Quote:
Originally Posted by gryoung
By the time you fill-out the accountant's three to five page questionnaire, you could enter the same data into TurboTax--all for under $50. The accountant plugs your data into an enhanced version of TT. (The enhanced version of TT allows for unlimited number of returns.) My retired relatives are also stuck in the same accountant groove. If they would only try it once, they'd never go back to the accountant for $250-$350. If you were self-employed and required an accountant for business, that might be a different story but most personal returns are not complicated, and TT couldn't make the tax prep process any easier.
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A good accountant doesn't plug your info into TT. They review your questionnaire, ask pertinent questions, then prepare your return. In many firms someone else then does a review of your return, then you are called in to finalize the process.
TT is good for what it is - but my CPA just gave me an example of a deduction that some retirees miss - mainly because they don't understand the tax code. Question on TT is something like this - Are you entitled to a deduction under Code ####? It's not something broken out on your 1099 or anywhere so you miss it. Unfortunately some people also don't realize some things are taxable - it can get confusing when you are retired. (Part of my retirement is taxable, part is not - there is a somewhat complicated formula to figure it out.)