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How are taxes done at your house? Do you do them yourself or have them done professionally?”

Asked by mamajama on 7th January 2008 | 13 replies

13 replies so far...

I have to use an accountant. Our taxes are just too complicated to do myself. i also find the whole thing a major pain!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Victoria on 8th January 2008
I do the taxes. I usually us an online software such as Turbotax or H&R Block. We usually have to pay, therefore I wait until the last week.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Evansmom on 8th January 2008
I've one both, but this year we're going back to the accountant. I'm self-employed, with income coming from a couple of different streams, so it's complicated. I hate it, it takes forever -- AND (this is the clincher) this year I ended up paying more tax than when I used an accountant, and same income. Hmmm. So, no contest. I will compile and organize receipts and totals onto a worksheet she provides me, but she can take it from there.

I worship the ground she walks on...

Flag as inappropriate Posted by MaryP on 8th January 2008
My husband always does them. Yay!! Because I use my fingers to count, so I could never have the patience to work it all out on my own. My husband...well, I think it's a male pride thing that he won't go to an accountant. You know -- how some men will never ask for directions. But whatever, - they get done, even though it takes him hours and hours.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Diane on 8th January 2008
In the past we used Turbo Tax now we have someone complete them. It makes it much easier if you should have to go through the pain of an audit.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by KARI COOK on 7th January 2008
I do them myself...have for years. The first year I had a home business I handed them to my cousin's husband who is a CPA, but he said they were so organized and that he could see I knew what I was doing that I might as well save the $$ and do them myself.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Patrysha Korchinski on 7th January 2008
My mom does my taxes! Sometimes it is stressful because she uses TurboTax, but overall it is easy and inexpensive.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Jenni on 7th January 2008
We have an accountant and let her take care of the details! :)

Flag as inappropriate Posted by on 7th January 2008
We send our taxes to a tax professional so that we can be sure that there are no mistakes that could cause us problems.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Jacqueline on 7th January 2008
I did them myself, both on paper then with Turbo Tax, until we owned our business. Now, the acct does the business taxes and the personal taxes. What stinks is even though I pay $1000/yr to avoid the headache, I always get stuck doing my sister's taxes the weekend before they are due. . .it's easy because she's a single, student, dependent, but after 3 years, I should start charging her.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by on 7th January 2008
I'm a TurboTax-er. Our taxes are pretty straightforward, and we don't own a house (Southern California real-estate market, first-marriage financial fallout, grumble grumble), so it works great for us.

As an accountant myself - though NOT a tax specialist! - I wouldn't discourage anyone from working with a tax professional, since it's a pretty intimidating process. But TurboTax provides a lot of online help to make it easier than you might expect.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Florinda Pendley Vasquez on 7th January 2008
We hired someone the year we bought our house and have never looked back. It's money well-spent because we don't have to worry about it -- just keep a folder with anything tax-related during the year, and turn everything over to them! Voila. I highly recommend it! Nataly, I think there's even an *extra* deduction this year if you bought a house, so lucky you!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by el-e-e on 7th January 2008