tax return/refund... accountant in need!
 

Hey guys its been a while since Ive been on here.. not really in the RC scene right now since I moved for college, but I do have some questions about my taxes this year and I dont know anywhere better to go!!

basically heres the situation. Im going into finance and would like to be able to file my own taxes.. I came across the turbo tax deluxe 2010 version and input all of my info.. come to find out my return is less than 400.. which I dont really mind considering I made less than 10k last year (Stopped working once fall semester of college started)

I then changed up all the info to last years numbers and found that with those numbers my return would be 180!! (an accountant got me 1800...)

To end this question..... how do accountants do there taxes? how can I maximize my refund? it seems as if turbo tax is not all that accurate..

I could just pay the 50-100 for an accountant, but I would like to learn on my own.

What is the secret!!

thanks for any help

Turbo tax or any self filers are very basic and just plug in what is legally necessary to file.

Accountants know tricks- like if you are a stripper your high heels are deductible. Or if you drive for work gas is deductible. Stuff like that. Stuff that doesn't come up on your basic tax filing.

But that is what they do, and why they know all the tricks.

If your gonna major in finance it would behoove you to minor in accounting so you know your own tricks.

Good to see you're still around:yes:

Is duct tape, rope and sound deadening material deductible? :whistle:

Another bonus to having your taxes done by a professional (or even some of the more popular software solutions) is that if you are ever audited, the company will help you out. I have filed my own taxes through TaxCut for the last 12 years and has worked fine. This year, I opted to go to HR Block because my wife does in-home daycare and it gets a little more complicated. Now that I know what they did, I made notes so next year I know what to do if I decide to do it myself again.

I think I'm an idiot...haha.
Couple months left till I have a BS in Engineering, over 2 years of college math, and I still don't understand how do to even the most basic tax filing...
Good thing I don't make much at all, so I get to go to free help sessions they put on in my state/city.

Well, I am pretty sure accountants dont use typical software and if they dont, what do they use?

I feel that I would have pretty easy taxes to do because I did not work most of the year, do not have any kids, investments, bonds, property, etc.

Do accountants use some crazy expensive software like quickbooks or something (this is just an example of expensive software)

thanks for your replies!

accountants use their knowledge and fill out the government forms. Just like you know all about x-box's they know all about taxes.

I have a Jew form NY do my taxes ;p. He's a pro acct and knows his stuff. Plus its only ~$75 for my wife and I.

As mentioned, a good pro will know the system and know how to use it to your adv. He knows where he can push and where to be careful.

I did the turbo tax thing one year after I started working, aside from being a pita to sort all the docs you have, the result got me owing a decent amt of $ to the state. Wife knew this guy. Had him do it, and a got a bigger refund from Feds and came out flat on state. Overall swing was ~$1500 WELL worth the $ I spent on him.

Also, I started working in another state. I had to buy the TurboTax fed, then two dif states. More $ than the accountant.BS program. Very basic & plays it safe. Too high profile to push the grey areas on its own.

BTW, my acct uses crap software that looks like it runs on DOS. Doesn't matter. He is the one you pay for. The software just fills out boxes.

I just wonder how the beancounters working for the gov't come up with these tax forms. I use the most basic 1040EZ form, and I still look at the thing and go "wow". If line 7 is less than line 4 then go to line 8, if line 4 is greater than line 3 return to line 2 and subtract $1000. I can't imagine what some of the more complex forms are like.

I started doing my own taxes. The guys I were using were getting me more $$$$, but it was all in the form of mistakes. I guess you cant go to jail, if you plead ignorance. The turbo tax software is pretty accurate and should take everything into account. But thats just my 2 cents, you guys seem to be having better luck than me.

so where do I get these forms that the accountants use?

1040ez or something?

Im completelely new to this stuff and I googled
how to file taxes like an accountant
how do accountant file taxes
etc...

didnt come up with much info

thanks

Kinda like looking for an online tutorial on how to perform brain surgery, except filing taxes is alot more difficult than brain surgery...

yep.....

its interesting because I am taking two different accounting classes right now and purchased 2 books at 200 a piece but neither one of them has any information on how to file taxes.......

Taxes
 

For me if all I had was job earnings, or very little income, and no investments going the easy way with Turbo Tax seems the best bet. If you are filing anything more complicated I would lean on the superior education of an accountant for the small fee they charge.

Since getting married 6 years ago my wife insists on doing our taxes herself, and usually retrieves quite a sizable return, so I do not argue the point. Some things are just not worth disagreeing over if you want your relationship to last a long time. Either way we have not gotten less than $4K back in the last six years, and have had returns over $6K. So I am a happy camper. It seems to me that using an accountant is the safe way to go, because he puts his professional career behind his work. If he screws it up he gets sued, right? If you do it with Turbo Tax or whatever you are still liable. Ignorance is no excuse when it comes to filing any taxes. If you cheat and get caught, you go to jail. In the majority of filed cases you end up paying what you owe and a small fine for relatively small mistakes. The only people who truly loose are the very wealthy who try to cheat and/or avoid paying what is owed. If you did not work and didn't make poop for income the IRS does not give a rats A$$ about auditing you. So use Turbo Tax and get it over with. The only way to get more than a couple hundred bucks back is to make a crap load of money and have a lot of tax breaks like business expenses, medical expenses, claiming huge hobby expenses, property losses, or none taxable investments.