Why You Might Want a Tax Pro

In their annual "do taxes yourself or have someone else do them?" article, Yahoo lists the times when you may want to hire a tax pro:

• You are intimidated by the whole tax-filing process.
• You don't want to devote the time necessary to prepare your return.
• You've had a major change in your life that's going to make filing more complex this year.
• You believe that by hiring a tax pro, you'll save more than enough on your tax bill to cover the cost.

Many of these are similar to the reasons I use a CPA to do my taxes.

But I still do a lot of work -- collecting the information, highlighting potential issues, etc. that helps the CPA do my taxes quickly (which saves me time and helps make a more accurate return.)

That reminds me, I need to get started on that process soon. Bummer. :-(

Comments

[Kevin]

Nowadays if you have anything more than a W-2 and a few 1099s it is a good idea to hire a CPA. The tax laws are getting more and more complex every year.

(Full disclosure - I am a CPA.)

[Adam]

Also keep in mind that if you itemize your deductions, you can claim you cost of tax preparation for the prior year. This deduction is subject to the 2% of AGI limitation (meaning you can only claim as a deduction amounts paid over 2% of your AGI (form 1040 lime 38)).

You can take this deduction whether or not you file your own taxes, but the cost of a Tax Pro is generally much higher than the cost of packaged software and therefore more likely to hit the 2% threshold (though unreimburseed job related expenses, and some other expenses also can be included here).