One more tax question :)

[Deleted]

Today I started to get all of our tax paperwork together and I really started to wonder why we pay someone to do our taxes each year. I know my husband believes our tax preparer helps us find more deductions, but I'm not sure its worth paying extra for anymore. My husband works in a field where a lot of work expenses are tax deductible (or so we have been told). We are married with two kids and he is the only working person. We own our house, otherwise our deductions are pretty basic. Our tax preparer charges us $250. I checked turbo tax and it would be $70 for both state and federal. I have last years returns and can see exactly what deductions she used. What is the opinion of MM. Do you do your own taxes? If so, what website do you use?

[y4m]

We've always used software like turbo tax, or DH likes to do them by hand with the forms. If your tax situation is fairly straightforward, they are fine, although I'd be careful about work deductions because those can sometimes be a red flag.

[dragonfly08]

Turbo Tax works pretty well. We use it every year, and our returns can get complicated since we live/DH works/we own a home and an investment property in one state, we own two investment properties in a second state, and I work online for a university physically located in a third state. But DH keeps meticulous records and TT walks him through everything so while our taxes are time consuming each year they aren't difficult to figure out even with one federal and three state returns to slog through.

[LoveTrains]

I use turbotax every year. It is really simple to use!

[Deleted]

I started using an accountant when my taxes got overly complicated - overseas income, rental income, and investment income. My taxes are less complicated now but I still use an accountant as I don't feel like spending hours doing them myself.