel like he was doing his own sons taxes. Always asking how I was set up for the future and doing what he could to get me to do the right things (I am a sub contractor) like getting paper work in on time etc. As a 19 years old making a bunch of money he kept me straight. I had a lot of friends in the same work that found out later there taxes were all screwed up or they never bothered to file. Even during my divorce (which came around tax time) he didn't hear from me so he filed a extension (without me asking) and then tracked me down and told me to come in. With very little paper work (the mean ex had it) we managed to get it done. <br /> That same year he told me he was selling the business and moving to Florida. I was heart broken. He told me the new guy would be taking over in a month. A couple week later he calls me and asks me to come in. I was thinking audit. Ohh poop. I get there and was just to introduce the new owner Tim Flynn. After 5 mins I am happy again and have never left. Now after my divorce (with a child), being a subcontractor and a bunch of other things that make my taxes a real pain I go there and it is done in a hour. The best $85.00 a year I have ever spent. Tim takes everything to the limit without crossing the line and every year he has new loop holes, tax credits and new laws that apply to me and where I live. That is a good reason alone not to use a program. Local taxes are a animal of there own. There is plenty of deductions and stuff that I don't think a program will know about and it sure wouldn't go looking for them without you asking it to and if you don't know about them....... <br /> My advice would be to go find a accountant (not a chain store kind) and have a meeting before you have him/her do your taxes. Ask questions like how often do your clients get audited and other stuff that I am sure people here can tell you. A program is generic and if you know your stuff it would probably be OK but I bet a good CPA could do much better with the same program. It is your money. <br /><br />PS Me as a business has never made over $85,000.00 a year and my CPA has a pretty good size business but he still treats me like I am his biggest client. When it comes to your taxes that is the way it should be.
 
D

deputydawg

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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

Even when I had my shop and ran cattle we have done our own. Turbo tax is good, quicken was good too. If you have all your stuff throughout the year in a good PC based program, it is pretty easy. Tryin to catch up at the end of the year is a nightmare. Quicken was always good to us as long as we kept up throughout the year. It took several hours to get done but was a big savings.
 
F

fixin

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

Is turbo tax good for the average construction worker?Can you idomize deductions?We do our own taxes (wife does)and was wondering if it would be worth getting.We just go by the book.
 
S

steve n carol

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Messages
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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

Thanks guys for the input,<br /> Barlowe, The CPA is getting VERY old, (aged), He's starting to forget things. i have used him for years and it gets frusterating for me. <br /> I just needed some other ideas. I use Quickbooks thru the year and have been able to understand it, finally. Carol is great, but dosen't do books and math is NOT a strong point w/me. <br /> I think Quicken is adaptable to the Quickbooks format. Thanks Guys!...sl
 
Kenneth Brown

Kenneth Brown

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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

I have used Tax Act for the last two years. I am thinking I will again this year but maybe not. I try not to do business with any of the spam companies. So far this year I have gotten about 30 from them, or their representives. Having just started the farm business I should get a CPA to do mine because I have all of the start up costs. I didn't save any of my paperwork so it looks like they are gonna get this white mans money.
 
KaGee

KaGee

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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

S&C...Quick Books is Quicken, TurboTax is a Quicken product and they work together to save you time.<br />
Tim takes everything to the limit without crossing the line and every year he has new loop holes, tax credits and new laws that apply to me and where I live. That is a good reason alone not to use a program. Local taxes are a animal of there own. There is plenty of deductions and stuff that I don't think a program will know about and it sure wouldn't go looking for them without you asking it to and if you don't know about them....... <br />
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F_in...<br />Your $85 fee is dirt cheap. Most CPA's around here probably get that and more... per hour! <br /><br />Like the old commercial used to say... "This aint your fathers tax software" The new TURBO TAX programs are extremely interactive. It takes you through an intense question and answer to cover all the bases. (loopholes) And unlike Steve's experience, it's not forgetful. You always have the ability to get advise if you want or need it. More than half the work is done by you anyway in collecting all of the information. <br /><br />Not trying to change your mind about your situation. Just to let you know that what you said isn't necessarily the case.
 
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bassman283m

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Dec 23, 2004
Messages
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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

I used TurboTax 3 or 4 years ago for yucks and giggles and I thought it did a pretty good job. My taxes are relatively simple and it was really quicker for me to do them with paper and pencil. Especially since I did the paper and pencil route to check the tax program.<br /><br />CPA's are not all created equal. I worked for a season for H&R Block as a tax preparer in 1993. Back then, electronic filing was new and fairly complicated and most CPAs didn't offer it, Only the national accounting firms.<br /><br />A lot of people brought their CPA prepared returns to Block for elctronic filing. We would enter the data from their returns and charge a fee to file. I couldn't believe the number of CPA prepared returns that had major errors, a couple so bad we couldn't even enter enough data to generate an error report. People would get really pissed when we told them they had to take the return back to their accountant for correction, but couldn't give them the error report.<br /><br />About 20 years ago, my dad incorporated his sonsulting business using the most prominent accounting firm in our area. The first year, he was totally shocked at how low his taxes were and questioned the result. His CPA basically told him that now that he was an inc he could deduct all kinds of neat things he couldn't before. I told him, "Well, he's the CPA. He should know."<br /><br />Fortunately the old man banked the money instead of spending it because it turned out he didn't know. After two years of this, the auditors showed up and found him owing a little over 20 G. CPA had been putting income numbers in the wrong column.<br /><br />I guess what I'm saying is that however you do your taxes, you need to have some feel for what they should be. Not easy on a complicated return.
 
O

OLDSPUD

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Messages
348
Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

I always run through Turbo, just to see if I'm missing anything, but I always use my CPA, to review and file. If I had relied on Turbo, Sometimes it would have caught one or two things, other times it would have cost me a lot.<br /><br />I do the same with my personal filing, except I file those myself. <br /><br /> SURE WOULD BE COOL IF THEY WOULD SIMPLIFY THE TAX CODE. <br /><br />Filing by yourself is scary, that is why I always run through one the programs and review it in detail.<br /><br />Spud
 
D

DJ

Guest
Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

SURE WOULD BE COOL IF THEY WOULD SIMPLIFY THE TAX CODE. <br />
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It will never happen. If they did, people would realize how much they were paying and would revolt. Just like "withholding".
 
jtexas

jtexas

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Oct 13, 2003
Messages
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Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

Been using turbotax for ten years. for many of those years I used it on several clients' returns. I don't do clients on the side anymore just 'cause I don't want to spend the time on it.<br /><br />fixin, I would recommend it to the average construction worker - saves time, fills in all the boxes that need filling, helps you find deductions, plus which you can e-file & get your refund in a hurry. next year it'll carry over all your info from this year & you just fill in the blanks. to me it's worth the $20.
 
M

mellowyellow

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Jun 8, 2002
Messages
5,327
Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

3 things u can't pay too much for:<br />babysitter<br />attorney<br />accountant<br /><br />don't under-estimate the importance of having a<br />PRO sign the return in the IRS' eyes...
 
B

Barlow

Lieutenant Commander
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Mar 11, 2003
Messages
1,794
Re: HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR TAXES?

Originally posted by steve n carol:<br /> Thanks guys for the input,<br /> Barlowe, The CPA is getting VERY old, (aged), He's starting to forget things. i have used him for years and it gets frusterating for me. <br /> I just needed some other ideas. I use Quickbooks thru the year and have been able to understand it, finally. Carol is great, but dosen't do books and math is NOT a strong point w/me. <br /> I think Quicken is adaptable to the Quickbooks format. Thanks Guys!...sl
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MY made a good point too <br /><br />best thing i could tell you from my side of the fence is ask around.. small business owners around here network pretty tightly and hear a lot of good and bad about such services.. keep your ears open and don't be shy about asking others in your area about who they are using.. If you've got your past records (which you should) they'll come in handy for interviewing/choosing a new service...<br /><br />best I can do from here ... good luck to you and I know its a hard thing to trust some folks but, If they've been a round and are actively 'schooling' themselves you should be able to rest easy about it in the future.<br /><br /> :)
 
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