[olug] Tax Software Opinions

[Craig Wolf]

Warning, getting on my soapbox ahead.
 
(soapbox)
I will have to agree with having a Tax person (same person as Dave in fact).  She is good and fair.  
Years past, I would spend 2 weeks being a crabby, cranky, pissed off person trying to get all the paperwork found, numbers crunched, and put into the software.  Extremely frustrating item the whole tax code thing.  We all could make our lives easier with a flat tax rate.  Something like 8% of income to Fed, 2% to state and done.  That is EASY to figure out and you are done in about 20 minutes if you have to get out a calculator.  Then we don't have to have a discussion of how to get them done or who to pay to get them done.  I could go on but I won't!
(/soapbox)
 
 
Craig Wolf
Linux Server Support
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Desk: (402)715-6283
Cell: (402)510-0301

>>> Obi-Wan <obiwan at jedi.com> 1/18/2011 >>>
I'll echo what Dan said.  I've been using a smallish, well-respected
tax firm (Watts & Herschberger) in Lincoln ever since we got married
14 years ago.  Jim Watts is good friends with my wife's former boss
(a lawyer), so she was already on a first name basis with him when we
started seeing him.  Our tax situation is nontrivial thanks to various
investments & companies we have a share in, and Jim always does a great
job of organizing everything and finding breaks that I never would have
caught on my own.  My wife brings in a plate of home made cookies with
our packet of tax info every year, which I'm sure doesn't hurt.

I think last year (2009), our total tax burden (state + federal
combined) was only about 16% of our gross income.  The "standard" tax
rate for our bracket should be closer to 31%.  That kind of break,
combined with freeing up all the time I would have spent doing it
myself, is well worth the $400 he charges us.

BTW, if you're getting a tax refund every April, then you're screwing
yourself by giving the government a free, 0% interest loan from every
paycheck throughout the year.  A good tax guy will not only file last
year's taxes, but also plan the upcoming year for you to work it out
so you break even with no return & no payment.  Better yet, pay the
minimum throughout the year, save the extra in an interest-bearing
account, and then pay the principal in one lump sum in April.  Yes,
it's a big check, but you're coming out ahead in the long run because
you're keeping the interest you made.

> I always do the free on-line stuff before I go see my tax guy.  It helps
> remind me of anything I may have forgot otherwise, plus it lets me see if
> I'm able to get to a close dollar amount to what they get to.
> 
> I've been going to the same guy for the past 10 years, and each year his
> refund is anywhere from $600 to $1500 more than what I was getting on-line.
>  (My first year I had estimated we'd owe $1500, and we walked out with a $50
> refund after his $150 price.)
> 
> Sure, they cost more than the $50-75 software options, but they've found 10x
> that in many situations.  Money left with the IRS is money I lost. :-(
> 
> Dan
> 
> On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 22:45, Chad Homan <choman at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Every year I think this comes up.  This year I am considering abandoning my
>> usual
>> tax guy.  So the question is what's everyone else doing?
>>
>>   - Keeping a tax guy
>>   - Found some biatching linux tax software
>>   - Running XYZ in wine, works great (e.g. turbotax,  taxact)
>>   - I'm scared of wine, I use a VM for tax software (e.g. turbotax,
>>   taxact)
>>   - I'm not afraid of anything, tax online and who (e.g. tax slayer,
>>   taxact)


-- 
Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth                             obiwan at jedi.com
   The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the
     Giver of all good things, so if I stand, let me stand on the
       promise that You will pull me through.  -- Rich Mullins
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