Do you do your own taxes?

[El...]

I just hate filing the taxes! I do it every year. I use software. DH nods and approves, but he doesn't help or make it easier...in fact, he's been forgetting to do things during the year which make it much more stressful now, and expensive. He assumes I'll take care of it, because I have always done so. I don't feel like I know what I'm doing. I feel sick. 

If you have someone else do them, how expensive is it? I do all the things to save money. I'm more than frugal. 

But I Hate. This. Task.

 

[Melissa in Australia]

Yes

But the tax system is extremely easy here. You just log on to the tax office , most of it is prefilled, Add the extra bits and submit

Takes about half hour 

[Laura Corin]

Yes. UK taxes are very easy. My workplace taxes are deducted at source and my savings are in tax-efficient retirement accounts. Filing takes me about twenty minutes.  Next year I probably won't need to file at all , because the only complication will have aged out.

 

[Heartstrings]

I use turbo tax every year.  Since they raised the standard deduction so much I don’t have to itemize so it’s easier than it used to be.  Turbo tax auto filling everything from the year before is so helpful!  

[EKS]

I use Turbo Tax.  Having a CPA do it just adds a layer of complexity that I'm not interested in dealing with.

ETA: Our taxes are complex.

Edited March 17 by EKS

[Ottakee]

I use tax software for my kids taxes and it is quick and easy.  I pay about $400 for mine as they are pretty complex.

[Pawz4me]

DH does ours with Turbo Tax. I just nod and approve. 

[KrissiK]

11 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

DH does ours with Turbo Tax. I just nod and approve. 

same.

[teachermom2834]

I’ve used Turbo Tax for years. We don’t have a complicated situation and it is easy enough. The most complicated thing we have had over the years is college scholarships/529 withdrawals/ education credits and deductions. That can get confusing especially with multiple kids and multiple colleges. When my high schoolers were doing de we used the tuition deduction in addition to the credits for the actual college aged kids. That can all get confusing but I still managed it with Turbo Tax. 
 

My kids all do their own now. Two used Turbo Tax and one uses a less expensive similar product.

Edited March 17 by teachermom2834

[SKL]

I always did mine by hand, until someone asked me to help them with their home business.  Then I started using TurboTax for myself and various people I was helping.  That was probably about 25 years ago.

I stopped doing my own taxes when there were too many streams of K1 income flowing to me.  At that point, it's easier to have the taxes done by the guy who's doing the entities' taxes.  I still do other people's taxes as a favor, and for them, I still use TurboTax.  Right now I'm down to only 2 tax return bundles per year.  😛

[forty-two]

I do ours.  I used to do it by hand, snail mail and everything, until my mom (who did taxes, and taught me to do ours) said that e-filing was overwhelmingly the way to go.  Then she did them for me for a few years (with a friends & family credit, so it was free; otherwise would have been ~$500-600).  Then after she retired I used software for a few years (TurboTax and H&R Block) until last year when the $#^&*#$ software had a glitch that I couldn't resolve (and the *other* $#^&*#$ software refused to do clergy taxes properly), and I gave up in disgust.  My sister said there was a plain jane way to efile with the government for free - exactly like doing taxes by hand, except using fillable pdfs, so I tried that, and it was pretty sweet.  So that's what I'm going to do again this year. 

Honestly, I prefer to actually *do* my taxes than have to type in every last bit of the forms so the program will do them for me.  Especially when the first program I try craps out on clergy taxes and I have to type them all in *again*.  Also because I end up doing my taxes by hand anyway to check the program's work, lol.  (And the most annoying part of doing taxes - sorting and adding receipts - I can't outsource anyway.  I do outsource adding up all the utilities to dh, though.)

[SKL]

I get the tax stress though.  People always forget to save / bring important documents.  Then they wait until the last possible day to bring me their shoebox or whatever.  Then they expect me to get them a refund (preferably of all the tax they paid in, if not more).  And if something goes wrong, like, they forgot to give me one of their 1099s so we didn't pay tax on it, that's my problem.  😛  Not that I'm getting paid or anything.  😛  I have to put myself in a certain (happy, chirpy, nothing bothers me) mode when I do other people's taxes.  😛

[gardenmom5]

Dh does them, but his background is finance/accounting.  when he and 2ds (ba accounting, worked at a CPA firm for 5 years until he decided he didn't want to be a CPA) start talking, I leave. They sound so alike, it can be creepy . . . .  dh uses turbo tax for our home business. (2ds started working with dh)

there's a lot of software to make it easy.
what exactly is your dh doing (or not doing) that is making things so difficult, as that could make it that much harder for an accountant to do too. (they'll charge you more.)
do you want him to pay you what it would cost to hire someone?

 

[Annie G]

I did ours by hand until dh retired. Now it’s easier to use software. 
The first year he retired we had some complicated issues and hired a CPA to do the taxes. When we picked them up, he didn;t go over them with us and that irritated me. When I got home I went through the one for our new state and discovered he had way overestimated how much we owed- like by a couple thousand. I called him and he said he knew he had and that the state would figure out how much we owed and refund it to us. Yeah, we paid like $800 for tax prep that year and it made me pretty mad.  He didn’t even try! 
I’m sure we just found a crappy tax prep guy, but it’s easier to do them myself than to risk paying for another crap job. 

[ScoutTN]

Dh does ours; they are simple and he uses TurboTax

Edited March 18 by ScoutTN

[Brittany1116]

No, I take them to a wonderful woman I met years ago who e files them for me. 

[El...]

2 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

Dh does them, but his background is finance/accounting.  when he and 2ds (ba accounting, worked at a CPA firm for 5 years until he decided he didn't want to be a CPA) start talking, I leave. They sound so alike, it can be creepy . . . .  dh uses turbo tax for our home business. (2ds started working with dh)

there's a lot of software to make it easy.
what exactly is your dh doing (or not doing) that is making things so difficult, as that could make it that much harder for an accountant to do too. (they'll charge you more.)
do you want him to pay you what it would cost to hire someone?

 

I would not reject that at this point. Ha.

His withholding was dramatically wrong, and we just paid about $10k in taxes. He'd forgotten to fix it. Twice.

We had the necessary argument, and got our stuff together.  The taxes are filed, and he will be making the necessary adjustments and calls tomorrow to fix his withholding so it isn't so scary next year. 

What really bugged me was that he was not engaged. He used phrases like "pop in the numbers" to describe what "we" were doing.... there's an issue with "we" doing work that's actually accomplished by me. He napped while i freaked out over TurboTax. We're working on that. I'm not conflict averse, and since we intend to stay together for the long haul, I'm going to address that until we fix it.

It's not entirely his fault; transitioning from the military to retirement plus a government job has been financially complicated. 

Now I'm drinking wine and trying to reduce my blood pressure. 

[El...]

The thing is, I've been losing sleep over these dang taxes for six weeks. Next year I'm going to outsource that stress.

[kathyl]

My dh has always done our taxes.  I think he does them by hand.  And he has made mistakes over the years.  I think I'll tell him about Turbo Tax.

Sounds like a job that would be worth hiring someone else to do for you, OP.

[elegantlion]

I used Turbo Tax for years. The last few years, they've charged me because I need some other forms as a student. This year, I went through the IRS website and used Tax Slayer. It was free for federal and state. I was self-employed for part of last year, as well. 

I used to file ex-dh's taxes when we were married. He was self-emplyed and they were complex and he was a lousy organizer. I hated it every year but I knew he'd blow off the responsibility (insert long story). Let's just say I won that argument well after our divorce was complete. 

[wendyroo]

I do ours (uncomplicated) with TurboTax.

It used to be a bigger headache when I used to let DH help. Even back then we used TurboTax, but DH would fret about every little thing. It would ask if either of us were in the military, the answer is a resounding "no", but DH would question: well, he does some contract work for the military through his employer...do I think we have to count that??? NO!! This is not a hard question; click the button and move on!!

It used to take hours and hours and hours. Now Turbo Tax autofills almost everything, I click through that nothing has changed, and I'm done with both federal and state in 30-45 minutes.

[2squared]

Definitly do them myself. We use H&R Block software free through the military, and it’s really not hard. We just have to enter data and answer questions. 

I have my teens/young adults work on their own taxes too. I consider completing and understanding taxes to be a critical component of their financial literacy.  

Edited March 18 by 2squared

[sgo95]

We use taxact for semi complicated circumstances. It's pretty easy to fill out and costs about 130 for us to file federal and state.

[maize]

I've always done ours; most years they are not very complicated. 

Haven't tackled it yet this year. 

[maize]

Posting again to say that it's totally fine to pay someone to do it if you dislike the job.  I bet you pay people to do lots of things you could theoretically do yourself;  if you ever eat out or even buy a loaf of bread at the store, you are paying someone to cook for you. Do you pay someone to change your oil? Did you buy a house that someone else built rather than building it yourself? Pay for entertainment rather than always producing all your own entertainment?

I think sometimes we get stuck thinking *certain tasks* are things we just ought to do ourselves, but of we hate the task and can afford to pay someone else to do it,  maybe we should rethink. 

[Scarlett]

I have always done ours except for one year when I hired it done and they made a 6k error which I caught. 
 

I guess sone people’s can be complicated but ours is super simple with H&R  block 

[Arcadia]

3 hours ago, El... said:

His withholding was dramatically wrong, and we just paid about $10k in taxes.

We have been paying federal tax for the past few years because the withholding is either not enough or way too much. Part of his pay is in stocks so it is really hard to get the withholding amount to be correct. We get back almost the same amount in California state tax. I think for my husband's case, there isn't an easy way to increase withholding for federal tax and decrease withholding for state tax. So when we increase the withholding by $500 per paycheck for example through his employee portal, we can't designate that to go to federal only.

HR Block down the road quoted us close to $100 for federal tax for just W2. We rather use TurboTax online. Ours is simple, just W2, stocks and bank interests, so its easy to get done once all the documents are available.

[Hannah]

8 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Yes

But the tax system is extremely easy here. You just log on to the tax office , most of it is prefilled, Add the extra bits and submit

Takes about half hour 

The same here. The revenue service gets information from employers, medical insurance, retirement annuity providers, banks, etc. The only thing to add would be deductions for work travel (used to be for us, but not anymore), rental income and such. Government only.

I would totally pay a consultant if it gets complicated and did so one year. She was so worth it!

 

[SKL]

6 hours ago, El... said:

What really bugged me was that he was not engaged. He used phrases like "pop in the numbers" to describe what "we" were doing.... there's an issue with "we" doing work that's actually accomplished by me. He napped while i freaked out over TurboTax. We're working on that. I'm not conflict averse, and since we intend to stay together for the long haul, I'm going to address that until we fix it.

It's not entirely his fault; transitioning from the military to retirement plus a government job has been financially complicated. 

Now I'm drinking wine and trying to reduce my blood pressure. 

As another poster described, it isn't necessarily easier if you have your dh work with you on it.

What about switching off each year?  You do the even number years, he does the odd numbered years.

[teachermom2834]

I realized a couple years ago that my dh had never done taxes. We got married right out of college. His mom did his before we got married and I have done them since we married.

We are turning 50 this year and our adult kids do their own taxes and he has never done them. And he makes all the money. I tell him the end result and if he needs to change his witholding.

I realize he should know about the things because it is basic literacy and if something happens to me just having some idea of what this task involves would be good. So every year I say I’m going to loop him in but then I don’t. Because he would make it so much harder. He would question every little thing and it would just take forever and he wouldn’t just accept my explanations for things I’ve learned over the years. So yes, theoretically, dh should be involved. But practically I just do it and it is easier. 

[cintinative]

I complete them and use Turbo Tax. My husband is responsible for the read through at the end and confirming my data entry.

This year has been the first where I felt a little lost. I have two contractor jobs and the instructions were not clear on how to enter things. But I used the Turbo Tax chat feature and they helped me. 

About a week ago I was knee deep trying to figure out how to estimate my federal taxes for my contractor jobs and it was soooo complicated. So much more than it needed to be.  I really admire those of you who can do the paper forms. 

Slightly off topic, but I saw an interesting video a month or so ago about how we (Americans) have all sort of accepted that we have to pay for a software to prepare our taxes. If you are interested: https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000009030739/irs-intuit-tax-season.html  The original intent, per the video, was for the government to release a free version of something for us to use. Turbo Tax was free for a bit as sort of a measure to fill the gap until the feds got that going, and then it never happened. I don't know, I hadn't really thought of how silly it was that we are all paying to pay our taxes until that.  My kids do use the Turbo Tax free edition, but you can accidentally find the wrong turbo tax site pretty easily. 

[QueenCat]

I use H&R Block. Ours aren't super complicated, but not simple either. The software walks me right through it, so 

I can't imagine paying someone else to do the same thing. 

[Sunshine State Sue]

11 hours ago, El... said:

transitioning from the military to retirement plus a government job has been financially complicated.

This is my 11th year volunteering with VITA - Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. One of the locations I volunteer at is run my a retired military site coordinator and several of the volunteers are military. VITA typically has an income cap (79,000 this year) but our site does not have a cap for active/retired military. There is another site on the military base I believe.

You can lookup VITA sites here.

[SKL]

3 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

I realized a couple years ago that my dh had never done taxes. We got married right out of college. His mom did his before we got married and I have done them since we married.

We are turning 50 this year and our adult kids do their own taxes and he has never done them. And he makes all the money. I tell him the end result and if he needs to change his witholding.

I realize he should know about the things because it is basic literacy and if something happens to me just having some idea of what this task involves would be good. So every year I say I’m going to loop him in but then I don’t. Because he would make it so much harder. He would question every little thing and it would just take forever and he wouldn’t just accept my explanations for things I’ve learned over the years. So yes, theoretically, dh should be involved. But practically I just do it and it is easier.

I remember my mom saying this some years ago.  She used to always do the taxes and the other financial stuff (bill paying, etc.).  She knew that wasn't going to be good if she was suddenly not able to do it.

At some point, she handed the taxes off to me, not him, LOL.  However, he does review the returns and ask and answer questions.

I think that if one's taxes are not super complicated, it should be enough to just keep everything together in a place where everyone knows to look should they need to step in.  Most things don't change a lot from year to year.

[Scarlett]

My first husband and I did our taxes starting in 1983 before the software was available.  We never even considered paying someone to do it for us.  We just got the forms and filled them out.  We were only 18 and 19 that year.  I do remember it seeming to be a little overwhelming at first but we muddled through.  I can’t remember when software became available but by that time I had taken on all the financial management and I did it all on my own.  

[Condessa]

I did every year until last year.  Just followed the step-by-step instructions from the IRS, no need for software.  Last year, dh's small firm offered to pay for their tax person to do the partners' taxes, too.  I was relieved--I had never had any issue with doing it myself, but that was the year dh became technically both a part owner and an employee, and I was stressing trying to figure out what that meant for taxes.  I would have figured it out eventually, but having someone else take care of it was a nice luxury.  

[Sneezyone]

Not anymore. Our situation just got too complicated with a rental property, dual and contract income, dependent extended family, and a kid in college. The first year (2 years worth plus some back clean up work) it was $1400 or so. This year it’s $455. Worth every penny. I feel lucky that we got out of that transitional year owing $5k.

Edited March 18 by Sneezyone

[Longtime Lurker]

I do ours myself, first on paper and then I type it all into the IRS Free Fillable Forms so we can e-file. Ours are not super simple, but not super complicated either. I enjoy learning about tax rules and spend a lot of time reading IRS publications and instructions for fun 🙂 I taught DD23 how to do taxes when she had her first summer job and now she has a full time job and and an HSA and some side Schedule C income and she can handle all of it with just a little help from me when she encounters something new (e.g.- first year with an HSA). Even if she ends up using tax software later, I am glad that she understands how taxes work.

[AnotherNewName]

Yes, but I am over it.  Next year is DH''s turn and if we don't start using a CPA that year, we will 100% be using one the one after.

Edited March 19 by AnotherNewName

[dirty ethel rackham]

I used to.  I had a couple home businesses and, with all the work I needed to do to be ready to turn something over to a tax preparer, it was easier to just do it myself, one paper at first, and then with the help of TurboTax.  However, when dh "retired" from a job that has a pension, started working for a consulting firm with stock options and bonuses and other weird things, I decided that I just didn't have it in me to learn all these new things (and I was in school at the time and my brain was full. 😬)   So we've hired someone ever since.  

ETA:  My dad sat me down when I was a teen to have me do my taxes from my part-time jobs.  Dh's dad was an accountant and had always done his.  When we got married, I was appalled that he didn't know how to do his taxes.  So, it became my job.  If something weird came up, I had to learn about it and figure it out.  Although we could have had his dad do ours, I just turned to him when I had questions, like "do I need to amortize this purchase or can I just claim it outright?"

Edited March 19 by dirty ethel rackham

[DawnM]

I hate doing them, so I am having a torrid affair with an accountant who is doing them for me.   😂

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Spoiler alert: He is my husband)

[TechWife]

My husband used to do them with turbo tax, but we started using a CPA about 8 years ago. Our taxes are complicated for multiple reasons. 

[idnib]

We have someone do them. We started when we had complicated tax situations and although things are simpler now we still go there. It's good for us to not stress about it and we go to dinner afterwards as a treat. We like that they scan everything and save it so we always have copies of documents handy, and not just tax-related ones.

That said, our tax person is in his late 60s, and when he retires we will likely do them ourselves rather than move our business to his younger business partner. We've been going to him since the 1990s; I'm guessing the DIY software options have improved since then.

[frogger]

On 3/17/2024 at 12:52 PM, Melissa in Australia said:

Yes

But the tax system is extremely easy here. You just log on to the tax office , most of it is prefilled, Add the extra bits and submit

Takes about half hour 

Why is there no envy emoji? Why?

[Frances]

On 3/18/2024 at 4:37 AM, cintinative said:

Slightly off topic, but I saw an interesting video a month or so ago about how we (Americans) have all sort of accepted that we have to pay for a software to prepare our taxes. If you are interested: https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000009030739/irs-intuit-tax-season.html  The original intent, per the video, was for the government to release a free version of something for us to use. Turbo Tax was free for a bit as sort of a measure to fill the gap until the feds got that going, and then it never happened. I don't know, I hadn't really thought of how silly it was that we are all paying to pay our taxes until that.  My kids do use the Turbo Tax free edition, but you can accidentally find the wrong turbo tax site pretty easily. 

The IRS is testing a free (for everyone, not income dependent) direct file program in 12 states this year and some states, like mine, also have free direct file programs. These are very similar to Turbo Tax or other tax preparation programs, just without the fees. Hopefully next year it will expand to all states. If you don’t need help, the IRS also has free fillable forms, as do many states.

Edited March 20 by Frances

[Arcadia]

On 3/17/2024 at 1:52 PM, Melissa in Australia said:

But the tax system is extremely easy here. You just log on to the tax office , most of it is prefilled, Add the extra bits and submit

Takes about half hour 

 

1 hour ago, frogger said:

Why is there no envy emoji? Why?

My country of origin is a tiny nation. The government knows everything so my dad doesn’t need to do anything, just click nothing else to report on his tax form and file. 

[Arcadia]

On 3/17/2024 at 6:21 PM, El... said:

His withholding was dramatically wrong, and we just paid about $10k in taxes

Something else that make our withholding for Federal dramatically wrong is that the W-4 does not take into account bank interest. We put more money from savings into CDs last year so Federal tax owed is higher than we expected.

[Frances]

23 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Something else that make our withholding for Federal dramatically wrong is that the W-4 does not take into account bank interest. We put more money from savings into CDs last year so Federal tax owed is higher than we expected.

You can make estimated payments throughout the year to account for this, since with CDs the interest earned is known.

[Arcadia]

17 minutes ago, Frances said:

You can make estimated payments throughout the year to account for this, since with CDs the interest earned is known.

Thanks. My husband prefers not to do that.

[frogger]

5 hours ago, Arcadia said:

 

My country of origin is a tiny nation. The government knows everything so my dad doesn’t need to do anything, just click nothing else to report on his tax form and file. 

To be honest with you, if you are not running your own business or work under the table, the US government has all your information also. Employers, banks, schools, everyone sends your info to the IRS. Then the test/ game begins. Will you get it right? Will you be audited?

Basically, the main reason for the current system is lobbyests and politics.