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Tax preparation software

theo

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Thanks for the input from informed voices of experience; much appreciated. I should probably go through the program again with a proverbial "fine tooth comb" before (perhaps prematurely) rendering a negative judgement on Turbo Tax.

Having never used TT before, there is no data to "pull" from prior years, so I want to make sure that I get things correct "right out of the gate", in the event that I choose to adopt the software for use in the future. The much-decreased complexity of our finances in recent years and the imminent retirement of my trusted CPA present the time and opportunity to perhaps start handling my own tax preparation and filing.

I fear one of those unsolicited robo calls informing me that the IRS is coming to arrest me unless I [fill in the blank]. :rolleyes:
 
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Brett

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Thanks for the input from informed voices of experience; much appreciated. Seems like I should definitely go through things over again with the proverbial "fine toothed comb" before (perhaps prematurely) rendering a negative judgement on Turbo Tax.

Having never used Turbo Tax before, there is no historical data to "pull" from prior years, so I want to make sure that I get things correct "right out of the gate", in the event that I choose to adopt the software in the future. The much-decreased complexity of my finances in recent years and the imminent retirement of my trusted CPA might dovetail to present the time and opportunity to soon start handling my own tax preparation and filing.

I fear one of those unsolicited phone calls informing me that the IRS is coming to arrest me unless I [fill in the blank]. :rolleyes:

I think if you go thru the interview process with Turbotax you shouldn't have any problems. I've used TT for years
 

uscav8r

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TT will not ask you questions it deems are irrelevant, especially if you use the “walk me through” input process. You likely did not get asked about retirement distributions since you did not enter or import a 1099-R.

FWIW, I agree with a prior comment that the Premium is more thorough. I use Premium due to rental properties and investments (including IRAs and 401ks), but it also handles other non-standard situations better as well.

Also, I never used the guided input. Instead, I pick what I want to work on manually, and I hit almost everything that is remotely relevant or interesting. I’ve definitely gone through the retirement distribution input section in this fashion.


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uscav8r

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I would think this question alone would be reason to need CPA consultation:

I also see no inquiry or any entry option for reporting allowed carry over capital losses from prior years. Really? How can it not at least ask?

It asks me in Premium. Then, again, I’ve used TT for years and it imports info from my prior return. The capital loss issue may just need some prodding for first-time users.


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Big Matt

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I don't know what you pay your CPA, but I own a business and rental properties and report income in two states. I find it worth every penny and is less than $500 for my personal returns. He has done mine for years. I've been audited also and having someone to help me through that was critical and I was charged nothing extra
 

ausman

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I don't know what you pay your CPA, but I own a business and rental properties and report income in two states. I find it worth every penny and is less than $500 for my personal returns. He has done mine for years. I've been audited also and having someone to help me through that was critical and I was charged nothing extra

If he does your business returns also, I'm very surprised that your personal returns cost you $500. The practise that I have observed is that the business owners returns are prepared gratis (as long as the business pays for its returns)
 

VacationForever

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Well we were not so fortunate. When we had our business, our CPA charged about $1400 for the business returns and another $1000 for personal returns. We feel like we make it out like bandits when we used Turbo Tax last year for 2017 returns as we retired in 2016.
 

rapmarks

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Well we were not so fortunate. When we had our business, our CPA charged about $1400 for the business returns and another $1000 for personal returns. We feel like we make it out like bandits when we used Turbo Tax last year for 2017 returns as we retired in 2016.
We paid a lot for my mother in laws personal returns and she died 18 years ago. She had an irrevocable insurance trust, and to file when that paid out was $790 in 2000 with one item on the return.
 

Big Matt

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If he does your business returns also, I'm very surprised that your personal returns cost you $500. The practise that I have observed is that the business owners returns are prepared gratis (as long as the business pays for its returns)

He doesn't do my business returns. I prefer to keep them separate.
 

Timeshare Von

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Another satisfied customer of Turbo Tax Home & Business edition. We too used to use an accountant to do our personal & business (a small LLC) returns. It used to run about $500 for the four (state & federal/personal & business). For at least the last 6 years, I've been doing them myself.

The LLC return I do with the forms available on IRS.gov because it is such a small thing and I don't want to pay the high expense of the Turbo for business. (Home & Business doesn't have the appropriate forms for an LLC for filing.)

I did have a distribution from my retirement last year and the 1099R question triggered the appropriate place for me to enter that amount. So I'm not sure why you didn't have it presented to you.

I find the process to be seamless and fast . . . it took me about 90 minutes to do our tax returns (all four of them) a couple of weekends ago. I keep good notes and records throughout the year so that I don't have to compile all of the data after the first of the year. Keeping a spreadsheet and adding to it any time we have something that will impact the tax preparation makes it simple. (The biggest thing for us are medical expenses and contributions/donations.)

Hope you're able to find a workable solution without utilizing a CPA, if you don't need one.
 

bogey21

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The LLC return I do with the forms available on IRS.gov because it is such a small thing and I don't want to pay the high expense of the Turbo for business. (Home & Business doesn't have the appropriate forms for an LLC for filing.)

I'm a huge proponent of Turbo Tax but used Tax Act to file my Son's LLC Return. It was thorough and easy to use. Easy to Efile and K-1s came out fine. I think the cost was something like $55...

George
 

Timeshare Von

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I'm a huge proponent of Turbo Tax but used Tax Act to file my Son's LLC Return. It was thorough and easy to use. Easy to Efile and K-1s came out fine. I think the cost was something like $55...

George

Yep I get it . . . but our reurn and K1s are so small and simple (less than 30 minutes to fill in the fillable PDF form from IRS, there's no reason to pay even $55. :)
 
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