At my work, I am not a tax auditor but I do work with corporation taxes and I work around individual taxes.

I personally do my wife and my taxes myself since they are fairly simple because we take the standard deduction but I know a lot of people itemize their deductions which can get tricky.
And, they own property, a house and other things which makes doing taxes confusing so a lot of people go to a tax service such as H & R Block, Jackson-Hewlett, etc.  
Or, they do like my wife's dad has done in the past and go to a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and pays them to do his taxes.

But, a lot of people are not aware that there are resources where you can go get your taxes done for free :o

One is the public library.  Where I live they have people who have you sit down and help you do your own taxes and these people are certified to do so.

Another is they can come to our office and the tax auditors will help you or just do them for you.  But, I guess that is an advantage of living in a capital city.

And another but risky way is to  have someone that you know that can do taxes even if they are not certified.  But I would only recommend this way if you can totally trust and know them very well.

But, I am sure a lot of people feel comfortable going to a tax service but I just don't see paying more than a person should.  That is why I call H & R Block  H & R Blockhead ::)

Jerry

Thanks for the timely suggestions.  I do my own taxes with the help of a computer tax program.  Our taxes are not real complicated, we do itemize, but our investments are simple.

Many communities have resources for help with doing your taxes - if any of you need help - be sure to ask around!

We use a CPA, a really nice lady who has hip length hair.  Her husband used to work with mine.
I am an independent contractor which complicates my filing.

Thanks, Jerry, for sharing that info.  I had no idea there were free tax services.  Cool.

You are welcome :)

I forgot about the tax software and the option of doing them online :-[

I did mine online a few years ago and found out the social security office had my birthday wrong by one day ::)

But some people are intimidated by computer taxes or they do not have a computer at all or are just too stubborn to try it on a computer (like my wife's dad).

Jerry

Sakina wrote on Jan 13^th, 2008 at 10:36pm:

We use a CPA, a really nice lady who has hip length hair.  Her husband used to work with mine. I am an independent contractor which complicates my filing. Thanks, Jerry, for sharing that info.  I had no idea there were free tax services.  Cool.

You are very welcome ;)

I don't know if all of the free services are everywhere but they are in our town and most of our state I believe :-/

I think going to a CPA is very wise but I frown on the tax services which claim they can get you a better refund when all they are doing is hiking up their rates so in the end your refund is really not as high as you might think (if a person does get a refund) :o

Sometimes I hate paying taxes and doing taxes during this time of year but if you earn money that is something which has to been done :P

Jerry

One of the biggest tax time "scams" is the refund loan.  The service does your taxes (and charges you for it) then they offer you your refund on the spot.  The finance fees on that "loan" are usually very high.  Not to mention, if the calculated refund amount is incorrect, you still have to pay the lender!

I did my own taxes until last year. Ugh, Ugh. Schedule 1040, b-c-d-e-se-, man I can't remeber them all. I don't itemize since I have no debt and the real estate taxes I pay are less then the standard deductable.

I'm not an accountant. I would sit in my library for days reading all the tax pubs and such, do it different ways, read on the internet, ect. So last year, my dear wife decided we should use a CPA rather than hear me babble and complain about it for days on end. I worry about how much it would cost.  :o  :o

My father uses a CPA. He has to file 4 times a year rather than once. So off to see this guy we go. I'll humor her for now.

It cost me $90 to do what amounts to writing a small novel and it's done in 2 hrs. I'm going back again this year. He even did electronic filing. I don't know what program he used, but I know it wasn't your normal turbotax thing.

At one time, I did do others taxes as long as they were rather easy, like under 4 pages. I gave that up a while back.

I used to have to file the SE form (for those who do not know, an SE form is for Self Employment tax) when I used to do paper routes :P    Those were a little complicated but I still did them and had an auditor check my taxes over just to make sure I did them correctly.

But now I do the 1040A because my wife and I file seperate on seperate forms because she get's a refund and I end up paying federal.


I am so cheap I would not pay $90 to have anybody do my/our taxes :o   And if I did have to pay I would try to find some of the cheapest rates around ::)

I find it hard to believe people go out and buy these programs like Turbotax and then some or most end up having to pay extra just to pay the taxes if they end up owing.

But, it's their money the way they want to spend it but I guess I am just as frugal as you or anyone else who almost does anything just to save a buck ::)

Jerry

Jerry wrote on Jan 15^th, 2008 at 10:28pm:

I am so cheap I would not pay $90 to have anybody do my/our taxes :o   But, it's their money the way they want to spend it but I guess I am just as frugal as you or anyone else who almost does anything just to save a buck ::) Jerry

I'm about as cheap as they get. But paying $90 to get done in a couple hours in what used to take me a week of frustrating reading, math, and rechecking, it was worth it.

I'll make it up somewhere else. In fact, I just scored 4 tires for my Explorer that the previuos owner thought wore out. They were many times better than the ones I had so I took 'em. I even had them mounted and balanced free by my son. I get all my lawn mowers and tv's out of the trash. I'm with you on saving a buck, or three...... $100 cars are not uncommon and I've been known to reuse plastic forks.  :P

I used to do my own taxes all of the time.  Until-----I made a $500.00 mistake.  Now, I take them to a CPA who only charges me $80.00.  Much safer that way.

Another freebie or small charge is thru the senior citizens.  Of course, you need to be a senior.  Most of these are either retired CPA's or they are certified.

Debr

If your income is below a certain level, you can do your taxes on line (and file electronically) for free.  These programs are  typically the question/answer type programs that can walk you thru your taxes and have error checking built in. You can get more information on this at http://www.irs.gov/

If you have insurance thru State Farm and sign up to access your policies online, they have an access point to the online version of Turbo Tax that is free to use and free to do electronic filing for both State and Federal returns.  Turbo Tax (and Tax Cut) are question/answer type programs that walk you thru doing your taxes.  I've used these programs for years and recommend them for anyone that wants to do their own taxes.  Tax Cut is associated with H&R Block and will apply the cost of the software to an "in office" filing if you feel you can't complete your taxes with just the software.

I ran across a great article regarding how to handle your taxes when you know you owe but don't have the money.  Check out their suggestions here.

I hope not many of us need this information, but I know how stressful it can be when you know you owe and the cash doesn't exist.  This article makes the point that you should be sure to file your taxes even if you can't pay.  They won't put you in jail for failure to pay your taxes, however they can put you in jail for failing to file!