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Used to do them my self. You know that Old saying”you get what you pay for” guess what ?
It took me three years to pay off the SOB’s. One year for the taxes and two more for intrest and penalties. We have had a GOOD CPA for the past eight years and he costs us about 1% of our gross. But guess what? No more problems. Nothing.
He’s really good and has a good staff. Find your self one “a good one” ask other sucessfull buisness men in your area. Don’t ask the accountant. Some of them are akin to Lawyers(they’ll say anything for a buck).
Keep at it and best regards
Harry DeVrieze
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This is the first year i filed for an IRS extension, so tomorrow is my April 15th. Figuring out my wife's business return is a drag, and I only learned this bookkepping stuff about a week ago myself. i think we'll stay out of jail for at least one year more.
Wondering if anyone out there is also at the end of their extension/rope...
*Did the same thing, so I just finished mine, too. Have been using the TurboTax program for about the last seven or eight years and it takes away some of the anxiety. Their interview process at least gets me pointed in the right direction for the numbers I need to find in my records.
*Yeah, I use the Mac version, MacinTax. But every year things get a little more complicated, like getting married, moving (to new states), starting a business, buying a house, whatever. Starting to favor tax reform here.
*I have a great CPA who makes it totally painless. My wife, who has her own business, and I have our yearly meating with him in his spotless office. The only thing on his desk is our file. We spend the first half of the meeting making small talk and catching up on a years worth of stuff. Then we talk taxes. He has already sent us a questionaire to fill out based on the previous year. The tax talk is mainly about what threshold of deductions or write-offs, based on our volume of income, will trigger an audit. (Ask your computer programs that.) Usually, he thinks we need be more agressive in taking deductions. Sometimes we are. A few weeks later we get our completed returns and a bill for about $800. For an additional 10% we buy insurance that compells him to represent us at an audit. End of problem.
*I married a gal who graduated from Wharton. The IRS came a callin' one day, it was a pleasure to be in on that meeting. She nailed him on each and every issue, then asked a bunch of questions he had no clue as to how to answer. His supervisor came in, he was as clueless as the minion.He played with his phone a bit, shuffled a few papers and mumbled "ah...that's all...everything seems to be in order."She then presented him with a bill for her prep time (her assertion was that since they had all the info they requested it was simple harrassment), which, amazingly, was paid!Brains and a beauty, she's a keeper! Mongo
*Andrew,Don't get me started........It's a no win situation.Just pay your taxes on time or move to Canada.Ed. Williams
*Taxes paid. This would be easier if our situation were not changing so quickly. I hate to think of all the billions wasted merely PREPARING (or avoiding) taxes. Then we have Mongo, the guy we love to hate.... I want to meet this woman, staring down the IRS and then presenting a bill!Canada? They have plenty of taxes, too.
*Ed & AndrewCompared to us you guys pay a few i service charges. . . we pay TAXES. But it's a great place to be when you get sick or retire. . . well at least it used to be, by the time people my age get finished paying off the bills for the seniors of today the whole thing will be broke. . . but that's a rant for another day-pm
*The joke I heard was that in Canada a pack of cigarettes will cost you $5 ... but they'll give you the new lung for free.
*At least there is someone else out there who had the very good sense to marry someone who could take care of the problem. Mine happens to own a tax accounting business. Guess who is on time for Everything? Took all the "fun" out of life:)
*Sad but true!!!-pm
*Used to do them my self. You know that Old saying"you get what you pay for" guess what ?It took me three years to pay off the SOB's. One year for the taxes and two more for intrest and penalties. We have had a GOOD CPA for the past eight years and he costs us about 1% of our gross. But guess what? No more problems. Nothing.He's really good and has a good staff. Find your self one "a good one" ask other sucessfull buisness men in your area. Don't ask the accountant. Some of them are akin to Lawyers(they'll say anything for a buck). Keep at it and best regards Harry DeVrieze
*I know people who've had to pay off their accountants' mistakes too. Gotta be careful. For someone whose files a 1040EZ, well, hopefully they can pull that off themselves. A 1040 is a couple steps beyond that. Then, a 1040 with schedules B, C, D, and other miscellaneous forms hanging off of it... I do like knowing enough that I can understand what they're talking about when "tax reform" comes up.Wouldn't even consider doing it myself without a computer. And I don't think I'd do them if I had employees or complex depreciables/deductibles or HIGH income (i've read the rules for incomes about $120k or AMT, and they're scary ... anyway, if you make that much why bother?). Plus a good accountant is an excellent form of insurance -- the more you have, the more is at risk.
*Andrew, it sounds like you use tax software. Most of them are fairly adept at "handholding" you through the forms. They're quite good at offering suggestions as to what things to deduct, which is nice, but what may be more important is they will tell you the dollar amount, based on income, that may raise an audit flag. I was stuck out-of-state and used a friend's TurboTax about three years ago. It was nice, as I could E-file and get my refund ASAP. When I got home, my wife re-did the taxes longhand and found a few additional things I had overlooked, as well as a few "discrepancies" in Turbo that she didn't like. she filed an amended return and sho 'nuff, another check arrived a few weeks later.Regardless of doing taxes longhand or having someone prepare them for you, I think running numbers yourself via a Turbo-type program is wise. It'll help ensure you don't overlook any possible items when presenting your file to your preparer. That additional info may result in a larger refund, or eliminate a potential error, along with its penalties and interest.
*I use Turbotax's Mac analog, Macintax. I don't take it's advice too seriously, preferring the IRS Web site for material. But my hardest tax questions are not that sophisticated; Q's involving involving gray areas and IRS/Treasury rulings should be referred to a pro.Come to think of it, I have had some "arguments" with the program over tax law, particularly with estimated tax payments. I took a class in tax law while in law school and find tax policy fascinating -- that is, assuming taxes are a necessary evil, how is it best to asses them and what effects do they have, politically and economically? Individual paycheck withholding began in 1943 partly as a way to "disguise" the impact of the tax burden; I can understand why the independent businessperson is more likely to complain, having to actually fork over a quarterly check for thousands of dollars.Well, anyway, do check over your tax forms carefully regardless of who or what prepared them. Now, how much do you really avoid deductions out of fear of an audit? Seems like a shame not to take that which you're entitled to take. I'll concede I'm not even going to try for the home office deduction -- too risky.I hope everyone has heard of the benefits of saving for retirement (or "later life" as I call it) early. A dollar at 30 means several times that of a dollar at 40. And the IRA is a big tax break. Also, the Medical Savings Account is another one independents could make good use of.