We used a CPA one year adn compared to my Turbotax results. They got it wrong -- used the wrong depreciation term for a rental property. I'll stick with Turbotax. Our taxes are really complex (foreign holdings, rental income, back-door Roth, etc) so it takes me about 6 hours in TurboTax, but it works quite well.

I had used turbo tax for years. Went to an acct for awhile to address a few complex years. Last year was lazy and had him do those too. This year I went back to TT. ALMOST IDENTIFCAL results. Except I found a significant tax reduction he missed last year.

We use Turbo Tax - last time we used an accountant was 11 years ago.

Our current financial situation:

-HHI $350K
-Two homes - one is a rental we just sold
-two kids - one in college
-stock awards given to DH from his employer
-I am a 1099 consultant

I did our taxes on Saturday. I started at 9am, and was done around 1pm. It was pretty freaking easy.

To me gathering all the forms is what takes the time. I would have to do that with an accountant too...so I use Turbo Tax. Most investment info can even be downloaded.

Anonymous wrote:Why is this taking people multiple hours? DH and I sound similar to the OP (2 incomes, mortgage, capital gains and dividends) PLUS DH does some freelance work on the side and gets a 1099, and it still took me about an hour a few weekends ago to get our taxes done (via TurboTax) while my kids were napping.

Takes time to enter in the data from all of the forms (W-2s, 1099s, looking up child care provider EIN, etc.). It also takes some time to gather all of the forms. For me, I have a rental so I have to go back and look through all of the repair receipts. None of it is particularly difficult but it takes time to get it all together.

Kind of off topic, but NFL players get paid in the state in which they played the game. I guess it's to get the state and local taxes from each. You would think it would even out...

Another vote for TurboTax. Even for the one year we had like triple that income. And with backdoor roths, nanny tax, donating appreciated stock, harvested capital loss, and other situations that require some extra forms. Also, TT has a very good support service where you can schedule a call with a CPA or other qualified expert to talk through an issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hired an accountant when I started having more than 2 state returns due to business travel. TurboTax just couldn’t work.

But, 1 fed return and 1 state return is perfect for it.

Wait, what?! Business travel doesn’t result in multiple state returns!!

I can't tell if you are joking. It absolutely can, depending on the state and the number of days spent working in that state.

For the pp who may or may not be joking. http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/28/pf/taxes/business-traveler-tax-threat/index.html

The year I hired the accountant I had 6 state returns and the longest I was in any of the states was 4 days.

That’s a little unusual. Many states have 30 day thresholds. CA does not so technically a day should require a state return. I’ve had to do 3-4 state returns in a year when I worked for one of the Big 4 and we were required to enter work location each day.