I'm trying to figure out if I should use Turbo Tax or go to a tax guy.

I've had someone else prepare my taxes for the past ten years and my normal guy retired and everyone around here seems to charge $400 or so.

My wife and I file jointly, have a child, and do not own a business or have any property besides our house.

I claimed Single and One on my Federal taxes this year and Single and Zero on my State (California).

Any thoughts?

Turbo Tax.

Yours is simple and you'll save about $350 doing it yourself.

You probably won't even need to itemize deductions with the new standard deduction being raised to $24,000 for 2018.

I use Turbo Tax for 2 corporate returns, 2 additional businesses that are itemized on our Schedule C, rental property income, and so on and so forth. It works fine.

Turbotax, unless you have a complicated return, businesses, etc.
See how this year works out. With the newer "simplified" return with a higher standard exemption, you may have a return that's so simple that you don't even need Turbotax and can just download the form from the IRS.

Yep. TurboTax.

Your circumstances sound like they're simple enough that you can easily do the return yourself. And TurboTax will hold your hand through the whole process.

Industry reveal: almost any "tax guy" you go to is going to plug your numbers into a program like turbo tax. In only a few states does a person need to be certified to be a tax preparer. In most cases you're ahead of the game just doing it youself. If you've got a complicated situation, see an enrolled agent or CPA.

Turbo tax is basically idiot proof. I have been doing my own taxes for the past 3 years. I am in a similar tax filing. Once you have all the info plugged in it will save it for next years taxes which will be even quicker.

H&R Block on-line is what I used after reading reviews comparing TurboTax and other on-line software. I'd use it again.

TurboTax Online is the way to go.

I think it would cost you around 60 bucks plus any e-file/state return fees.

During law school I was tricked into running the local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site. VITA is an IRS program that provides free tax help for low income filers

VITA used Turbo Tax.

My taxes are fairly simple.
For a few years I painstakingly researched the laws and calculated my taxes in every conceivable way to save money, but noticed that TT got the same answers to within a buck or two.

So now I just go directly to TurboTax.

The only benefit to using a tax preparer is if you have a complex tax return otherwise you're better off using one of the available online programs. I've used HR Block online for the past several years and have been 100% satisfied. User friendly and it automatically transfers your federal return to your state return. HR Block even has a free version that costs nothing to file federal/state returns. It pesters you to buy the version that costs money and you have to manually enter everything but a small price to pay to file your taxes for free.

Turbo Tax. Best thing (probably the only thing) about tax time

Been using Turbo Tax now for about 11yrs, it's so simple and they keep all your info on file so if the basic questions about any new changes are the same you just put in the newer years numbers. My Social Security income, all deductions allowed, home, charitable contributions, health related expenses + meds. File for married jointly and in 20 minutes or less I'm done.

I have direct deposit w/credit union on file and it took a little over two weeks this year for the refund which is average over the years.

Do it yourself, either with Turbo Tax or another software. We use TaxAct, but they're all about the same. Gather your paperwork, spend 30 minutes at the computer, save $350.

For a tax that simple I would use a tax program and do it myself. At a practical level there is no difference between turbotax and taxcut. Me personally I would not use one of the cloud choices as I'd rather not have the data outside my control. If you have had a schedule A in the past, you might not need one this year due to the changes in the law, but you need Deluxe TT to really assess that (the free version didn't do schedule A in the past, I have not checked this years).

TurboTax or go to www.taxact.com They all use pretty much the same or similar software and questions. God Bless

Curious: what constitutes a complex return?

quote:

Originally posted by VBVAGUY:
TurboTax or go to www.taxact.com They all use pretty much the same or similar software and questions. God Bless

Definitely check taxact. I switched to that after years of using turbo tax.

We have used Turbo Tax for last 7 years, no issues so far.

My guy retired a few years ago and with the house paid off I switched to Turbo Tax. Quick and painless.