We quit using a CPA years ago when we realized he added little/no value to our return prep. We itemize, my better half is a sole practitioner, I have some 1099 income. In short, not rocket science for the decently educated and mathematically competent. Many annual summaries of tax law changes are out there, so unless you have a big change in status, open a new business & incorporate, etc, it's not radically different each year.

We found we did not need to pay someone $500 to fill out the form. (We track all of our expenses/deductions during the year, so at tax time, things are pretty straightforward.)

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Posted by Jabstep

Member since Jul 2014

2134 posts

Posted on 5/5/15 at 1:58 pm to hungryone

That's a risk you are willing to take and it may work out for you, but most people in your situation can't accurately fill out their return. I've used this example before, it's a state issue, my uncle with a finance degree has been filing his own return for years. He had no clue what the Fairplan credit was, had not been deducting school expenses for his kids and several other items. He had easily cost himself 2k over several years.

Federal income tax expense is likely one of the top 2-3 cash outflows expenses each individual is incurring each year, why not pay a little to make sure it's correct? Just
my take.

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Posted by Jcorye1

Tom Brady = GoAT

Member since Dec 2007

71694 posts

Posted on 5/6/15 at 11:58 am to hungryone

For what it's worth, when I audit someone that I know has little to no working knowledge, I'm usually pretty sure they messed up. I get a lot of individual CPAs doing taxes without understanding the industry, and it has cost their clients real money.

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