I couldnt find any other threads pertaining to income taxes for 2011, so I figure I'd get the ball rolling.

I've always done my own taxes, but this last year I had a side job where I was considered an independent contractor so I'll have the headache of dealing with a 1099 form. I also have a daughter who has had a ton of medical bills, which I might be able to claim as well. So, this year I'm thinking about having someone else do my taxes for me, anyone have any recommendations/experience?

I looked into H&R Block, but found a message board that said they charge around $400 to file, which is absolutely ridiculous.

1/7/2011 8:46:57 PM

Also, anyone know of a good tax estimator that includes mileage?

1/7/2011 9:05:20 PM

i use a cpa for mine. before i always did them my self but after the first year of using him i got back more than ever and felt more confident that there are no issues. i live in charleston sc but i use a cpa that is 50 miles away in a rural area because the cost is much cheaper. the cheapest cpa i could find in charleston was about 2000 to do my taxes for my business and my personal taxes. the cpa i use charges me 500. i would suggest looking a little bit outside of a bigger city for one. i would never do my taxes myself or with a chain tax agency. i got back over 10k last year and for shits and giggles i did them on turbo tax my self and it said 3k back. cpa's look at you as an individual case not a cookie cutter filer.

1/7/2011 9:14:22 PM

Quote :

"i got back over 10k last year and for shits and giggles i did them on turbo tax my self and it said 3k back"

Either you really messed something up in turbo tax or your tax guy did something shady. My parent's guy charges $250 so I just opt to do mine myself. I don't know about the side job but you can only write off the medical bills if they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. I'd spend an hour doing some research about your side job and then just file the taxes yourself.

1/8/2011 3:14:06 PM

i use a cpa in fuquay that charges $400. he used to be cheaper but went up in the past year.. he does a great job

i have some buddies who use turbotax every year but i'm paranoid about doing it by myself b/c i really have no idea what i'm doing and would rather a professional do it

1/8/2011 3:55:01 PM

i have someone back home she charges ~$150 for my taxes

idk what she charges for my business but i do know shes charging $15/month to do all of our payroll forms (941s, 943s, W2s, 1099s, etc) basically everything but the actual money transfers

1/8/2011 4:21:02 PM

I paid approx $140 for my taxes last year at h&r block... My return was around $4000 so I didnt mind, haha

1/8/2011 6:47:25 PM

please let this not be that thread where some people brag about their refunds and then others smugly comment that refunds are an interest free loan to the government

1/8/2011 7:13:12 PM

yeah I would like to just get some recommendations on cheap ways to get someone else to do my taxes for me

1/8/2011 8:15:19 PM

i usually do my taxes online because they have been pretty straightforward (rented apartment, not a large income, no real deductions, etc) but this year my fiance and I bought a house together. any idea how that's filed? i'm assuming i'm going to need to hire someone but i'm curious anyway.

1/8/2011 9:09:42 PM

^just itemize your home's tax and interest on your tax return. You don't need to hire someone to do that.

[Edited on January 8, 2011 at 10:22 PM. Reason : .]

1/8/2011 10:22:04 PM

Yeah, your mortgage company should mail you a form. It's ridiculously easy.

1/8/2011 10:38:07 PM

Quote :

"I don't know about the side job but you can only write off the medical bills if they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income."

if he is married, his spouse makes significantly less money than he does or vice versa, and the medical bills are a large portion of one of their salaries, then it might be beneficial to file taxes separately and claim all of the medical expenses for the person with the lower salary.

1/8/2011 10:39:52 PM

I did all the math yesterday (went to the medical websites, pulled up my billing history and added up the amounts I paid AFTER INSURANCE) and I paid a little over $6000 in medical bills in 2010. That is over 7.5% of my gross adjusted income (turbotax actually calculated it out for me and said what value I needed to reach in order to achieve the 7.5%). also, since my wife is a stay at home mom and I'm the only source of income, it was a lot easier to reach the 7.5% this year

I think I'm going to see how much of my taxes I can get done in turbotax, and if the return sounds good, I'll just stick with it.

I've tried itemizing my deductions in the past and it wound up costing me money, I'll be interested to see if the medical bills offset that this year. If they do I can finally add the $250 I earned via a car donation I made to the boy scouts in 2007, LOL

also, with my side jobs, I worked for two different beer sampling companies in 2010 - earning $474 and $700 respectively. I guess I only have to claim the $700 job right? Since its over $600

[Edited on January 9, 2011 at 10:47 AM. Reason : asdf]

1/9/2011 10:46:24 AM

Why did itemizing cost you in the past? Did you itemize less than the standard deduction?

1/9/2011 4:00:18 PM

Is NC income tax > NY income tax?!?!?!

$60k-$70k range

1/9/2011 4:05:44 PM

Yes

1/9/2011 4:18:11 PM

son of a bitch. sometimes i hate this state.

1/9/2011 4:26:14 PM

NC is one of the states with higher income tax. Since I moved to FL, I saved myself about $10K/year by not having to pay state income tax.

1/9/2011 4:32:56 PM

on ncsecu it says they will offer a tax service for $70

1/10/2011 12:15:44 AM

I typically use H&R Block's online filing service and have used it in the past with good results, even with 1099's, mortgage interest, marriage, etc. From what I've seen it's the exact same menus and stuff their tax people go through with you when you file in an office (they just hit the keys for you). It's really straight forward in that you will fill out all the items and then it will decide if you should itemize or not automatically. The same thing occurs when you do it in the office but they ask you before hand if you want to itemize and if you aren't sure then they fill out the same forms and charge you extra for it (even if it turns out the standard deduction is better). I have paid anywhere from $70 (before I got married and bought a house) to $150 for them to fill it out. The past couple of years I have paid less than $50 to fill it in myself with their online service. They usually run a special around Valentine's day where the online version is $14 (federal) but the NC e-file is still $30.

In retrospect, I think it was still worth it to watch them do it the first year after I got married and bought a house but after that it was worth the $100 savings for an hour of my time to do it myself.

Quote :

"That is over 7.5% of my gross adjusted income (turbotax actually calculated it out for me and said what value I needed to reach in order to achieve the 7.5%). also, since my wife is a stay at home mom and I'm the only source of income, it was a lot easier to reach the 7.5% this year"

I think that it's the amount that exceeds the 7.5% mark. So if your AGI is 50k, only $2250 of the 6k is deductible. You will still get the state/local tax, mortgage interest, 1099 related expenses, etc deductions that require itemizing though, so it is probably still worth it. If you go to H&R Block or use tax software, it's going to do both and figure out which saves you the most money automatically.

[Edited on January 10, 2011 at 9:57 AM. Reason : ]

1/10/2011 9:55:52 AM

Quote :

"so I'll have the headache of dealing with a 1099 form. "

i don't find it to be a headache at all. just click "yes i have a 1099" and put the amount in.

Quote :

"also, with my side jobs, I worked for two different beer sampling companies in 2010 - earning $474 and $700 respectively. I guess I only have to claim the $700 job right? Since its over $600"

Legally you're supposed to claim any additional income...no matter what the amount. But it seems like the only time I get 1099's mailed to me is when the income exceeds $600...fwiw, somebody probably knows more details about that.

1/10/2011 11:42:38 AM

^Yeah $600 is the threshold to file the 1099 (it's also filed with the IRS). You also are supposed to report any income, like if you help your friend move and he gives you $20 you are technically supposed to report it (nobody does though). On the news a couple of years ago, they talked about how if you pay a neighborhood kid (or anybody) to babysit and pay them over $600 you are supposed to file a 1099 with the IRS and give the kid a copy. They also talked about kids that mowed lawns or babysat are supposed to file taxes, even if they are considered a dependent, if they made over $400 doing anything like that. It's asinine to a certain extent, but you know somebody would find a way to take advantage of it if it wasn't something you were supposed to do.

[Edited on January 10, 2011 at 1:18 PM. Reason : english]

1/10/2011 1:13:37 PM

I also have always used H&R Block online services. Owning vs renting requires you to enter in like two additional numbers. Really easy. Its also beneficial to use the same online system year to year as your information is saved (ie 2009 income, address, status, etc) which saves a lot of time

1/10/2011 1:42:15 PM

For those who are itemizing, don't forget any student loan interest can also be applied in most cases.

1/11/2011 6:24:20 PM

don't think you need to itemize for student loan interest. At least I haven't had to.

1/11/2011 6:25:31 PM

Well fuck, I'm looking around a little more and it looks like H&R screwed up; the guy showed me what my return would be with the standard deduction amount and itemized deduction amount (only the student loan interest) and the itemized came out at far less money back for me. I just looked up a few sites that mentioned this deduction is classified a little differently. Hopefully I can get them to fix it for free.

1/11/2011 7:17:14 PM

After reading this thread some of you need to stop giving advice.

Quote :

"I've tried itemizing my deductions in the past and it wound up costing me money, I'll be interested to see if the medical bills offset that this year. If they do I can finally add the $250 I earned via a car donation I made to the boy scouts in 2007, LOL "

You cannot finally add the $250. It occurred in 2007 not 2010.

Quote :

"I think that it's the amount that exceeds the 7.5% mark. So if your AGI is 50k, only $2250 of the 6k is deductible. You will still get the state/local tax, mortgage interest, 1099 related expenses, etc deductions that require itemizing though, so it is probably still worth it. If you go to H&R Block or use tax software, it's going to do both and figure out which saves you the most money automatically. "

1099 income and expenses are going to either go on Schedule C or C-EZ not Schedule A.

Quote :

"For those who are itemizing, don't forget any student loan interest can also be applied in most cases. "

Student loan interest is an adjustment to income not an itemized deduction. You cannot take the student loan deduction on Schedule A.

Also, many of you will be affected by this...

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=233449,00.html

1/11/2011 8:06:24 PM

^ always do the math can save you a few hundred a year

1/11/2011 8:08:56 PM

I think I already know the answer to this but here goes anyways. I paid for some legal fees and an appraisal fee for some land that I ended up not purchasing. Are these fees deductible?

1/11/2011 9:54:25 PM

^^^Actually you can itemize student loan interest paid if you are going that route. The special classification of that deduction is so those who are not itemizing can still use it and not get left out, which would be my case. The IRS says it's both a deduction and adjustment to income.

This got me paranoid enough to starting checking out the IRS publications and pull out my last tax returns. Apparently the preparer did apply it, but what I'm realizing now is he meant it would save me more as an adjustment than an itemized deduction in my case.

[Edited on January 11, 2011 at 10:25 PM. Reason : .]

1/11/2011 9:56:53 PM

Quote :

"1099 income and expenses are going to either go on Schedule C or C-EZ not Schedule A."

Yeah I was mistaken. I've only done the contractor gig for 2 separate years, one year an H&R Block employee read the prompts and typed the numbers into the computer and one year I read them myself and typed the numbers in myself, either way I never would have seen that schedule if I didn't look through the pdf file. (I also itemized due to also getting W-2s for those years)

The more I think about it the more I realize it'd be messed up to make you itemize in order to claim 1099 deductions.

[Edited on January 12, 2011 at 1:00 PM. Reason : ]

1/12/2011 1:00:03 PM

Quote :

"^^^Actually you can itemize student loan interest paid if you are going that route. The special classification of that deduction is so those who are not itemizing can still use it and not get left out, which would be my case. The IRS says it's both a deduction and adjustment to income. "

You cannot itemize student loan interest. It is an adjustment to income that goes on the front page of the 1040 for everybody.

1/12/2011 7:40:36 PM

Can you file Educator Expenses without receipts if someone does your taxes? Just curious.

1/13/2011 1:12:16 PM

just tell them you spent up to $250

1/13/2011 4:40:33 PM

lying! everybody does it!

1/13/2011 5:00:28 PM

Oh sorry. Tell them you spent up to $250 if you actually did spend it. Being a husband of a teacher and the son of two teachers, I know damn well teachers spend more than that in a year.

Your tax preparer doesn't need documentation, they're not performing an audit. I'm pretty sure they'll be comfortable with a teacher telling them they spend the $250 and taking the word as enough to put it down on the tax return, especially because I know I sure as hell don't enjoy running a tape on 500 $5 receipts for school supplies just like every other tax preparer in the world.

And the IRS is not going to audit you for $250.

CPAs charge by time so while having a pile of receipts and documentation is good if you actually do get audited, just handing them a stack of receipts is going to cost you more money. For thing's like gas, mileage, prescriptions, supplies, meals - prepare a spreadsheet or just write down totals on a piece of paper. If they look reasonable, I guarantee they don't waste time with the receipts, except to maybe thumb through them real quick for anything out of the ordinary.

[Edited on January 13, 2011 at 5:40 PM. Reason : .]

1/13/2011 5:12:10 PM

I've used Turbotax for a number of years, and am very happy with it. I used it when it was free for my 1040 EZ, and I've used it itemizing with a house, multi-state residencies, military deployments, a marriage, investment income, tuition expenses, etc.

I find it to be very intuitive and easy to use.

Filing a paper partial year residency in NC on my own because I didn't want to pay Turbotax for 3 months worth of form is a completely different story. I hope I never have to do that agian.

1/13/2011 10:26:25 PM

Remember that if you want to file educator expenses you will have to wait till mid to late February. That is when the IRS can start accepting them.

1/14/2011 12:03:54 AM

Quote :

"I've used Turbotax for a number of years, and am very happy with it. I used it when it was free for my 1040 EZ, and I've used it itemizing with a house, multi-state residencies, military deployments, a marriage, investment income, tuition expenses, etc. I find it to be very intuitive and easy to use. "

I'm glad you are happy with it. The question is how sure are you of its accuracy?

1/14/2011 12:07:25 AM

Yeah, my parents (while divorced) still use the same CPA that my dad originally got for his business, and I just use him too (I still get in for free as my dad is still paying for his company). He does an amazing job

1/14/2011 8:22:41 AM

Quote :

"I'm glad you are happy with it. The question is how sure are you of its accuracy?"

What part of the accuracy are you questioning? As complicated as the tax code is, it's all boolean logic and math, which is perfect to throw a computer at. The math checks for sure.

I did taxes by hand for a few years, and double checked Turbotax the first few times I did it. It had the same numbers, and occasionally found things I wouldn't have known to look for. Most of the time now I still rough out numbers by hand, and use TurboTax for e-filing purposes and math checking.

Later in life, I was trained for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program in the military, which doesn't get too complicated, but covers the vast majority of what military members encounter. I continued to use Turbotax, and can tell you it was easier than, and returned the same numbers as, the software we used in that program.

Turbotax won't tell you what you "should" do, how to manage your offshore investments to minimize your chances of being audited, or what the chances of being in a higher tax bracket when you retire are (or the impacts of that on your Roth vs. traditional IRA choice). But as far as accurately determining how much of my money the government gets to keep this year, according to the current tax code, I am convinced it is accurate.

1/14/2011 1:46:49 PM

Where do you put the $1.27 interest earned on a dependent's savings account?

1/14/2011 2:48:38 PM

The bank should mail you a form by the end of the month for any interest you need to report.

[Edited on January 14, 2011 at 2:51 PM. Reason : ]

1/14/2011 2:50:33 PM

How do you guys get like 3,000 back? I make about 40K, own my own home, pay interest and real estate taxes, and the estimate when I plugged in the numbers said I would get $310 back. WHAT. THE. FUCK?

1/14/2011 10:15:18 PM

^^^ you don't have to report it, unless it's in your name/ss#

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p929/ar02.html

^^ and technically you're supposed to report all interest, even if you don't receive a 1099 for it.

[Edited on January 14, 2011 at 11:01 PM. Reason : .]

1/14/2011 11:00:44 PM

Quote :

"How do you guys get like 3,000 back? I make about 40K, own my own home, pay interest and real estate taxes, and the estimate when I plugged in the numbers said I would get $310 back. WHAT. THE. FUCK?"

we need more than that. How much tax did you pay last year? how much tax+interest did you pay on your house? how many exemption did you claim?

1/14/2011 11:36:02 PM

The people who get 3K back are obviously paying way too much in taxes during the year.

1/16/2011 12:17:34 PM

Question about adoption stuff. I assume you can only claim money paid toward adoption if you actually adopt. The situation is that we paid several fees (initial fee, fees to cover background checks, money to cover physicals, etc.) but haven't yet adopted... we're still waiting.

I'm assuming none of that can be claimed on taxes until an actual adoption takes place.

1/18/2011 10:23:08 AM

Q:

Quote :

"How do you guys get like 3,000 back? I make about 40K, own my own home, pay interest and real estate taxes, and the estimate when I plugged in the numbers said I would get $310 back."

A:

Quote :

"The people who get 3K back are obviously paying way too much in taxes during the year."

Mr E Nigma:
There is nothing special about "getting" lots of money back when you file your tax return. The people who are "getting" that much back really just overpaid on their taxes all year and their taxes rebalanced everything and they are getting their own money back. For some people who are bad with their finances that is a way to keep them from spending extra money during the year so they feel like they are getting some sort of bonus at tax time. However, by doing that, you are giving the government an interest free loan all year instead of you having the money in your pocket, or Roth IRA, or other investment, etc.

If you are receiving a $310 refund, that simply means you are pretty close to withholding the right amount during the year. You could actually stand to withhold slightly less during the year to get you closer to a 0 or slightly negative tax return.

1/18/2011 10:43:59 AM