How much does it cost to have an accountant prepare your taxes?

[Anonymous]

Costs us about $1200 but we use a preparer in McLean so I'm sure it's higher than the going rate.

[Anonymous]

I'd say trust and just use turbotax. I used to do them myself (W-2 employee and one year I had a 1099 contractor income) and compared it with turbotax. Both got me the same result. My husband gives his taxes to an accountant that charges $400 for his taxes only.

[Anonymous]

Related: We sold stock and bought a house in 2012 (but are selling our current house in 2013). We usually use TurboTax but aren't sure how easy/hard it is to deal with these items and are considering an accountant. Worth it? Or does Turbo Tax handle these things easily, as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Related: We sold stock and bought a house in 2012 (but are selling our current house in 2013). We usually use TurboTax but aren't sure how easy/hard it is to deal with these items and are considering an accountant. Worth it? Or does Turbo Tax handle these things easily, as well?

Very easy to use TurboTax with these items. Deluxe version will probably be enough but I prefer the Premier. Signed, Former TurboTax Employee

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Related: We sold stock and bought a house in 2012 (but are selling our current house in 2013). We usually use TurboTax but aren't sure how easy/hard it is to deal with these items and are considering an accountant. Worth it? Or does Turbo Tax handle these things easily, as well?

Very easy.

[Anonymous]

About $500 for state and federal. Included a cross-country move, two incomes. This year will cost more due to hiring a nanny on the books.

[Anonymous]

We have paid $600 for years. Totally worth it since my husband was an equity partner at a firm with multiple offices so we paid taxes in a number of jurisdictions, and never got a K-1 until July, plus I run my own business and we have a housekeeper and babysitter who get W2s from us.

[Anonymous]

If the issue is just having some contractor income, that's pretty easy to do with TurboTax.

Maybe your husband is stressed because he's worried about owning taxes on the income?

[Anonymous]

Our guy is in Silver Spring and we pay around $350. It has always been worth it to us.

[Anonymous]

We had an accountant do our taxes for 3 years- he messed up year 2 during year 3 and we had to refile year 2 and 3 state and government. A-hole said it didn't cost us anything (since it was his mistake) but it did- we are now a red flag with the IRS. Turbo tax all the way (we laos had some non standard issues- the program really walks you through everything). Oh- we paid like $1100 and I had to basically prepare my own taxes- never again.

[Anonymous]

We itemize but ous is simple, we only pay $80.

[Anonymous]

I use Larry Fischel in Silver Spring ($350).

www.letlarrydoit.com

[Anonymous]

Just use TurboTax. It'll ask if you received any 1099-MISC forms, he'll click Yes, and then click it was part of a sole proprietorship (Schedule C) and list the expenses associated with that work (if any). Then be prepared to pay self-employment tax (it'll compute it).

We have a very complicated return - 3 rental properties, foreign income as qualified dividends, foreign tax credits, schedule C, and section 179 deductions. I do it in Turbotax Deluxe and it handles it all. Last year, due to being unsure about how to classify certain items on a HUD-1 related to acquiring a rental property, I used an accountant also. Turns out I did better with Turbotax then he did -- he got the depreciation schedule for mortgage points wrong, and forgot that pre-paid taxes to the state are counted on a cash basis not accrual basis.