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Finding a good tax preparer?
nome
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This will be the first year I need to hire someone to do my taxes. I have vehicle expenses from work to claim and capital gains/losses too. I would prefer not to go to H&R Block or one of those franchise tax places (my mom had a real bad experience with them a few years ago). Is there a better way of choosing one then randomly picking a name out of this list of ~30 in the phone book? I asked some friends but they aren't able to recommend anything in the area. I don't want to drive 20+ miles just for this.
nome on
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Also, if you go to irs.gov, there is a list of links to tax preparation sites you can use, so that you can choose something other than H&R Block. Shouldn't be too hard -- and if it is, you can always ask around at work for a good accountant.
Plus im always terrified that my return will get lost in the mail. I have fucking terrible luck with mail.
Check out my band, click the banner.
B.net: Kusanku
It's easy, cheap, and very intuitive.
Yeah, those refund loans are horrible. If you're worried about a check being lost, it's called DIRECT DEPOSIT!
I want to claim my insurance payments from last year as part of my vehicle expenses. The problem is I am part of a group policy under my mom's name. Therefore the insurance payments are under my mom's name rather then mine. Will I still be able to claim the payments as part of my tax return?
I just did mine this weekend, using some place linked from the IRS. They all use essentially the same software because taxes are the same. It asked me the two questions you just asked me -- Do you have any expenses from using a vehicle from work? and Do you have any Capital Gain Income/Loss?
A tax preparer will simply ask you those same questions, and punch in the numbers for you. Seriously, my wife and I did it last year because we had some complicated shit and it was our first time itemizing and first time filing jointly. It was easy, but the complicated stuff he didn't even know about -- he had to call someone and get back to us the next day anyway!
Seriously, just sit down on Saturday morning, pick a website from the IRS website, and start plugging in what they tell you. It's seriously easy nowadays -- no tax tables or "Add lines 2 and 11b, subtract line 13 and take 35% of the result and compare to Table 3 worksheet" shit.
As for the insurance thing, do you have the checks, or a bank statement, showing that you paid it? That's what the IRS cares about -- who PAYS it, not whose name it's in. One of my student loans is in my mom's name, but I pay it and I get the 1098 form, so I claim it. If you e-file you won't be submitting anything, but you should keep all of it, printed out, in a file in case you get audited.
edited to add: Just remembered -- it's highly likely that adding the insurance charge means you'll have to itemize your deductions, and it's very likely that if that's your only deduction you would pay less in taxes by taking the standard deduction. An online site will let you pick "Itemize" and then will compare the itemized deductions vs. the standard and tell you which is better. Note that if you cannot take the deductions for the insurance, you should speak with your mom to see if she can.
I was charged $167 for their "services."
My reason for going there was I had taxes in 2 states and student loan and taxable interest that needed to be taken care of. (Savings Bonds intrest)
<rant> I'm sorry but an extra $50 for another state that I have to mail in myself because you are only allowed one federal and one state e-file? Bull.
Oh, and they would not tell me the price up front after I told them exactly what I had to file.
Never again H&R Blockheads!
</rant>
Anyone that offers these should be immediately stricken from your list of possible tax preparers, assuming you really don't want to do it yourself.
Any business that offers prepaid debit cards full of fees that they put your refund loan on should be stricken from your list not with pen but with fire.
Well...crap....
I guess that's what I get for going into there blindly.
Nome, good luck, my position still stands. Don't go there unless you ABSOLUTLEY have to.
Also: this is just odd but I got more money back from my Minnesota taxes than my Montana taxes. I worked in MN 2 months and MT 10 months. MT has no sales tax though.
FreeFile info here: http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html
Thats not what they offer.... They figure out what your refund is, and cut you a money order on the spot minus 10%. Its not like theyre lending me the money, they hand you a money order from western union (which is almost always in the same building) that is good at any bank. It couldnt be any closer to hard currency unless it actually was.
Maybe its different here in Canada than the US? I dont know, but here, ive never been offered a loan. You can opt to have the check sent from the government and then you pay H&R Block 50 dollars (for a basic return) but id rather give them a bit more and get cash same day.
Now if i was getting back like 10000 dollars or something, then yeah, id probably opt to do it myself and get it all back rather than paying 1000 dollars to get my taxes done, but considering the max ive ever gotten back is 600 dollars, i always just opt for the money up front. Id rather pay a bit more to get my money now. Thats just me though.
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When they give you money the same day, it is a loan. You aren't getting the money from the government initially, it is actually from HRB. As it happens, the interest that you pay on such a loan (in the form of the "fee" associated with it) tends to be very high.
I can't recommend them enough. It's so easy my mother can use it...seriously. They walk you through step by step so you can't forget anything, they have definitions of most terms (in normal person English). I won't file any other way.