Community Chat

[songbird]

Ours is very complicated.  The stocks and mutual funds, etc.  We always have to go to an accountant to compile it. We normally go in late March.  And we usually have pay plenty!

[SilleeMee]

I got it done. Mine was fairly simple. Used FreeTaxUSA dot com and it was so easy. 👍

[scrapperlisa]

I love this time of year. After I retired, I started working as a tax preparer at H&R Block. There are sooo many tax law changes this year. I can usually find more deductions for clients than they can find on their own. I love my job, especially when I can help people get a bigger refund (or owe less). And we charge waaay less than most CPAs. Good luck everyone!

[AuntMame]

I can usually complete our federal tax return in short order with H&R Block tax software. It's the state return which is the killer. There are so many questions to answer, even after the software has imported data from our fed return. Do we qualify for the Retired Farmer, Forklift Driver & Donut Maker Heavy Metal Mining Real Estate Research Tax Relief Program? Are we currently receiving funds from the Groundwater Abatement & Emergency High-Wire Land Allocation Hand-Off Crisis Program? Are there currently any Railroad Workers in the household? Just clicking No...No...No...is a process that seems to go on for hours. And once our state return is printed out, it's the size of a book. 

I usually allocate two afternoons for the state return, for answering and re-checking everything, for making sure I understand everything it is asking me, after spending only about an hour on the federal return. 

Part of the problem is that H&R Block's tax software doesn't handle the state return interview very thoroughly or carefully. It's pretty slap-dash. In fact over the years I've found some very serious errors in the tax software's handling of our state returns. 

[UpNorthGorgy]

@songbird   I understand! I inherited investments. It was a unexpected   grateful surprise. I consolidated with my meager savings and left it all in California where my Aunt/Godmother lived. I think in mid February I receive their paperwork. It is on line but like you...  no hurry. I pay in quarterly as it is.

My tax preparer whips through it reading the small print and I sit amazed. Done and sent. My former preparer who retired took a week, as went over the forms a second time . I used to have to go  in later and pick up the copy. 

[AuntMame]

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@UpNorthGorgy wrote:

@songbird   I understand! I inherited investments. It was a unexpected   grateful surprise. I consolidated with my meager savings and left it all in California where my Aunt/Godmother lived. I think in mid February I receive their paperwork. It is on line but like you...  no hurry. I pay in quarterly as it is.

My tax preparer whips through it reading the small print and I sit amazed. Done and sent. My former preparer who retired took a week, as went over the forms a second time . I used to have to go  in later and pick up the copy. 

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I inherited a few small investments too, and it was a major hassle transferring them to my name, especially the stocks. In fact an estate lawyer I know tells me he usually tells clients to abandon inherited investments if the value is small, because the ownership transfer is so time-consuming. I did the transfers myself so it didn't cost me anything beyond express-mailing documents.