Comments on: Tax Preparers Vs. Tax Software http://www.rgbrenner.com/blog/2010/02/22/tax-preparers-vs-tax-software/ Income Tax Consultants Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:04:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Joann Colan http://www.rgbrenner.com/blog/2010/02/22/tax-preparers-vs-tax-software/comment-page-1/#comment-410 Joann Colan Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:39:50 +0000 http://www.rgbrenner.com/?p=1035#comment-410 I thought about doing our taxes on-line this year to save money. I went to the IRS website to find free on-line tax companies. I completed 8, 1040 on-line tax applications entering the same information to each one and came back with 8 different refund amounts. I went back and forth playing around with the figures and found for example, that it didn't make any difference if I deleted the cost of prepared taxes for the previous year or not. I have an IRA with a distribution code of 3. Some sites would not even let me complete the process! These tax sites should not be used to file a 1040. Today, I called and made an appointment with our tax man. Joann Colan I thought about doing our taxes on-line this year to save money. I went to the IRS website to find free on-line tax companies. I completed 8, 1040 on-line tax applications entering the same information to each one and came back with 8 different refund amounts. I went back and forth playing around with the figures and found for example, that it didn’t make any difference if I deleted the cost of prepared taxes for the previous year or not. I have an IRA with a distribution code of 3. Some sites would not even let me complete the process! These tax sites should not be used to file a 1040. Today, I called and made an appointment with our tax man.
Joann Colan

]]> By: michael levine http://www.rgbrenner.com/blog/2010/02/22/tax-preparers-vs-tax-software/comment-page-1/#comment-74 michael levine Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:34:37 +0000 http://www.rgbrenner.com/?p=1035#comment-74 This article doesn't go far enough in analyzing the differences between tax prep software and an experienced preparer. Many times we encounter family situations where we have to determine whether a child who is a student should claim him/herself or if the parents should. Which will yield a larger refund for the family as a whole? This is only one of many family situations that we deal with regularly. The differences may be as much as 2-3000 dollars. Software can't do that. This is only one of the ways that we earn our fees. If we can't do better than the software, then by all means use it. I'm confident that in most cases we will. Michael Levine Senior Tax Consultant http://www.rgbrenner.com/locations/suffolk-county/babylon/ This article doesn’t go far enough in analyzing the differences between tax prep software and an experienced preparer. Many times we encounter family situations where we have to determine whether a child who is a student should claim him/herself or if the parents should. Which will yield a larger refund for the family as a whole? This is only one of many family situations that we deal with regularly. The differences may be as much as 2-3000 dollars. Software can’t do that. This is only one of the ways that we earn our fees. If we can’t do better than the software, then by all means use it. I’m confident that in most cases we will.

Michael Levine
Senior Tax Consultant
http://www.rgbrenner.com/locations/suffolk-county/babylon/

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