For Those Undecided About How To Do Taxes

15 replies
I just finished doing my taxes for tax year 2008.

I used the new Turbo Tax and I have to say it is the best edition yet.

If you have any doubts about doing taxes on your own electronically because
of difficulty of use or lack of features or anything like that, forget it. Turbo
Tax 2009 is rock solid.

The best feature is how they will walk you through every option so that you
don't miss a thing.

If you're uneasy about doing taxes yourself or feel that because you're
making so much money that you'd rather have a professional, by all means,
go that route.

But if you're making even up to low six figures, and don't have a ton
of deductions and other oddball items to declare, Turbo Tax really is hard
to beat.

It took me all of 90 minutes to do my taxes. Of course part of that had to
do with that I had everything I need (income, deductions, etc.) all tracked
before I even started. For me, it was just a matter of plugging in the
figures. But even if you're not so organized, Turbo Tax is very well laid
out so you should have no trouble walking through it.

I highly recommend this year's edition.
#taxes #undecided
  • Profile picture of the author Brett2000
    Steve,

    Thanks for the tip - I tried doing that myself about 15 years ago. Unfortunately I could never do better than the accountant and I gave up. Maybe it's time to give it a go again. I use Quicken to track my internet profit and expenses (Business edition), so it should be too bad.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Sanchez
      I've been using TurboTax since 1994 and I've always found it very user friendly. Once you've used it once then ever subsequent year you know exactly what information to have on hand. My taxes are pretty complicated and it only took me 4 hours this year. And for the 4th year in a row I was in the 0% tax bracket.

      It is also a great educational tool to let you know where you can get deductions in the following years.
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  • Profile picture of the author vansterdam
    This is something I definitely have to look into. Just yesterday I was organizing all of my income & expense data. Since I don't know how to properly claim things on self employment, I've just been taking that into an accountant to plug it in computer software for me. The smart plan would be to save that $200/year and buy some decent tax software. Does anyone know if those programs work for Canadian taxes? Or do you know other good software for Canadian taxes?
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    • Profile picture of the author Sylvia Meier
      Originally Posted by vansterdam View Post

      This is something I definitely have to look into. Just yesterday I was organizing all of my income & expense data. Since I don't know how to properly claim things on self employment, I've just been taking that into an accountant to plug it in computer software for me. The smart plan would be to save that $200/year and buy some decent tax software. Does anyone know if those programs work for Canadian taxes? Or do you know other good software for Canadian taxes?
      Ufile.ca works quite well. And it keeps track of all your carry over amounts such as RRSP limits etc so that you don't have to enter it the next year. I've used it for quite a few years and I have also used it to file for relatives and such. Plus it is an online software and if you are above the free income level it's only like $20 to file...just make sure you have a netfile number from the government to do it (if you have done it the year before they automatically send it to you the next year).

      Hope that helps,
      Sylvia
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  • Profile picture of the author Travis72802
    My vote is for the accountant. Worth his weight in gold!

    Travis
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    • Profile picture of the author webpromotions
      Originally Posted by Travis72802 View Post

      My vote is for the accountant. Worth his weight in gold!

      Travis
      Agreed.

      My tax guy is a corporate tax attorney AND a cpa...I wouldn't even think about using some off the shelf software when it comes to this kind of stuff.

      With all the talk about the importance of outsourcing on this forum, I'd think this would be the one area where everyone would agree that outsourcing is 100% necessary if you have a real business.
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      • Profile picture of the author bwall
        I agree that Turbo Tax does a great job.
        Especially if you use Quick Books. You can import data right into Turbo Tax
        I even use the Turbo Tax Business Edition to file my 1120s corporate tax return.
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Silvester
        Originally Posted by Steve Porcaro View Post

        No one can do my taxes better than me...


        I leave that stuff up to the professionals...

        The same reason that I leave my legals up to the professionals...

        Anyone can do their own taxes or contracts...but the professionals know
        stuff that will keep you out of the shit more than you will ever know.

        On that note...any good accountant will never cost you money!

        These guys have to be on the ball with all the new taxes, rules
        and regulations. I dont have time for that...and neither should you!

        I prefer the peace of mind...and not trying to save a few bucks
        by doing it myself. Accountants are a tax deduction anyway...so I
        think that people are crazy doing their own taxes.

        My 2c

        Take Care,

        Michael Silvester
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          To each his own. If you stay even halfway well-organized throughout the year (which seems to be about as organized as I get) the high end version of Turbotax is a winner for those of us who prefer to DIY.

          Been using it for years now and it gets better (and more user friendly) every year. It is up to date on tax laws because before you even start, you upgrade the software you purchased and the latest nuts and bolts are then included.

          kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
    Do not use the online edition of any tax software.

    Get the disk, don't let the software vendors store your personal info online! All it takes is one malicious hacker, and boom! Your live is altered forever.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    The reason I use an accountant is because she knows how to classify the deductions and expenses. Online stuff doesn't always translate directly to typical tax forms. Is an article inventory? What if it's re-sold? What if it isn't? I keep track of it, she figures it out.

    That's all it really comes down to.

    All the best,
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author LB
    A tax professional is invaluable and I dare say that no software can replace it unless the user is so well versed in taxes as to make the software obsolete.

    Yes, the software is "user-friendly" but I would bet if you took your returns to a good CPA they could find errors that would save you money.

    I used to do my own taxes years ago and thought I did pretty good but I missed thousands of deductions I didn't even know about- neither did my software.

    Plus, it's nice to have someone to call when you need answers on tax stuff. When you run a corporation or multiple corporation things get complicated quick.

    Steven, you should find a good CPA and have them review your last couple years' returns to see if they can find any additional deductions etc. (and I bet no matter how it went it would make a great topic for an article series, right?)
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  • Profile picture of the author stevereel
    i've used Turbo tax for the last three years, and have been very impressed. I only had to press one button and Turbotax imported my fairly complex option trades from Think or Swim.

    I would agree, however, that at a certain level of business, a tax attourney and CPA would be useful.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brett2000
    Ok, I've thought about it, and after seeing the comments here, and using my accountant (the same one, CPA) for the last 15 years, there's no way I'm going to TurboTax.

    The biggest problem I had with it when I tested it was, it took forever to import because it was importing transactions 1 at a time, and I have 1,000's, also, it missed things my accountant always got.

    And, as everyone else mentions, you can't beat the tax advice, and the quarterly reminders every 3 months when it's time to make a payment. I wouldn't be without this guy, at around $300/year for my taxes, it's worth every penny.

    Good luck to those that want to try it alone - one thing I suggest though, try it like I did and find a good accountant/CPA, then compare how well you do with the software vs. the accountant, then decide if you want to keep doing them yourself.
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