Just curious who out here pays to have their taxes done and how much? Does it vary by area? Do you pay a flat rate or per form?

I have never had to pay to have mine done before but think I am going to have to this year and have no idea what to expect in cost. I'm SCARED!!!

a little more info....
we sold a rental home and purchased a different rental home.....I don't know how to show that we turned that money over into the new house. I did our taxes using turbo tax and it shows that we owe Uncle Sam a little over $10,000. My husband is deployed so he is no help this time....so I think I am left with no option but to go pay to have them done.

Have you considered using something like Turbo Tax?? If your AGI is a certain amount,I believe you can file for free. It's very easy to use, and walks you thru everything.

Do you have some unusual income or expense that makes you feel compelled to have someone do them for you? Not asking you to disclose any personal info., more of a rhetorical question.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

well, we went in to H & R Block b/c we weren't sure I had done them right online w/ turbotax. They got the SAME amount we did and they wanted to charge $310!!!!!

Obviously, we left.

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

my mom is an EA and she charges by form. I have a business and we have stock buys/sells and we pay her about $350-$400 a year. I wouldn't trust H&R Block because not everyone is a pro that works there. They just have to pass a class (or so I am told). I have a friend who works there seasonal (tax time) and I wouldn't count on her to have the right percentage for the tip of a restaurant bill if you know what I mean and she's doing taxes...scary!

Turbo Tax can be a great program if you don't have anything out of the ordinary. If I were you, I would call to get a quote on your return based on what you have. People/companies that charge by form should be able to give you a good estimate based on that.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

We use to pay about 400 for our CPA and lst year they went up to 550 so we are looking into doing it ourselves or finding some place else to do it. Anyone have any software that they think is superior and how much does it run?

cAN YOU ITEMIZE (LIKE DEDUCT FOR WORK EXPENSES AND SO ON) WITH TURBO TAX? I USUALLY PAY MY TAX GUY $150 ROUGHLY, AND IF I COULD SAVE THAT i WOULD RATHER.

Yes
you can!

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I have OCCD
Obsessive-Compulsive Coupon Disorder!!!

We pay $150 to have ours done.

DH and moi-self have almost always done our taxes ourselves.
But there was a year when we paid a CPA to do them.
And it had to do with moving.
We lived in PA. Dh worked in NYC and NJ, and we had moved to a mid-western state midway through the year, so it was a very complicated tax year for us.
We'd also sold and bought a house.
We had to pay PA state taxes, NYC taxes, NJ taxes ( cuz he worked pt in NJ), as well as the taxes for our new state.
We were so overwhelmed by it all that for the first time we hired an accountant to do our taxes. Best money we ever spent,
Especially seeing as she got us a bigger refund than we woulda gotten.
We try as hard as possible to take enough deductions to enable us to get no, or next to no refund at tax time, but that year it was mind boggling for us, so we hired help.
DH is even a better thrifty person than moi-self, but that particular year it was worth it's weight in gold to hire some help.
MZ

$300-$400.

Complicated return, however, with many forms. I think it is a good deal.

But this year, I am doing it myself. It's driving me crazy!

I read reviews on Turbo Tax and it came the highest rated. Working with it, it is very nice. Walks you through most of the deductions and income.

I just have to remember what I need to input and for who..that is the only thing that is drivign me crazy!

Your husband is deployed. Is he military? If so and you are near a military base, you can go on base and have your taxes done free.

My DH is self employed so we have many forms also. My CPA has never steered us wrong in over 10 years. We paid her about $600 last year, to do ours and our adult daughters.

Ours is the long form, but not terribly complex. We just hate to do them ourselves. It costs us $90.00. That included the time we sold one house and bought another. We have a tax attorney do it. I'd never go to H&R Block or one of those types of companies. One of those places did my fixed-income grandmother's taxes once and the amount she owed was so out of line my Dad insisted on redoing them himself. When he did it, he found errors they'd made and determined that she owed nothing. In fact, she was due a refund.

As another poster stated, if you are military contact the base. We had ours done several times there for free. However, be sure to ask about the sale of the home, as I think they didn't get into anything too involved like that, but, things could have changed.

Also, I would look up those things in the publications with the IRS. REad up on it for sure.

ETA: the people on base that do them are volunteers, not CPAs. They do take a training course, but, honestly, that's why we went with Turbo Tax the past few times. I consider myself trained as well, if not more than, the people on base doing the taxes. Good Luck.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

We go to a small tax office (private owned) and have been very happy. They were nice about amending the return that H&R block screwed up and got us our $3,000 we should of got the year before (had to do with selling a house, moving expenses, and child tax credit). They also checked the other returns, for free, that H&R Block did for us over the years. They found mistakes that cost us money on each one, but it was a smaller amount on each and wasn't worth sending up red flags by amending that many returns.

We pay about $100-$150. One person does them while you're there, then another person in the office double checks them before they are sent in.

I wouldn't trust H&R block to do a 1040EZ form.

$200-$300 for our business and personal taxes.

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Brenda

GO #24 JEFF GORDON

I do ours myself-- luckily, I did accounting for a living before being a SAHM!

Holly

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Forgiveness is love in its most noble form. -Anonymous

WOW and I thought my $135 was going to be high!? I do a lot of itemized deductions but nothing too difficult.

I could not imagine paying over $200!?

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

If you go to H&R Block, I think the minimumis $150. We went there last year and it cost us $550! Our taxes were slightly complicated last year that involved a move, three different states, and rental income. I'm not certain if I would use them again. For example, there is a form that you can download from another state that you had residence in for free, but they charged us like $30-$40 a form.

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!