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Doing Your Complex Tax Returns At Home
It’s a New Year which means it’s tax season. Tax season brings in the New Year and ends on April 18th since the normal April 15th date falls on a weekend this year. Lucky us! We get a couple extra days to get our ducks in a row and file those babies. That’s something I need with my crazy complicated taxes. Not only am I a married homeowner with children, I am also an independent contractor and have rental properties. Let me tell you, it’s a doozy but if I can file my taxes at home so can you!
Are Taxes Hard To Do?
Depending on the type of filing you are doing, they can be. Having a family or owning your own business can add to the headache. I wouldn’t suggest grabbing a calculator and winging it unless you have a great understanding of everything that’s involved. Hope you like math! Did you know the IRS raised the federal adoption tax credit to $13,600 per child in 2016? If not, these are the little things you may be missing if you are truly doing your taxes solo.
[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#tax #taxes #taxtime”]“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” —Albert Einstein[/tweetthis]Most people don’t file their own taxes because they are lazy and are afraid of doing something wrong. I am far from a tax professional. I don’t know the ins and outs of tax law that frequently changes but I can follow instructions and ask for help when needed.
TaxSlayer has OVER 50 years of tax preparation experience so I think they know their stuff. They even offer free live phone and e-mail support to all us non-tax pro customers. Fear shouldn’t keep us from doing something that can easily be done ourselves with a little assistance AT HOME. You’ll even be surprised at how much money you can save too!
Filing At Home Can Save You Money
In the past, we have taken our craziness to brick and mortar tax preparation companies and were shocked at the final bill. We decided from then on out to do our own taxes online at home. It has saved us a ton of money!
Thankfully, with TaxSlayer, you just choose your level of service and everything else is included. There are no big whapping surprises at the end. Now that’s something I can appreciate – a simple, affordable, and all inclusive tax preparation service.
Do It At Your Leisure
Shhh, there’s an elephant in the room. Yes, I know almost every Walmart has one of those kiosk type tax preparation places staring you down as you exit the store. Why shouldn’t I go to those? It’s right there, you say.
I believe many of these places grab any joe off the street and teach them the bare minimum training to get them by. That scares me a bit.
I much rather take my time filling out the forms online myself and if I have questions I can ask a real tax professional. TaxSlayer even has an AMAZING error checker that will check your return for errors and alert you BEFORE you click submit. No reason to delay your refund with ignorant errors that those other guys can make.
File now at TaxSlayer.com, it’s easy!
Disclosure: I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Krystle Cook – the creator of Home Jobs by MOM – put her psychology degree on a shelf and dived into a pile of diapers and dishes instead. She is a wife and mother to two rambunctious boys, sweating it out in her Texas hometown. She loves cooking, DIY home projects, and family fun activities.
How To Make Suburb Living The Best Thing Your Ever Did
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Totally agree with you about doing the taxes at home and asking questions to a professional. TaxSlayer sounds awesome with that feature and the error checker too!
The error checker was seriously my best friend, haha. It’s so easy to make errors on taxes. It’s like a spell checker!
Doing my taxes is one of the worst things, haha! Taxslayer sounds great and so helpful!
I can agree with you there! It definitely hurts my brain but I have to say, it feels worth it to not have to pay a tax person a chunk of my money in the end.
My husband files our taxes at home every year. We have always gotten a decently good return as well. I am a huge fan of using turbo tax for sure!
I tried it out but I ended up with TaxSlayer. They just make everything so seamless.
I just did mine but I really wish that I started sooner because A. I am no good at maths and B my inability to count makes my head hurt lol. Tis the season to tax after all x
haha! Numbers make my head hurt too. If it makes you feel any better, last year, I didn’t finish mine until very late in the season.
As an independent contractor I loathe getting my taxes (milage and expenses) in order! As organized as I am throughout the year, it still is rough.I will continue to pay an accountant, but good to know there are places for tax advise if I choose to do it on my own!
I would honestly hate to have their job lol So much work. However, we just couldn’t justify how much it cost.
I love how we can easily file our taxes from home. Turbo tax is what we use and I love that it gives easy step by step instructions. Certainly glad to be able to save money filing for ourselves.
I’m with you there. I’m very glad as well as it’s crazy how much money we save by taking just a bit more time to do it ourselves!
We haven’t had our taxes done for us since I was in my early 20’s – and I’m in my mid 30’s now. It’s just way too easy these days to do them online. I even talked a friend of mine into doing them online, and she was able to file for free!
Good for you! So nice of you to help a friend out! I’m glad you’ve been able to handle them for so long as well. It makes it nicer especially in the money department!
My mom has done my taxes all my life but I guess it is time to learn! Thanks for your tips! This might be the year I actually do it! 🙂
I have a friend who’s mom is the same way. She actually doesn’t want her to do them, even though she mostly knows how, because she said that’s one thing she knows she can always help with.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been doing my taxes at home for the past 17 years. I also did my parents before they died and I still do my brothers. This year will be a little different for me though, so I’m a little nervous. I work in my old home state and I now live in another state. My work doesn’t take my new home states taxes out, by my daughters father informed me that I should get all of my state taxes back and I can just use that to pay the quarterly bills my new home state will send me. I’m confused just thinking about it! lol.
I would be nervous too! That sounds like a handful! I have a friend who moved to New York the year she got married. Due to the landlord refusing to fix the water and heat, they had to move and they were only like 15 minutes from the PA state line. The best place they found ended up being PA which meant they moved to a second state in the same year. She had been living in Missouri for the first half of that year which meant she had to file THREE different tax returns. It was stressful just listening to it.
I do little spreadsheets all year long to take the bite out of taxes in the early year. It helps to do it along the way.
That’s actually a great idea! I keep hard files but never thought about a spreadsheet!
Tax season is not my favorite, I always get nervous before I do them that I am going to end up owing a ton of money.
You’re not alone! I think most people get a sick tummy just waiting to see how much their life will change with one set of taxes.
These are all great tips. I wish I have your tips while we were still living in the States. That would saved us from the headaches 😀
It sounds like things are much easier where you live now. How much did it change for you when you moved out of the states?
I prefer to do my taxes at home. There were always errors when someone else did them. Once I started doing my own, I felt much better about the whole tax situation.
I have a friend who worked at a college and they had to take tax documents for financial aid purposes. She said you would not believe the amount of tax paperwork coming through that had been completed by a company or preparer that was royally messed up. She said she lost count of how many people she had to tell to get an amended tax return in order for their financial aid to come through.
Taxes are hard to me, but that’s mostly because it’s my second year as an entrepreneur and it’s all a little crazy to me! Luckily I use my parents’ accountant and he gives me a little discount. It’s just not worth the headache for me to try! lol
Hey, I always say, if you’ve got the extra, no need to make yourself go through that. However, we need all the money we can get so we steer clear of accountants lol
These are great tips and ones we will definitely need for the coming year as my husband’s business has finally taken off enough to warrant and LLC and more intense taxes!
Oh goodness! Adding in another business is a blessing because it means it’s doing well for you but it definitely can be stressful!
I love reading about taxes for bloggers – there’s not enough written about the topic! Thank you for sharing this x
You’re right! I sometimes wish there had been more on the topic when I first started! I may need to write a post going into more details!
Taxes scare me so I usually leave my husband to do them. He knows his way around TaxSlayer and says it’s so easy. I’ll just take his word for it 😉
I’m glad your husband has it covered! I’m glad he enjoys TaxSlayer as much as I do as well!
We’ve never tried TaxSlayer but it seems like a great product to use when filing taxes. Thanks for sharing.
It’s one of the best programs I’ve found thus far! You won’t be sorry if you try it out!
My family and I always use a tax accountant, and then I notice she uses a tax application. So I will look into this taxslayer service and see if it makes sense for us to switch! Thanks for your tips!
Yep, a lot of people don’t know that those companies use some of the same programs available to the public. It’s worth the work to figure it out!
I am so NOT looking forward to doing my tax return next year…I keep thinking I must keep track of everything and I’m not!
haha! You’re not alone on that one! I finally got things in order and have been keeping it organized throughout the year and I can’t tell you how much easier it made it.
I did my own taxes for the first time last year and yes it was scary but I didn’t have spare money to pay for it to be done. There are so many great resources to help answer questions that it is so doable. I forget what company I filed through for free but I’m going to see if my income qualifies for free under Tax Slayer.
It’s definitely worth a shot! It was scary for us when we switched but, as you know, it’s really not too bad and saves so much money.
I love doing my own taxes. I have never used Taxslayer before. I will have to check it out and see how it works for us.
We loved it! If you don’t mind me asking, what do you use now?
I do my own taxes because it is a great money saver and most of the time it is just a bit more time consuming rather than complicated!
Yes! I would rather take a little bit more time than give up as much money as I was with a tax preparer.
First off, LOVE your name. Also – I’ve been doing my own taxes and my moms since I was 20. Now I do more research before I file.
Wow, you started at an early age! That’s smart though! Many people at that age wouldn’t give a rip about taxes! Thank you for the compliment!
Normally my mother in law does my taxes. I know next year it will be a little different being married and earning more money as a blogger.
Mothers are pretty good for that kind of stuff aren’t they? They fill in all the things we don’t know.
We fill out our taxes at home every year. It really isn’t too complicated if you dont have a lot to include!
I have way too much to include, haha! That what always my problem. It doesn’t feel like too much with this program though which is why I made the switch!
Working on taxes gives me anxiety because I’m always worried I’m going to do it wrong. Saving these tips for when I’m ready to do my taxes!
I’m glad they will come in handy for you! I used to be the same way. I can’t say I’m 100% anxiety free NOW but it’s much better with TaxSlayer lol
This is such an informative post! I think my dad would appreciate this advice so I’m going to pass it on with him x
I’m glad you found it useful! Feel free to come back and let us know if he enjoyed it as much as we did!
We have always done our own taxes at home. I want to get to the income level with my online business that we can hire an accountant though!
Hey, I don’t blame you! We need every dollar we can get but if you have the extra money, I can see the draw of not having to do them at all, haha!
We really like using an accountant. It’s honestly the easiest way for us to do it and make sure everything is correct.
We used to as well until we realized truly how much we could save if we learned it ourselves. The first year felt like a circus but the year after that felt like a breeze. I would urge you to just try it one year!!
I prefer going to a tax accountant to handle everything, but I know so many prefer doing their taxes at home. It isn’t out of laziness since I’m far from being that. LOL! – HilLesha
We used to use one as well but with the kids, we would get back a sizable amount. Since they take a certain percentage, they were getting back well over what they were worth haha. That’s why I decided to figure it out for myself.
Filing taxes can be a real headache if you can’t understand what you’re doing but it doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to do it on your own. These days there are plenty of tools online that can help you!
You are definitely right! If I ever get stuck, I Google the word they used that is new to me and it makes answering a tax question much easier. Thank goodness for online access to so much info!
I’m happy for you that you enjoy taxes! Sadly, I am dreadful at it. I didn’t know about TaxSlayer. An error checker sounds like a great idea!!
TaxSlayer basically turns it into those “Taxes for Dummies” type mindset. I’ve always hated the title of those books but I have to say, they come in really hand and make it much easier to understand. Which is exactly why I loved this program. My brain didn’t feel QUITE so mushy when I was finished haha
Doing your taxes as a self-employed person doesn’t have to be hard. You are so right! You just have to have all of your papers in order.
Exactly! If you stay organized throughout the year, it makes things ten times easier. I have folders that separate paperwork throughout the year. Worth it!
Thanks for this! I need to do my taxes soon but I’m still waiting on hubby’s W2 to get here. I actually like doing our taxes!
I wish I had your love for it! I have a friend who’s mother loves to do them too. I think you’re both crazy but only because I hate doing them, haha!
These are great tips! I don’t handle our taxes because I’m not great with our finances but they’re great!
I didn’t use to either! However, after I stumbled through it the first time, the next time around was much easier!
Oh tax season. I’m so glad my husband takes care of it. It stresses me out so much! Especially now because my husband has his own business.
Definitely! First starting out with my own business, all I could do was stare at all the paperwork. I had no clue where to start. Your husband sounds like he knows his stuff!
I’ve been filing my own taxes for the past 3 years and I ever looked back! I save so much time and money doing them myself.
Isn’t it awesome?!?! I don’t think I would ever say they were easy to do myself but they’re definitely not hard and I honestly was surprised at how much nicer it was! Glad you were able to figure it out!
Tax season! EEK! I’m so thankful that my father-in-law does our taxes, and totally for free! Navigating through all those tax questions is so intimidating! Love this little guide! Maybe next year we will try these tips and try it for ourselves!
It’s definitely a plus having a family member who knows how to do things like this. That saves money too! ha!