[Karla]

Taxes….
For people who use tax preparers, how much do you pay???
We do NOT qualify for the free file options like TurboTax free or any of the other free file options.

I spent just over $200 and HOURS doing it myself.

I am looking to find a better time/money value option next year.

[Suzy]

If you are an AARP member, they have volunteers who will do your taxes for free, I believe.

You can get discounts for quite a few restaurants by being a member, and you get an AARP bulletin and magazine bimonthly, which are chocked full of information.

[Anne]

Tax Act is free, on line. I pay $79 for some protections. Has r used for years.

[Mary]

my daughter has a business, so it’s worth it to her to have professionals do her taxes. but me – I’m retired !! and I have always done my own.

I never get a refund any more !!

at least this way, no one can beat me to my refund (steal it out of the mailbox or whatever!)!

cause there isn’t one, and there never willl be!

[Brooke]

I would check into Cash App to file your taxes, I’ve filed with them the past two years, it’s always been free for me.

My mom who makes significantly more than I do also filed this year using Cash App and it was free for her as well.

[Clary]

We use a local CPA and pay about $1000/year. Worth. Every. Penny. But, our taxes are a bit complicated.

We still have to prep how much we spent on medical bills, interest paid, etc.

[Kym]

Depends on how complicated it is and how much time it takes. My son-in-law does them for me because that’s what he does, tax CPA, but mine are easy

[Landis]

Really interesting. My accountant just raised their price 30% to $390 without prior notice. Said they were undercharging before.

I have investments so use an accountant to make sure all is done correctly.

But this has happened with 3 different accountants now where a number of years in they drastically change their price.

My last one wanted to go from $240 to over $1000, telling me they were charging me the corporate rate.

I said, but I’m not a corporation. (And I did my taxes in person with my accountant in 45 minutes previous years).

They said but you have investments. I change accountants when this happens.

[LySette]

Sometimes local collages offer free tax help. Often done by college students in their last year and double checked by actual accountants. May have to sign up in advance.

Also, check libraries, community centers, etc. I found a lady at my local senior center who does them for free, first come first serve.

She’s got years of experience! Granted most ppl tip her for doing so, but she doesn’t ask and payment isn’t expected.

No income set so good option.

Your local state rep may have resources too.

[Jody]

We paid $250 but we have a side hustle which makes the cost go up. For us it’s well worth it.

[Shawyna]

My friends and family use a few local people and pay about $150.

We used freetaxusa this year for $15 and omg it was so easy and much cheaper than years past using TurboTax or HR block.

[Kinsey]

I am not business owner only had simple w-2s. I purchased the $60 turbo tax deluxe at Sam’s club.

Took me 2 hours and paid $15 for state efile.

Definitely worth the savings!

[Jim]

I paid 167 for federal with turbotax because I have dividends and capital gains. I got it done in 26 minutes.

The PA state tax return is simple so I filed on the state portal for free.

[Jackie]

We paid $175 to Turbo Tax and when we got all done, there was some kind of glitch and we were not able to e-file.

Because we were getting substantial money back and because this year all kinds of federal employees were losing their jobs including at the IRS, we did not want to mail our return in.

So, we started over with Tax Cut and paid another $187. This time it went through to e-file without a problem.

And we got our refund a week later.

You do what you gotta do. And of course after that, we sent in new W-4’s so we won’t be giving this absurd government any more money than we absolutely have to.

But that’s another story …

[Shirley]

For me the money I pay my accountant, who is a beast at tax code, saves me a great amount of money so it’s worth it. And that is the question you need to ask yourself.

If you own a business or are self-employed a good accountant can save you thousands.

If you just get a W2 do it yourself. How much you pay an accountant depends on where you live as cost of living varies greatly.

Some years I paid over $500.

to have taxes done when I had more than one business and was buy and selling properties, others I paid $300.

I’m retired now and do not have to file anymore as I sold all my properties.

[Britany]

I paid $42 through Taxslayer and filled out my state by hand because it was much easier than my federal.

Saved myself $46 on state by spending 30 minutes entering the info myself.

[Darla]

$300-$350 for a local CPA firm, they do more than preparing taxes.
The file for: Federal
State
Local
In addition:
Tax planning for the current year.

When you go through life events such as children turning 17, sale of property, sale of business, contributing to UTMAs and 529s, etc it pays to have someone who understands tax laws and helps MINIMIZE your tax liability.

I used to file our taxes until 2012, when my mom passed away. I owned her home but still needed to deal with the sale.

At that time, our oldest child started her part time job and we had other life events occur.

My busy work season follows the tax season, as well, so paying someone else to do it is a worthwhile expense for me.

For many of our peers who didn’t realize that the Child Tax Credit changes at 17, it was an unpleasant surprise.

[Lyndsey]

We pay 200 for someone to do it. We have a rental so there are some numbers we need to pull and obviously getting all the right documents together and sent, but all of that takes like an hour.

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