Welp.

It's embarrassing to admit this at my age, but I've actually never done my own taxes. I used to have a more complex tax situation thus used a guy, but not so much anymore... so advice on where to go / software to use? Fairly basic tax picture I think (W2, 1098-MORT, 1099-DIV / INT, 1 dependent, FSA accounts, typical retirement plans).

3/3/2020 7:13:19 AM

funny...i'm embarrassed i've never been willing to use a guy to do my taxes. always did it myself like some poor slub

3/3/2020 8:31:33 AM

Pick whatever platform carefully because once you've entered all your crap you're probably just gonna use the same system for the next decade...for whatever it matters.

3/3/2020 10:14:42 AM

credit karma is completely free. i used it for the first time this year. my taxes are fairly straightforward...looks fairly similar to yours, tbh.

in the past i've used turbo tax and i thought their platform was extremely easy and straightforward. the downside was that i generally needed the Premier (i think) to file my taxes which cost $90. $90 isn't that bad, but i decided to check out of the credit karma platform this year since it was free for all filing. credit karma platform wasn't that hard to use, but turbo tax was more user friendly imo. you can play around with turbo tax and see how you like it...you don't pay until the end (once you submit). so that's nice, at least.

those are the only 2 i have experience with.

3/3/2020 12:15:06 PM

Quote :

"funny...i'm embarrassed i've never been willing to use a guy to do my taxes. always did it myself like some poor slub"

gotta know people, man.

Quote :

"Pick whatever platform carefully because once you've entered all your crap you're probably just gonna use the same system for the next decade...for whatever it matters."

that's how it's been with the guy. just always used'em and never gave it any other thought.

Quote :

"credit karma is completely free. i used it for the first time this year. my taxes are fairly straightforward...looks fairly similar to yours, tbh. in the past i've used turbo tax and i thought their platform was extremely easy and straightforward. the downside was that i generally needed the Premier (i think) to file my taxes which cost $90. $90 isn't that bad, but i decided to check out of the credit karma platform this year since it was free for all filing. credit karma platform wasn't that hard to use, but turbo tax was more user friendly imo. you can play around with turbo tax and see how you like it...you don't pay until the end (once you submit). so that's nice, at least. those are the only 2 i have experience with."

thanks; that's helpful. I'll have to check out CK. Otherwise, if I have to pay that much (plus considering whatever time it takes), I may just stick with my current route as it's not much more than the apparent software cost.

3/3/2020 12:37:06 PM

I think Taxact is like $80 with state e-file every year...and my tax situation is almost identical to hours

3/3/2020 1:18:35 PM

Slcikdeals and sim site usually have deals for turbotax or hr block during tax season
https://slickdeals.net/f/13883012-intuit-turbotax-deluxe-2019-federal-with-state-efile-download-39-80-ac-more?src=SiteSearchV2Algo1

3/3/2020 1:42:30 PM

Fucking TaxAct. They used to be under $20 but them Intuit, the damned TurboTax people bought them.

3/3/2020 2:00:33 PM

i used freetaxusa when mine was more simple, it can do what you need

freetaxusa is free federal, $12 state (or you can print for free and mail in yourself)




(turbotax and hr block have been lobbying for decades to keep taxes complicated if that factors into your decision on who to use)

[Edited on March 3, 2020 at 4:36 PM. Reason : .]

3/3/2020 4:35:40 PM

Quote :

" but them Intuit, the damned TurboTax people bought them."

This is incorrect

It does suck that they’ve increased their price though. This year I’m going with freetaxusa

3/3/2020 11:38:10 PM

You are right. I stand corrected. They have a CEO who used to work for Intuit and the prices got jacked up after they were bought.

3/4/2020 6:01:14 PM

I've always gone with TurboTax and it's pretty fool-proof and quick to use each year once you have all of your info saved...never used a guy.

3/6/2020 2:51:04 PM

WUHAN WUHAN

4/2/2020 3:37:56 AM