Best way to do taxes?

[Swirls]

I use TaxAct.

[Leroy]

I see a CPA. Myself.

[Leroy]

I use TaxAct.

For what it is worth, I found their free site the best by far between H&R, TurboTax and them. I even purchased the pro edition when I had to buy my own professional software. All states, and business types for around $1,000 which was very good. I liked it better than the multi thousand version of Ultra Tax I use now. I'd love to go back.

[Gashouse]

I use TaxAct.

I've used them for several years. I'm a little displeased at what feels like a bait and switch when I actually have to pay to submit something they implied was free. Still, it's pretty economical (I think ~$40-50 if you e-submit to feds and state) and user-friendly.

[stlouie_lipp]

I go to a CPA (not named Leroy).

[tlombard]

Work for cash under the table and taxes are easy!

[Fat Strat]

I have a lot of respect for CPAs and accountants. My dad owned a regional tax franchise for about a decade or so after leaving a corporate job. He did mine for a long time but when I moved out of state, we had to go elsewhere.

I have found now that even if I take my stuff to a tax person or accountant, I still have to do the work of compiling the information for deductions, etc. Then I have to bring them to the accountant, who will likely want more stuff or different stuff, so you start a little run around getting everything. And then I have to pay them to do it, too. They're worth the money, but it's a consideration.

I use TurboTax now because I can pretty much just enter that info in as I compile it and by the time I'm done getting my stuff together, my taxes are essentially done. Cost is probably better than it would be at a private firm. Certainty that I'm getting the best refund and that my return is accurate is a little lower, but I don't care too much. If something is really off, I call my dad.

[sighyoung]

I use a CPA. I began doing that when my mother shifted to Medicaid, and I had to get all the paperwork just right. Now, I do it to save time. I itemize tons of expenses: my mother's nursing home payments and medical bills, my own mortgage, home equity line, medical bills, clothing and book donations . . . . I handle so much for my mother that I'm happy to turn over her taxes to someone else, and it's just as easy to save time and turn over my taxes, as well.

[Swirls]

I use TaxAct.

For what it is worth, I found their free site the best by far between H&R, TurboTax and them. I even purchased the pro edition when I had to buy my own professional software. All states, and business types for around $1,000 which was very good. I liked it better than the multi thousand version of Ultra Tax I use now. I'd love to go back.

I started using TaxAct a few years ago when I had to do returns for several states.

For my 2015 return I did last year, I had to include the following state returns: Iowa (for my god awful rental property I've [expletive] about on here), South Carolina (wife and I were both employed there for most of the year), Minnesota (moved here in October 2015), and New York (my wife was laid off at the end of 2014 when we moved to SC, but received four months of severance pay).

For my 2014 return, I had to include Iowa, South Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. My wife and I worked at the same nuclear plant in New York, but they had corporate offices in Baltimore and Philly - and with some new tax laws that were passed in New York, if you spent time at a satellite office in another state, you had to now pay state taxes for the hours worked in those other states. You know you're in trouble when a single W-2 actually has three separate states broken down on it.

Between doing 4-5 states a year and including the large-scale variables that can significantly affect your return such as buying/selling a house, managing a rental property, getting married/divorced, potentially adding dividends from investments if you're into that sort of thing, TurboTax was running me like $150 a year. I was able to use TaxAct and do the same thing for like $30 a year or something.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

What you got. Last year turbo tax cost around $100 so...not doing that again.

We ended up using a CPA to do taxes this year because for some reason the IRS contacted me in the middle of the year requiring a switch in my status and ... I just didn't want to deal with this stuff. The switch ended up meaning I overpaid by $6K or so....which, yay, I guess give me money back. But, *squints* wtf. Glad we used a CPA.