by jowi » Sun Jan 26, 2014 2:31 pm
We always have a lawyer do our taxes - costs about $650 and they figure out our quarterly estimates and even submit our checks for us (we just pre-write them out at tax time for the entire next year and they hold them). How hard is doing taxes when you have a pretty extensive portfolio (regular and qualified dividends, capital gains, tax-exempt bonds, regular bonds, etc.)? Does something like Turbo Tax actually walk you through everything? Is it that hard to learn how to do it correctly? Thanks!
by DSInvestor » Sun Jan 26, 2014 2:37 pm
jowi wrote:How hard is doing taxes when you have a pretty extensive portfolio (regular and qualified dividends, capital gains, tax-exempt bonds, regular bonds, etc.)? Does something like Turbo Tax actually walk you through everything? Is it that hard to learn how to do it correctly? Thanks!
Turbotax will handle all of that with ease. It can even download the 1099-B, 1099-DIV, 1099-INT from your brokerage houses.
It's not hard to learn at all.
by stan1 » Sun Jan 26, 2014 2:44 pm
I would start by looking at the tax return your attorney did last year. You'll see what income was declared and what deductions were taken and that will guide you on what information you need to do your taxes yourself this year using Turbo Tax.
Using Turbo Tax is a data entry task. You can download many 1099 Forms, but you do have to verify they downloaded correctly.
People run into problems with Turbo Tax when they enter incomplete data. To avoid this my recommendation would be to do everything at once in late Feb/early March once you have all of your tax forms in hand.
Using Turbo Tax is a data entry task. You can download many 1099 Forms, but you do have to verify they downloaded correctly.
People run into problems with Turbo Tax when they enter incomplete data. To avoid this my recommendation would be to do everything at once in late Feb/early March once you have all of your tax forms in hand.
by jowi » Sun Jan 26, 2014 2:47 pm
Thanks ... I wonder if there are any good youtube tutorials or blogs on this. 
by LadyGeek » Sun Jan 26, 2014 2:47 pm
Let me ask this from another perspective: Are your taxes involved with legal issues that need expert advice, such as a trust? In this case, your lawyer's advice is appropriate - if nothing more than to keep you from doing the wrong thing.
That being said, it's always worthwhile to try and do this yourself. If you don't match what your lawyer does, then you can ask why.
We have 2 on-going threads: 2013 TurboTax: Which Product? New Rules? and If Not TurboTax, What?
Update: There are a ton of tutorial videos online. Your best bet is to start with the TurboTax website and see what they offer.
That being said, it's always worthwhile to try and do this yourself. If you don't match what your lawyer does, then you can ask why.
We have 2 on-going threads: 2013 TurboTax: Which Product? New Rules? and If Not TurboTax, What?
Update: There are a ton of tutorial videos online. Your best bet is to start with the TurboTax website and see what they offer.
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by tfb » Sun Jan 26, 2014 5:31 pm
jowi wrote:How hard is doing taxes when you have a pretty extensive portfolio (regular and qualified dividends, capital gains, tax-exempt bonds, regular bonds, etc.)? Does something like Turbo Tax actually walk you through everything? Is it that hard to learn how to do it correctly? Thanks!
Intuit offers 60-day unconditional money-back guarantee on TurboTax download/box products. Just buy one and try it. What's easy/hard for others may be hard/easy for you. Only you can tell.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/19011 ... und-policy
Harry aka TFB, taking a break from the forums.
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Joined: 19 Feb 2007
by livesoft » Sun Jan 26, 2014 7:17 pm
One can purchase TurboTax for 2012 for about $10. That way one can duplicate the lawyer's work in about 30 minutes and see if the lawyer made any mistakes.
It's all about short-term opportunistic rebalancing due to a short-term change in one's asset allocation, uh, I mean opportunistic rebalancing, uh I mean rebalancing, uh I mean market timing.
by livesoft » Sun Jan 26, 2014 7:35 pm
jowi wrote:Thanks ... I wonder if there are any good youtube tutorials or blogs on this.
Every year, the NY Times fills out a tax-return of a typical NY family with all kinds of annotations and comments. Every year it's a good lesson on how to do it.
For 2013: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013 ... n-doc.html
For 2012: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012 ... -1040.html
…
For 1989: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/05/busin ... -step.html
It's all about short-term opportunistic rebalancing due to a short-term change in one's asset allocation, uh, I mean opportunistic rebalancing, uh I mean rebalancing, uh I mean market timing.
by DSInvestor » Sun Jan 26, 2014 7:57 pm
livesoft wrote:One can purchase TurboTax for 2012 for about $10. That way one can duplicate the lawyer's work in about 30 minutes and see if the lawyer made any mistakes.
This is a good idea and would definitely go a long way towards getting comfortable with using turbotax 2013 for the 2013 tax return. However it may take a little more time than 30 mins if there are lots of 1099-B, 1099-DIV, 1099-INT in the complicated portfolio to enter manually into turbotax 2012. I'd be very surprised if the 1099 downloads for 2012 tax year data are still available today. Once you get used to the turbotax interview process and entering the tax slips, it'll go faster.
by livesoft » Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:04 pm
DSInvestor wrote:However it may take a little more time than 30 mins if ….
Shhhh! Now you have really spoiled it for them.
It's all about short-term opportunistic rebalancing due to a short-term change in one's asset allocation, uh, I mean opportunistic rebalancing, uh I mean rebalancing, uh I mean market timing.
by tetractys » Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:25 pm
The nice thing about TT is that it's a guided experience, one step at a time, slow and deliberate. If an impasse comes up, a missing piece of paper, a 1099, a bit of information or whatever, come back later with it.
Last year I put all my stuff in a folder and did TT in a few visits to my local coffee shop/book store/hot spot. The important points I find helpful are 1. enter everything manually to avoid download screw-ups, and 2. make sure everything is accounted for--having to do a 1040X later is a pain, and 3. relax, take it easy, breath, drink coffee, and enjoy the atmosphere. -- Tet
Last year I put all my stuff in a folder and did TT in a few visits to my local coffee shop/book store/hot spot. The important points I find helpful are 1. enter everything manually to avoid download screw-ups, and 2. make sure everything is accounted for--having to do a 1040X later is a pain, and 3. relax, take it easy, breath, drink coffee, and enjoy the atmosphere. -- Tet
by bsquared » Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:06 pm
I liked tfb's comment on hard/easy, but I wanted to pick up on a later comment relative to the "guided process." I see very little criticism of Turbo Tax out here, but don't you think it could be a whole lot smoother? I was using it last year after not having used it for 2010 or 2011, and I thought it had gotten worse. Just wondering whether others had that experience.
I also wanted to mention a thread I saw last night about doing your own taxes, but I could not find it when I looked just now. I thought it had a lot of good comments. Maybe Lady Geek could tell us where it is.
I also wanted to mention a thread I saw last night about doing your own taxes, but I could not find it when I looked just now. I thought it had a lot of good comments. Maybe Lady Geek could tell us where it is.
by in_reality » Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:10 pm
jowi wrote:Does something like Turbo Tax actually walk you through everything? Is it that hard to learn how to do it correctly? Thanks!
I see State taxes as being potentially burdensome.
When using Turbo Tax to calculate a State return (for rental income as a non-resident of that State), I noticed that there seems to potentially be complicated manual adjustments that may need to be made as many states do not conform to AMERICAN TAXPAYER RELIEF ACT OF 2012 for 2013 [meaning they were conforming to the changes for 2012 but not any longer]. A quick search shows me Maine, Minnesota, Idaho and California have at least some conformity issues. I am sure that list is not exhaustive. What I don't know is if Turbo Tax is handling that everywhere.
For example this is what Turbo Tax advised for Mn.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012(ATRA) extended a number of federal tax provisions that had, or would have, expired.
Minnesota conformed to these changes only for tax year 2012 and not for tax year 2013 and beyond. For a complete list of the federal provisions that were extended into 2013 that Minnesota no longer allows, see Minnesota-Federal Income Tax Conformity.
Due to this nonconformity, some Minnesota taxpayers may need to recalculate their federal income as if it was calculated using the Minnesota tax law. We know this recalculation won’t be easy.
In the near future, you will find step-by-step guidance here in recalculating your federal income tax return for Minnesota purposes. You can do it yourself or we can connect you with a tax advisor to help you.
Additional Guidance will be coming as soon as we learn more, and any updates will be available here.
Minnesota conformed to these changes only for tax year 2012 and not for tax year 2013 and beyond. For a complete list of the federal provisions that were extended into 2013 that Minnesota no longer allows, see Minnesota-Federal Income Tax Conformity.
Due to this nonconformity, some Minnesota taxpayers may need to recalculate their federal income as if it was calculated using the Minnesota tax law. We know this recalculation won’t be easy.
In the near future, you will find step-by-step guidance here in recalculating your federal income tax return for Minnesota purposes. You can do it yourself or we can connect you with a tax advisor to help you.
Additional Guidance will be coming as soon as we learn more, and any updates will be available here.
Actually, my rental income was below the filing requirement so I don't really know how complicated it would have been.
Given there are lots of areas where there might be differences though (again this is for MN), you may want to make sure you can handle it in Turbo Tax before canceling your lawyer. Well of course if your lawyer need to reconcile these things too, perphaps your fees would be higher.
Differences in Income Items
Differences in Above-the-Line Deductions
Differences in Itemized Deductions
Differences in Standard Deductions and Personal Exemptions
Differences in Credits
California is non-complient in many respects too (1) but I haven't checked (as I've no income in CA) to see if Turbo Tax is handling it though. Maybe it is handling it ok for CA and it's just Minnesota having complications now because they were conformant in 2012 but aren't any longer.
I wonder what the Turbo Tax advisor charges...
(1)http://www.caltax.com/spidellweb/public/editorial/ATRA.pdf
by Lafder » Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:38 pm
Do you have a lawyer do your taxes? Are they also an accountant?
I have an accountant do my taxes. I tried Turbo Tax, or was Quicken, and found it stressful to know where to enter the different numbers. Maybe I was over reading the questions, but it seemed there were multiple places to enter the same numbers. I feel that the fees I pay my accountant are buying for her to better understand where to put which numbers and why, to my advantage. I provide the numbers for her.
She gives me prefilled out forms and even envelopes for the estimated tax payments when I get my copy of my return, and I pay them myself through the year.
You must be paying something for your lawyer to hold your checks and remember to mail them through the year.
Consider talking to your tax person about ways to decrease the cost, such as you mailing the checks yourself.
My husband suggested that I "try" Turbo Tax again by taking the information I provided for last years taxes, and entering all of the information and comparing it to how my accountant did the taxes. So I will suggest that to you as well.
The expense of tax preparation is an allowable deduction.
My mom has a "complicated portfolio" and has been doing her taxes by hand for years, not using any kind of tax software. She thinks I am the crazy one for paying an accountant to enter the numbers I provide. But around tax time, I think I am the less stressed one.
You won't know if you like doing it yourself and feel confident unless you try it. I just think it is safer to try it with last tax year's (2012) numbers first, since you have something to compare it to.
I am curious how it goes if you do try it, maybe if it goes well I will give it another try myself.
Lafder
I have an accountant do my taxes. I tried Turbo Tax, or was Quicken, and found it stressful to know where to enter the different numbers. Maybe I was over reading the questions, but it seemed there were multiple places to enter the same numbers. I feel that the fees I pay my accountant are buying for her to better understand where to put which numbers and why, to my advantage. I provide the numbers for her.
She gives me prefilled out forms and even envelopes for the estimated tax payments when I get my copy of my return, and I pay them myself through the year.
You must be paying something for your lawyer to hold your checks and remember to mail them through the year.
Consider talking to your tax person about ways to decrease the cost, such as you mailing the checks yourself.
My husband suggested that I "try" Turbo Tax again by taking the information I provided for last years taxes, and entering all of the information and comparing it to how my accountant did the taxes. So I will suggest that to you as well.
The expense of tax preparation is an allowable deduction.
My mom has a "complicated portfolio" and has been doing her taxes by hand for years, not using any kind of tax software. She thinks I am the crazy one for paying an accountant to enter the numbers I provide. But around tax time, I think I am the less stressed one.
You won't know if you like doing it yourself and feel confident unless you try it. I just think it is safer to try it with last tax year's (2012) numbers first, since you have something to compare it to.
I am curious how it goes if you do try it, maybe if it goes well I will give it another try myself.
Lafder
by BL » Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:33 am
DSInvestor wrote:
livesoft wrote:One can purchase TurboTax for 2012 for about $10. That way one can duplicate the lawyer's work in about 30 minutes and see if the lawyer made any mistakes.
This is a good idea and would definitely go a long way towards getting comfortable with using turbotax 2013 for the 2013 tax return. However it may take a little more time than 30 mins if there are lots of 1099-B, 1099-DIV, 1099-INT in the complicated portfolio to enter manually into turbotax 2012. I'd be very surprised if the 1099 downloads for 2012 tax year data are still available today. Once you get used to the turbotax interview process and entering the tax slips, it'll go faster.
I agree that this is an excellent way to see if you are ready to do it on your own. Amazon is one of the sources for the 2012 software:
http://www.amazon.com/TurboTax-Deluxe-Federal-E-File-State/dp/B009CCXJ0A/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1390800393&sr=8-13&keywords=turbotax+2012+download
You could do the same thing for this year but TT would cost more.
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