Come on Ms Coenen...TurboTax handles self-employment income (Schedule C), capital gains and even retirement distribution masterfully.

Being a CPA, and probably invested in people seeking the help of a professional at tax time, I don't think your opinion is objective. Sort of like the Jiffy Lube guy telling me I shouldn't change my own oil...

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No, Dan, I have no interest in doing anyone's taxes. Have you ever done taxes professionally? Have you ever seen how badly many people screw up their taxes? They simply don't know enough about the tax code to get the correct deductions. The software is good at handling data entry, but it is no substitute for knowledge of the tax code and the rules.

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The reality is that online tax programs are only as good as the people inputting the numbers. A good accountant, while not always cheap, has always more than paid for himself/herself in my experience. I recall the first time I used a tax software program to file my taxes. Although it may have been user error on my part, it said I would need to pay the IRS. I went to an accountant, and they were able to ask questions about things that I had no idea could be deducted, which resulted in a refund I never would have received from the computerized system. If you don't itemize.... use the tax software programs. If you are have things that you could itemize for.... be smart and use an accountant who knows the 18,000+ page tax code.

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Yea, if you have a straight forward tax return it may be easy enough to do yourself. But, dont even try to itemize. This still doesnt give these jerks like Jackson-hewitt, and H&R Block to charge an arm and a leg to prepare them. Their computer does all the work for them. I had to pay $300+ to prepare a simple 1040A. It took the guy about 30 minutes to do it and it wouldnt have taken that long had I not talked to him and distracted him. Then, in the end, had I not ask questions I would have lost out on over $200 on my state refund. So, you tell me why is it legal for them to charge so much? Back in Texas a lady did our taxes, and even had to do it several times one year, only charged us $50.oo. $50.00 compared to $300+. Now you tell me, they deserve this amount. I DONT THINK SO. But, what choice do we have when "an average" person cant do it?

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i don't find taxes all that hard to do so never understand why people need to pay big bucks to have someone else do them. is it just really laziness, or what? or, is everyone saying that they're really dumber than a rock, or what? the forms are easy to read and understand and if you're too dumb to do the math in your head, or on paper, use a darn calculator. i worked in banking and suggest that you go over your math at least 4 times to make sure it's right, however. believe it or not, number's can play tricks on your eyes and your brain. you see a 7 and your brain sees a 4. uncanny but true but don't be afraid, just have another person do the math twice and you do it twice and when both are sure your tally's are correct, put them all down on the irs forms. i think tax companies just like people to think they can't do their own taxes, afterall, this is how they make big bucks off of you.

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I agree Turbo Tax is a good program for a straight forward tax return. But as life situations change you can also outgrow the program. My husband started his own business a couple of years ago and as a result, we now rely on an experienced accountant to file our returns.

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I want to try this yet I cant get no back up from my wife,she told me it is not safe to use,she is scared to use almost any site on our puter,I feel it has to be safe to use otherwise people would put the word out on the unsafe ones or the crooked ones,I am the only one working right now and have been for the past 5 yr.I have a strait forward type return with one child to claim.what does the masses think is this site safe and should I try,like my taxes cost 40-50 bucks every year this money I can use right now due to the fact that my job cut me back to 2 days a week which is the joke for the day,how many people have tryed this turbo tax the first time and did it correctly with out no trouble and feedback from the feds.I want to try it and just need a little back up to help me out,I cant afford to pay 40 -50 to someone if I can do the forms myself.then later on I can go to the market and buy 40-50 dollars worth of food for my family to enjoy instead of putting that money into the pocket of a stranger who will be smiling the whole time looking st me with the expression of what a loser I am for not doing it myself.Jps

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I have only done my taxes myself for over twenty years
My taxes have include tax gains and losses
rental property home office and other complex deductions
so yes do your taxes on your own.
http://www.researchitforme.com

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I think just about anyone can file by themselves if they have the right software and a good resource for tax forms and news. I have a fairly complex return, with a W2, a 1099, capital gains, dividends, interest, and a lot of deduction. The only difference between returns prepared by software and those prepared by a CPA is about $100 in fees. http://www.taxprepsource.com

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I have done my own taxes for about 8 years now. I use TaxCut and so far have had nothing but good luck with it. One year I "owned my own business" (basically a contractor with no deductions) and I was going to have to pay in so I went to a CPA. The CPA looked at what I had and punched up some numbers on a calculator and came up with the same thing I came up with on the software so he said I might as well do it myself and save the money I would have had to pay him had he done them for me. I barely made it through high school and didn't have any interest in college so it doesn't take a brilliant person to figure it out.

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i am a dissabled individual and am on Social Security. I get a check every month and would like to know what forms to fill out and what needs to be done specifically

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uncle sam said that the stimulus checks we got last year would not affect this years return/refund, i was on my way to getting a $1400 refund and when it came time to enter the amount of the stimulus payment i recieved (300) my refund went down to 825, why is that? i cant find an answer anywhere.

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actually tracy, i was using tax act and i filled them out both ways, with and without reporting the stimulus payment.i knew it wasnt supposed to affect anything ,so when it reduced my refund i decided to file my taxes without the payment and the irs caught it and adjusted my refund themselves.

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I have tried the e-filing. My return keeps being rejected with a code stating that to take the additional child tax credit the child must be under 17 and be a qualifying child. I have a 21YO full-time student (not checkmarked) and 8YO (checkmarked) on line 6. I have notified the IRS and supposedly they have told the programmers about this issue. When I attempted to file again the other day it got rejected but with a message that they are aware of the problem and working on resolving it and to give it a few days. Grrrrr, this is so aggravating.

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I have a 18,000 deduction should I not bother to even submit them

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