Where is My Tax Information? Seeking Answers After 8 Years

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Discussion Overview

This thread centers around participants sharing their experiences and frustrations regarding tax preparation services, particularly focusing on costs, communication with accountants, and the use of software for filing taxes.

Discussion Character

  • Anecdotal
  • Opinion-based
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses frustration over lack of communication from their accountant after eight years of service, questioning the high fee for the service.
  • Another participant shares their experience of feeling that the preparer was unhelpful and suggests addressing rude treatment.
  • Several participants discuss varying costs of tax preparation, with some finding their accountants' fees to be excessively high compared to others.
  • One participant mentions switching to Turbo Tax after dissatisfaction with H&R Block, highlighting ease of use and cost-effectiveness.
  • Another participant notes that their CPA charges significantly more than others, yet they have experienced delays in service.
  • Several users mention doing their own taxes using Turbo Tax or Quick Tax, citing low costs and ease of use.
  • One participant shares a positive experience with a CPA who charged a reasonable fee and provided good service.
  • Another participant reflects on their father's experience as a CPA, noting low fees and efficiency in tax preparation.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Views differ significantly regarding the costs of tax preparation services, with no clear consensus on what constitutes a reasonable fee. Participants also express varying levels of satisfaction with their accountants and experiences with DIY tax software.

Contextual Notes

Participants share personal experiences related to tax preparation, reflecting a range of financial situations and preferences for handling taxes, whether through professional services or self-filing software.

Who May Find This Useful

Consultants considering their options for tax preparation services or those interested in sharing experiences related to tax filing processes may find this discussion relevant.

F
floccies
Messages
340
I prepared my tax information (very organized, all receipts totaled with Excel, placed in sorted folders in a black plastic file box) and took it to my accountant (8th year, same place) one month ago.

I called yesterday and the phone answerer said "I only know about what comes across my desk.".

I want to know if they will be done, if they are filing an extension, if they even know where my paperwork is. Don't I have that right? What do I say when I call back?

Last year they charged almost $500. For that much money I should have some communication. Just because I've been there 8 years doesn't guarantee that I'll be there next year.
 
You have every right to know... I think I'd be letting your preparer know the rude treatment you got.
 
I'm mad about taxes, too, but the preparer has nothing to do with it.
 
Your accountant charges you $500 to do your taxes??? Isn't that high?? Gosh I pay $95 every year at the same place.
 
  • Thread starter
  • #5
chefkugler said:
Your accountant charges you $500 to do your taxes??? Isn't that high?? Gosh I pay $95 every year at the same place.
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I just looked up the exact amount from last year -- $475.

Nothing should be that complicated --- basic PC (not a big earner -- show a loss after practice food and mileage . . . ), home owner (nothing bought or sold recently), 3 kids.

Is your $95 with a CPA? How do you give them the PC info? -- Maybe I should "shop around".

btw They called this morning, the taxes are done. I will pick them up this evening when DH gets home from work and mail them first thing tomorrow. -- still think the lady that answers the phone should have a log that she can look that tells her what stage everyones return is at. Still think a month is too long to prepare what I gave them.
 
floccies said:
I just looked up the exact amount from last year -- $475.

Nothing should be that complicated --- basic PC (not a big earner -- show a loss after practice food and mileage . . . ), home owner (nothing bought or sold recently), 3 kids.

Is your $95 with a CPA? How do you give them the PC info? -- Maybe I should "shop around".

btw They called this morning, the taxes are done. I will pick them up this evening when DH gets home from work and mail them first thing tomorrow. -- still think the lady that answers the phone should have a log that she can look that tells her what stage everyones return is at. Still think a month is too long to prepare what I gave them.
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Esp when tomorrow is the deadline..nice last minute, tax guy. I'd look into someone new next year.
 
Just remember that if you get a new tax guy, you might be at the end of his line and get your taxes back about half past June. ;)
 
O.k., you pay that much and have to mail them yourself??? I pay $50, have my PC business plus usually at least 2 other W2's, itemize everything and e-file. I really think you should ask around about a more reasonable place.
 
This is the time of year I'm happy I have a dad who's a CPA (now retired) who does my taxes for me and has them filed by early February (and for free - gotta love that:)) Good luck next year with a new person!
 
Where in the world do you find accountants so inexpensive?!!? I would love to and would happily pay under $200 for my tax services. Even H&R Block charges over $350 for my taxes!!
 
AlowayFamily said:
Where in the world do you find accountants so inexpensive?!!? I would love to and would happily pay under $200 for my tax services. Even H&R Block charges over $350 for my taxes!!
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Ask around. I pay $150 and that was up because this year I had the forms to report PC.
 
I do my own on Quick tax!!!!!! Costs us $24.95 done on line. It is very easy and fast.
 
after several years of us telling H&R Block people how to fill out our taxes and the deductions and then getting the $200+ bills, we decided to use Turbo Tax, and have done it the last 9 yrs or so. They make it very easy- even with a business. We also do company stock transactions almost every year and so far, no problems.
 
wow, my CPA charges me $695 and just last year started to e-file... so this year my MIL offered to do them for free (also a cpa) and we said yes... as of today 4/14 they have not even been started yet... ugh! :eek:
What were we thinking...:confused:
 
Us, too, esavvymom. H&R Block kept going up in price and the service we got seemed to get to be less and less. The last 2 years we felt like we were doing the work, and the H&R Block person was just typing in what we told her. This year we did Turbo Tax. It was just as easy, and I type faster than the H&R Block person. We were very pleased.Just for your comparison, I make a bit each year with PC, plus we have 2 W-2s between us. We have a couple of retirement accounts and some savings interest to report. Nothing big.
 
Ish said:
wow, my CPA charges me $695 and just last year started to e-file... so this year my MIL offered to do them for free (also a cpa) and we said yes... as of today 4/14 they have not even been started yet... ugh! :eek:
What were we thinking...:confused:
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Ooh, that puts you in a bit of a bad situation. Have you talked with her about it? There's an old saying that the roofer's house always leaks. Sometimes a professional puts off their own (and family's) stuff until the very last minute so they can take care of paying customers.
 
We've been doing Turbo Tax ourselves the last few years (since my dad the CPA retired)- however we tend to get a refund every year and I'm always anxious to get my $ and my dad is great at preparing our forms for us. The second we have all the forms, he gets them from us and the return is done pronto.
 
raebates said:
Ooh, that puts you in a bit of a bad situation. Have you talked with her about it? There's an old saying that the roofer's house always leaks. Sometimes a professional puts off their own (and family's) stuff until the very last minute so they can take care of paying customers.
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She is a Semi-retired CPA so she doesn't have paying clients right now... although if she did,I can only imagine what would happen...
I knew it would be frustrating, although she does the taxes for the entire family... oh well... as long as they are completed by tomorrow midnight we should be ok... I will keep my fingers crossed and pray that all goes smoothly! I should get turbo tax... but my DH is freaked out that if we change something is calls for an audit... I keep telling him he is paranoid... LOL
 
H&R Block is a rip off. We had them do our taxes for the past 3 years and it was $150 until I started my PC biz and then the cost jumped to $350! So my husband started asking around to friends and family and we were able to find a wonderful lady (CPA) and she only charged us $150. We had 4- 1099's, 3 -W2's, and itemized..... Friends of ours have been going there for years and have always gotten great service from her. She was really sweet and I had to take my 3 year old son with me because i coudln't find a sitter, and she was so nice to him too. Last year when we went to H&R the chick doing out taxes was snapping at TJ because he was being too loud. So yeah never going back to H&R again... even with the discount we got through PC this year...it was still not worth it to go to them. IMO
 
Ish said:
I should get turbo tax... but my DH is freaked out that if we change something is calls for an audit... I keep telling him he is paranoid... LOL
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Turbo Tax has a service in case you're audited. If I remember correctly it costs a little more, but not a lot.
 
We've done ours all on Turbo Tax for the last several years. Our friend buys the program each year and we take him some wine and home made goodies.
 
My dad has always done taxes for other people for as long as I can remember, as a side business. He rarely charges over $100.

He uses Turbo Tax.

I still can't believe people pay him to do it, but I think they pay for the security of having someone else do it for them. But programs like Turbo Tax make it almost idiot-proof (I should know...I do mine on it every year :)

Definitely look into it, everyone. Unless you're making like a gajillion dollars, it's really easy. Even with businesses, investments, and the like.
 
Jean DeVries said:
My dad has always done taxes for other people for as long as I can remember, as a side business. He rarely charges over $100.

He uses Turbo Tax.

I still can't believe people pay him to do it, but I think they pay for the security of having someone else do it for them. But programs like Turbo Tax make it almost idiot-proof (I should know...I do mine on it every year :)

Definitely look into it, everyone. Unless you're making like a gajillion dollars, it's really easy. Even with businesses, investments, and the like.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Turbo Tax makes it so easy - even when I was doing PC, had another job, and DH switched from owning his own business to working for a company in the middle of the year.

And we've always had our tax return approved within 1-2 days, and had our return direct deposited within 2-3 weeks!

Much Much cheaper than the $400 we used to pay - and our return is better!
 
One of the things I loved about using Turbo Tax was that if I didn't know exactly what they were asking, there was something to click on that explained. It even let you know if this was a common thing that would apply to most people or something rare that most likely didn't apply to me (an if you have to ask it ain't you, buddy, kind of thing). It really was easy.
 
raebates said:
One of the things I loved about using Turbo Tax was that if I didn't know exactly what they were asking, there was something to click on that explained. It even let you know if this was a common thing that would apply to most people or something rare that most likely didn't apply to me (an if you have to ask it ain't you, buddy, kind of thing).

It really was easy.
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I love that too! Also - when you get to the end, and it goes through and flags anything that might be questionable on your return. I had a couple things that I'd just keyed in incorrectly, and it flagged them, and had me look at them again to make sure they were correct. One was that I forgot to fill in DS's SS# completely!
 
Just FYI, if you are expecting a refund there is no penalty for filing late. The IRS will charge you late fees & penalties if you owe money, :grumpy: but do they pay you interest if they owe you money??? Noooooo! :cry:

But be forewarned that they WILL NOT pay beyond 5 years in back taxes. So you can't procrastinate for forever!

In '04 my Hubby got flagged for defaulting on student loans & our refund went to that loan. We filled out our '05, '06 & '07 taxes but never sent them in since we qualify for a refund. Hubby was told if he could save up the money to pay off the student loans, he could get a deal and get out cheaper. He was hoping to pay it off and then get our full IRS refunds but never really worked on getting that done! :rolleyes: Last week we finally gave up & mailed in '05 & '06. The SS administration claims to have never received the application for my daughter's Social Security card, so we can't file '07 or '08 until we get her SS#. Actually, we haven't even calculated the '08 taxes yet. We have a new baby for the '09 taxes, hopefully we'll have his SS# in plenty of time to get back on track & mail the '09 taxes in the right tax year. :p
 
floccies - $500 - OMGoodness!!!!!

Our guy had to file a state return in 3 states for us personally, 2 states for my PC business and 1 state for my DH business - plus fed tax return too. He only charged me $210. Find someone new next year - but start looking in October of this year. Then you can do 'interviews' and really build a good relationship ahead of time. (I'm thinkin' cookies at Christmas-tee-hee). Good luck!!
 
raebates said:
Turbo Tax has a service in case you're audited. If I remember correctly it costs a little more, but not a lot.
Click to expand...

H&R Block has this service also. I did everything online and used the discount from PC and only paid about $60. Then after they were submitted someone from H&R block reviewed them for any mistakes and then efiled them. I thought it was worth the money.
 
That's what kept us with H&R Block for a while. Our last H&R Block bill was $280+. Turbo Tax was about $60. I think the added audit security cost about the same for both. Turbo Tax was a better deal for us. ;) Then again, like I said, we were basically doing our own taxes the last couple of years and paying the H&R Block person to type in the info. If I remember correctly, the last straw was having to remind our tax preparer about vehicle excise tax.
 
We used to use a $500 CPA as well. TurboTax this year for us!!!
 

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