Two Gov' Earners without investments, should we pay a Tax professional?

[Anonymous]

Two former country bumpkins (grew up poor) with two teenagers, we are both GS14s. We own a home that allows us to itemize, own 3 of 4 of our cars. No student loan debt an the kids are on full scholarships at state schools. We have done our taxes ourselves forever, the only retirement we have is TSP/Pension. The only thing on our return that isn't straight line is our non-cash charitable donations. We donate everything we no longer need/use throughout the year.

Should we consider paying a tax professional to do our taxes?

[Anonymous]

No. If you want get turbotax for $40

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. If you want get turbotax for $40

OP here. We have been using H&R Block from Newegg since 2005. Some years it comes with a Visa gift card that is the cost of the software!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. If you want get turbotax for $40

OP here. We have been using H&R Block from Newegg since 2005. Some years it comes with a Visa gift card that is the cost of the software!

In that case just keep using HR Block. I use it and have looked at TurboTax and they are basically the same. I also get it from Newegg, normally it's around $20-25 for the Deluxe. Since you can import all the previous years info it saves a lot of time to use the same software.

And agreed with PPs that your situation does not require outside assistance. Just walk through the questions on the software and you will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Use freetaxusa.com

[Anonymous]

Not sure what a tax professional would do for you. Your non cash donations probably won't add up to much but you can just Google a consignment sale chart and use those values for the items.

[Anonymous]

Pretty sure Turbotax includes a non-cash donation form that suggests values for commonly donated items.

How can your home be enough to itemize? The new standard deduction is so high we can't come close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure Turbotax includes a non-cash donation form that suggests values for commonly donated items.

How can your home be enough to itemize? The new standard deduction is so high we can't come close.

NP and depends when you bought it. With higher rates it could be much easier to get one to the standard deduction esp with $10K SALT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure Turbotax includes a non-cash donation form that suggests values for commonly donated items.

How can your home be enough to itemize? The new standard deduction is so high we can't come close.

NP and depends when you bought it. With higher rates it could be much easier to get one to the standard deduction esp with $10K SALT.

Yup, not OP, but 10k SALT plus 9k charitable contributions this year, means only need $9k in mortgage interest to pass the itemizing threshold. Our total PITI is $2400/month @2.75%, and our 2023 interest was a bit over $12k.

[Anonymous]

You don’t need a tax professional