Technology has sure come a long way in the twenty five years that I have been filing income tax returns for clients. In the last five years I have been recommending online tax software to my friends, family and colleagues who don’t have complicated tax situations and can avoid paying a premium to have a CPA prepare and file their income taxes. These online tax softwares spend millions of dollars perfecting their systems so if you are someone who want to file a complete, accurate and honest income tax return in a timely manner then I highly recommend using a tax software.
CPA’s and tax advisors are best used for advise, guidance, education and not data preparation. The technology does a fantastic job with data preparation. Do you understand the difference?
I also have clients who use CPA’s and tax advisors for advice and then file their own tax returns using the available technology so they use their dollars for strategy and advice and not preparation. Make sense? I do believe this is the way of the future.
How to choose the right software for you? Well the H&RBlock system is best known for its intuitive question and answer system and the Intuit TurboTax system is best known for its link to Quickbooks as well as being easy to use to track investments and capital gains. If you already use Quickbooks for your business bookkeeping then exporting the data to Intuit’s tax product saves you time and headache and reduces the risk of error. Again, the important piece is getting your numbers together and deciding what will go on your tax return before you sit down and input the data.
My other piece of advice is to follow the system. Answer the questions and don’t try and override the system. This is where I have seen taxpayers run into trouble.
Still have questions? Reach out to me and let’s see how I can help you make the smartest and most effective and efficient tax filing choice for your situation.
PS: Still wondering how you can do better in 2023 and minimize your taxes? Time for a 1 on 1 session with me. Let’s dig into your numbers and see where we can do better with tax strategies and cash flow plans.