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For many, perhaps most of us, taxes are pretty simple, especially with the higher standard deduction.
So, did you prepare your own taxes, use a free tax preparation service, an accountant or fee base tax preparer?
Did you directly download 1099s for investments from your record keeper as opposed to manual entry?
Why did you make the choice you did? We’re you satisfied with results?
I have used TurboTax for several years. It works for me, but certainly there are many reasons to use other methods
Been using TurboTax for many years. Back when we ran our own business, we used a CPA due to the complexities of that situation. Even with kids in college and living at home, TurboTax was able to handle any situation required with minimal complication.
After doing them by myself with paper forms many years things got a little complicated. So I went to a CPA firm. This year I worked with that same CPA firm I’ve been with for over 30 years and I did the Return with TurboTax myself at the same time.
I downloaded some of those forms and uploaded them but others I entered manually.
TT Premier online and I download whatever 1099’s I can. Much easier these days having consolidated various accounts over the past few years. I’ve found that Costco has offered the best pricing overall if you watch for the sale(s) on TT products. Further, TT usually offers a “Costco bonus” of $10 that can be applied to say, state e-file costs. I bought my software online in late 2024 but the product was not usable until 2025, likely as a caution against late tax code updates or similar. Should the next sale offer an even lower price, I’ve found that Costco will readily refund the difference at the store (saved another $10 or $15.)
I also use the previous years software as a tool for estimated payments during the current tax year as our income varies significantly during the year (and year to year) and I will not stand for underpayment penalties and interest on them. Of course, the standard deductions, brackets, etc will not be correct but as they are usually (but not guaranteed) “better” each year, so your results will have a little cushion in them in your favor. The other caution here is that you need to know there isn’t a major tax code change that renders the old software as useless. This is true on local, state and federal levels, of course.
As I executed a Roth conversion in this tax quarter, this process proved useful to become aware of a benefit on our MI state taxes for pensions and retirement account payments. My wife turned 65 last year and is the oldest key taxpayer using MFJ. When I ran the year end numbers with this conversion taken into account, the state taxes owed didn’t make sense (much too low). With some additional research on the state Treasury site, I became aware of a favorable tax treatment, up to certain limits now that the older filer is 65+ (MI Form 4884). Our last conversion was in 2022 when this would not have been available to us. Happy days!
For our fairly simple return, we use Cash App (formerly Credit Karma).