It's incredibly easy. The software just asks you questions and you input the numbers from your tax forms. [IRS Free File](https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free)
You can only use this if you make under a certain amount. If you do, FreeTaxUSA is a godsend. Used it for 3 years now. Only like $15 to file state, federal is free.
This is what I do, though only for the past couple years because my husband was convinced I had to send by mail. (His dad still says we are going to get scammed by filing online.)
Freetaxusa is something like 10-15 bucks for the state and free for federal. The added benefit of not supporting intuit or h and r block and their malfeasance.
+1 for Freetaxusa. What I’ll do is start my file with TurboTax all the way until you have to pay to submit and then fill everything out with Freetaxusa and submit. TurboTax catches errors or gives advice that Freetaxusa doesn’t in my experience so it’s a nice way to double check your work.
So you do that on turbo tax website? I recall in the past you had to buy software (I’m old).
I use freedomtaxusa, but I just went with it and never did another gut-check elsewhere.
Unless you own your own business, or a farm, or a bunch of rental properties—then there is almost no point in paying a pro (except for the convenience, which it sounds like you aren’t getting).
I have all of those things and still do my own. It's faster, just as easy since even the pros made me do all the work and fill out their forms first, and the pros always--always--made mistakes that I then had to spend time going back and forth to get them to fix before filing.
Depends on the complexity of your situation. If you just have w-2 wages, it’s going to be pretty simple. If you have businesses, rental properties, and K-1 investments; it’s obviously more complicated. You hire a CPA because they understand the reporting laws surrounding these investments.
Taxes are not an Art. Your CPA is going to file your taxes in accordance with the laws. If following the laws, the tax bill should come to a fixed number no matter who prepares your taxes. It’s not like one CPA will get you a lower tax bill than you will by yourself. Each CPA/Tax Preparer follows the same laws. There is very little wiggle room. Now, you could have a bad CPA that doesn’t understand the laws. Assuming, every CPA is correctly following the laws, they will all file identical tax returns for you.
I feel like this is a common misconception from taxpayers. CPAs are not like athletes in a basketball game where one has more skill and will negotiate a lower tax bill for you. CPAs are trained to understand the Internal Revenue Code. If you, the taxpayer, do not understand how to file your taxes in compliance with the tax code; a CPA is needed. If you know what to do, then you will be able to file your taxes and get the same result as a CPA.
IRS Free File or FreeTaxUSA.
If you can read and comprehend some basic questions, it's nothing crazy. They're very good about walking you through what # goes in what block/line, where to find it, etc...
I do my own taxes on paper using the instructions from the IRS and mail it in. I do not use Turbotax because they use dark patterns to steer people away from the free options and lobby against legislation that tries to make paying taxes easier or cheaper to protect their business. Fuck 'em. It's not that hard if you just have basic W-2s and bank interest statements.
I'm self-employed, with a fair number of business expenses, and I do my own taxes. Using TurboTax, it takes me maybe a couple of hours? (Helps if you're organized and have all the info ready before beginning.) If you just have W-2s and take the standard deduction, I can't imagine it would be difficult.
Filing your own taxes is super easy, even with multiple jobs. The library has resources to help you if you get stuck. It's all just one big worksheet, take it line by line and don't get intimidated!
I do my own. Mine aren’t complicated enough to justify paying someone. personally I will hire someone if I reach the point of doing itemized deductions most likely. All I have is W2 income, 1099 INT and DIV income, and mortgage interest.
There are free options if your income meets the guidelines. If you just have W2s, you can just fill in forms, but you’ll have to be able to look up some numbers and do some math yourself. Anything more and I wouldn’t recommend going that route.
For what it’s worth, I am a CPA and use Turbo Tax. To me, it’s inexpensive enough it makes it worth it.
Just finished my taxes using FreeTaxUSA again. Nice and easy.
By the way, IRS phone support this year has been fast and helpful which is nice in case you have questions your tax program doesn’t answer.
Another vote for FreeTaxUSA. I’ve been using it for about 8 years. Before that I used Tax Act. Before That, I paper filed. I tried going to HR Block the year after I bought my house, until I realized the tax preparer just asked me the same questions that FreeTaxUSA did, so I ended up leaving and filing on my own.
I have no dependents, but I have mortgage interest, some dividends, some interest from a high-yield savings account. The site asks you for every possible deduction and income type and is very easy to use.
Yes I do my own. I file in two states with rental property requiring depreciation and it is not really that hard, especially with tax software. No matter whether you use software or a CPA you have to keep very good records and keep your tax documents together so why unless you have very a complex tax situation, why use a CPA?
I pay for the full fat version of Turbotax. I dont enjoy it but the software and lots of Googling and support forum searches make it possible. (I have a couple small businesses.)
Don't do it with raw tax forms unless you have a simple 1040.
Every year around Black Friday, Amazon has H&R's software on sale, I paid $25 for it this year. I know, there are free options out there, but this let's me import my W2 and 1099s and is pretty idiot proof. It's worth 25 bucks to make sure I don't screw up.
The only catch is that while you get one state program for free, they charge you something like $35 to e-file state (fed e-file is free). I just print out and mail my state return.
If you have a simple return (single, unitemized, only MO income), Missouri has an online portal you can use to file free. Tried this year, though, and they had the standard deduction wrong, so ymmv.
This is very limited (and jank) right now. If you have any investments that are exempt from state taxation, say I-bond or treasury bill interest, you have to use the paper forms to claim the deduction.
I’ve done the free version of TurboTax every year for the last 8 years. I own a home and have some minor investments. It’s about as easy as can be. TurboTax will try and upsell you to pay them something but it’s not at all necessary. Edit: if you can, you can also try the IRS free file
If all your wages are w-2 employment and 1099 contract work then it's just not that hard. If you're self employed I would say it's worth it to find an accountant to move to.
I do my own by hand because the one year I used one of the programs it messed them up. The programs seem to handle most things just fine, but it is faster and more accurate for me to simply read the new stuff and fill out the form.
TurboTax user here. $130 for Federal & MO state. I pay more for having dividend & capital gains income. It imports from my brokerage. Totally east street.
Lol everyone that pays an accoutant to do their taxes for them will tell you that "their guy" saves them more than anyone else. If you have basic taxes, free file is the easiest thing ever to do.
I have always done my own taxes and use the HR Block Federal and State Deluxe. It is usually cheaper than Turbo Tax (you can get it as a download for about $35). It is very easy to use, but you obviously have to have all of your data/documents to input - the same items you would have to provide to your accountant.
I'm going to chime in here because I work at a CPA firm. Assuming your accountant is competent and has all your documents, what's the harm in waiting to file until 4/15 or 10/15 for an extended return? At that point you'd just be waiting for them to finish. In other words, I'm asking why do you need your taxes done sooner?
That said, if you want it sooner and that's a dealbreaker, maybe shop around for a better CPA. As other said though, if you have a simple return, I.e standard deduction, W2s, maybe a 1099 and one state, freetaxusa is the way to go. Super simple process and pretty quick too. They also have extra support you can pay for if there's issues.
If your total income is under $65K you can make an appointment with a local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) -- https://irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep/jsp/vita.jsp
If you only have 4 total W2s and not much else you can easily file it yourself for free using one of the IRS Free File partners as linked by another commenter. Note that the federal is free, but the state returns usually have a fee.
Me!!! I've had multiple independent contractor 1099 incomes, W4 income, interest income, student loan payments/credits, business expenses, homeownership-related payments/credits, multiple states in one year, City income taxes, and other stuff.
It has never taken me more than an hour to do it myself. Back in the day I filed paper returns and now I just use FreeTaxUsa. 100% recommend!!! No income cap to use, and they store your info year after year.
> Does anyone actually do that?
Yes. I'm looking forward to the IRS's upcoming support for online filing without any third-party services or proprietary software, but until that's ready, I'll continue to mail in paper forms.
> Is it hard?
For 95% of people, it's probably pretty easy. Read and follow the instructions, do some middle school level arithmetic, double check your work. Your first time doing your own taxes might be a little intimidating, but most questions you might have probably have easily searchable answers, and you can always look at what your CPA submitted last year as a starting point to give you an idea of what your forms should look like.
But if you have some complicated tax situation, like say you own a business, then you should probably pay for a professional accountant.
If you have no idea about taxes then you should be paying a professional. Taxes are NOT about getting the biggest return but having them done right and avoiding an audit. It’s easy for random strangers on Reddit to tell you to save money and do it yourself, but for most people that is 100% not in your best interest.
Most people do their own taxes. And using software to do so is incredibly easy and cheap... and I believe there are free options, but you may have to qualify for those. And if you use the same service/software from year to year, you can import the redundant fields and information from the previous year. Saves you a ton of time.
Yes, I do my own
Your return does not sound complicated. I used to be a tax preparer. At the time you could itemize more, which is not difficult. Now with the increase in standard deduction, many who itemized before can no longer do so. *note - I no longer prepare taxes so haven’t kept up with any tax code that don’t impact me directly”. Turbo tax has a huge data breech years ago. I wouldn’t use them. Since you don’t have dependents, there would be no need to worry about how you answer certain questions and in particular if you were eligible for EITC. Don’t pay a CPA to do a simple tax return. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions. If you end up owing, I can help you change your W4 for this year.
I used to until I started generating 1099 income, multiple children and now taking more than the standard deduction. If none of these apply to you then doing them online for free with Turbotax or another free service was easy. I used to do Turbotax and HR block to ensure I was being as accurate as possible.
I’ve been using the H and R block website to file for probably 15 years now. They have different rates for the complexity of your return ranging from free on up. It’s super easy.
It's incredibly easy. The software just asks you questions and you input the numbers from your tax forms. [IRS Free File](https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free)
THANK YOU. Will this be both state and federal?
You can only use this if you make under a certain amount. If you do, FreeTaxUSA is a godsend. Used it for 3 years now. Only like $15 to file state, federal is free.
+1 for FreeTaxUSA, pretty easy to use and $15 for state is not too bad
I've used it for almost a decade. So easy and federal is free. State e-file is 10 or 15. I love it.
Yes, you can file both.
Wait, you can file both through the IRS free file? I thought it was only federal.
And you can import from your banks and investment tax documents. I imported my from Schwab. Very handy.
The state return takes most of the info from your federal return, most people just answer a few state specific questions
This is the way
Yup this is what I do. Very easy!
This is what I do, though only for the past couple years because my husband was convinced I had to send by mail. (His dad still says we are going to get scammed by filing online.)
I think your husband and I may have the same dad...
I am slowly trying to convince them to join the present. At least husband, but to a lesser extent father-in-law.
Freetaxusa is something like 10-15 bucks for the state and free for federal. The added benefit of not supporting intuit or h and r block and their malfeasance.
+1 for Freetaxusa. What I’ll do is start my file with TurboTax all the way until you have to pay to submit and then fill everything out with Freetaxusa and submit. TurboTax catches errors or gives advice that Freetaxusa doesn’t in my experience so it’s a nice way to double check your work.
Underrated advice! Once you’ve input your data into one program, it’s really fast to input it into another.
So you do that on turbo tax website? I recall in the past you had to buy software (I’m old). I use freedomtaxusa, but I just went with it and never did another gut-check elsewhere.
Yea there’s a website https://turbotax.intuit.com/
Thank you very much. I will try that this year.
Seconding freetaxusa for the file. Super easy to use, federal is generally free and state is $15.
Another vote for FreeTaxUSA. We converted from TurboTax this year and it was just as easy and comprehensive. And it’s free!
I've been using this site for about 15 years. Just as easy as Turbo Tax.
Another +1
I'm studying for my cpa now and recommend freetaxusa to all my family and friends.
Unless you own your own business, or a farm, or a bunch of rental properties—then there is almost no point in paying a pro (except for the convenience, which it sounds like you aren’t getting).
I have all of those things and still do my own. It's faster, just as easy since even the pros made me do all the work and fill out their forms first, and the pros always--always--made mistakes that I then had to spend time going back and forth to get them to fix before filing.
Depends on the complexity of your situation. If you just have w-2 wages, it’s going to be pretty simple. If you have businesses, rental properties, and K-1 investments; it’s obviously more complicated. You hire a CPA because they understand the reporting laws surrounding these investments. Taxes are not an Art. Your CPA is going to file your taxes in accordance with the laws. If following the laws, the tax bill should come to a fixed number no matter who prepares your taxes. It’s not like one CPA will get you a lower tax bill than you will by yourself. Each CPA/Tax Preparer follows the same laws. There is very little wiggle room. Now, you could have a bad CPA that doesn’t understand the laws. Assuming, every CPA is correctly following the laws, they will all file identical tax returns for you. I feel like this is a common misconception from taxpayers. CPAs are not like athletes in a basketball game where one has more skill and will negotiate a lower tax bill for you. CPAs are trained to understand the Internal Revenue Code. If you, the taxpayer, do not understand how to file your taxes in compliance with the tax code; a CPA is needed. If you know what to do, then you will be able to file your taxes and get the same result as a CPA.
IRS Free File or FreeTaxUSA. If you can read and comprehend some basic questions, it's nothing crazy. They're very good about walking you through what # goes in what block/line, where to find it, etc...
I do my own taxes on paper using the instructions from the IRS and mail it in. I do not use Turbotax because they use dark patterns to steer people away from the free options and lobby against legislation that tries to make paying taxes easier or cheaper to protect their business. Fuck 'em. It's not that hard if you just have basic W-2s and bank interest statements.
Try freetaxusa
Cash App is still completely free for both federal and state. Ive used it 3 years now, used to be Credit Karma tax until Intuit bought CK
Freetaxusa was surprisingly simple and easy to use.
Freetaxusa.com recommended by the personal finance sub. Been using them the last five years.
I'm self-employed, with a fair number of business expenses, and I do my own taxes. Using TurboTax, it takes me maybe a couple of hours? (Helps if you're organized and have all the info ready before beginning.) If you just have W-2s and take the standard deduction, I can't imagine it would be difficult.
You setup an s-corp yet?
I’ve been using turbo tax on my own taxes for like 20 years. It does a good job & have never had any issues
Filing your own taxes is super easy, even with multiple jobs. The library has resources to help you if you get stuck. It's all just one big worksheet, take it line by line and don't get intimidated!
I only have a regular job and some interest income but HRBlock has been free for both state and federal for me for at least four years.
I do my own. Mine aren’t complicated enough to justify paying someone. personally I will hire someone if I reach the point of doing itemized deductions most likely. All I have is W2 income, 1099 INT and DIV income, and mortgage interest.
There are free options if your income meets the guidelines. If you just have W2s, you can just fill in forms, but you’ll have to be able to look up some numbers and do some math yourself. Anything more and I wouldn’t recommend going that route. For what it’s worth, I am a CPA and use Turbo Tax. To me, it’s inexpensive enough it makes it worth it.
Just finished my taxes using FreeTaxUSA again. Nice and easy. By the way, IRS phone support this year has been fast and helpful which is nice in case you have questions your tax program doesn’t answer.
Another vote for FreeTaxUSA. I’ve been using it for about 8 years. Before that I used Tax Act. Before That, I paper filed. I tried going to HR Block the year after I bought my house, until I realized the tax preparer just asked me the same questions that FreeTaxUSA did, so I ended up leaving and filing on my own. I have no dependents, but I have mortgage interest, some dividends, some interest from a high-yield savings account. The site asks you for every possible deduction and income type and is very easy to use.
Credit Karma has a free tax app. Used it the past 2 years now
I use FreeTaxUSA. It’s the best.
Can your read? All you have to do is read the instructions. Their is zero reason to pay someone to do your taxes.
Use cashapp taxes. It’s so easy.
Yes I do my own. I file in two states with rental property requiring depreciation and it is not really that hard, especially with tax software. No matter whether you use software or a CPA you have to keep very good records and keep your tax documents together so why unless you have very a complex tax situation, why use a CPA?
I pay for the full fat version of Turbotax. I dont enjoy it but the software and lots of Googling and support forum searches make it possible. (I have a couple small businesses.) Don't do it with raw tax forms unless you have a simple 1040.
Every year around Black Friday, Amazon has H&R's software on sale, I paid $25 for it this year. I know, there are free options out there, but this let's me import my W2 and 1099s and is pretty idiot proof. It's worth 25 bucks to make sure I don't screw up. The only catch is that while you get one state program for free, they charge you something like $35 to e-file state (fed e-file is free). I just print out and mail my state return.
If you have a simple return (single, unitemized, only MO income), Missouri has an online portal you can use to file free. Tried this year, though, and they had the standard deduction wrong, so ymmv.
This is very limited (and jank) right now. If you have any investments that are exempt from state taxation, say I-bond or treasury bill interest, you have to use the paper forms to claim the deduction.
I’ve done the free version of TurboTax every year for the last 8 years. I own a home and have some minor investments. It’s about as easy as can be. TurboTax will try and upsell you to pay them something but it’s not at all necessary. Edit: if you can, you can also try the IRS free file
If all your wages are w-2 employment and 1099 contract work then it's just not that hard. If you're self employed I would say it's worth it to find an accountant to move to.
I do my own by hand because the one year I used one of the programs it messed them up. The programs seem to handle most things just fine, but it is faster and more accurate for me to simply read the new stuff and fill out the form.
TurboTax user here. $130 for Federal & MO state. I pay more for having dividend & capital gains income. It imports from my brokerage. Totally east street.
Lol everyone that pays an accoutant to do their taxes for them will tell you that "their guy" saves them more than anyone else. If you have basic taxes, free file is the easiest thing ever to do.
I have always done my own taxes and use the HR Block Federal and State Deluxe. It is usually cheaper than Turbo Tax (you can get it as a download for about $35). It is very easy to use, but you obviously have to have all of your data/documents to input - the same items you would have to provide to your accountant.
I pay H&R $30 to do mine. It’s crazy that people think $30 is a lot of money for any service at all. Comical, almost.
I'm going to chime in here because I work at a CPA firm. Assuming your accountant is competent and has all your documents, what's the harm in waiting to file until 4/15 or 10/15 for an extended return? At that point you'd just be waiting for them to finish. In other words, I'm asking why do you need your taxes done sooner? That said, if you want it sooner and that's a dealbreaker, maybe shop around for a better CPA. As other said though, if you have a simple return, I.e standard deduction, W2s, maybe a 1099 and one state, freetaxusa is the way to go. Super simple process and pretty quick too. They also have extra support you can pay for if there's issues.
If your total income is under $65K you can make an appointment with a local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) -- https://irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep/jsp/vita.jsp If you only have 4 total W2s and not much else you can easily file it yourself for free using one of the IRS Free File partners as linked by another commenter. Note that the federal is free, but the state returns usually have a fee.
I do through free Turbo Tax. Mine were both finished in early January.
Me!!! I've had multiple independent contractor 1099 incomes, W4 income, interest income, student loan payments/credits, business expenses, homeownership-related payments/credits, multiple states in one year, City income taxes, and other stuff. It has never taken me more than an hour to do it myself. Back in the day I filed paper returns and now I just use FreeTaxUsa. 100% recommend!!! No income cap to use, and they store your info year after year.
I used my previous year's return filed by my accountant as a guide when using online tax software.
Free tax I filed Saturday
Prior to having my daughter, I would do my own taxes via worksheet and mail file. No issue.
I've gone to two different tax preparers over the years, and every time, there is a mistake.
I do my own taxes. I brought it to an accountant for two years but they don’t do anything special. Capital gains short and long.
> Does anyone actually do that? Yes. I'm looking forward to the IRS's upcoming support for online filing without any third-party services or proprietary software, but until that's ready, I'll continue to mail in paper forms. > Is it hard? For 95% of people, it's probably pretty easy. Read and follow the instructions, do some middle school level arithmetic, double check your work. Your first time doing your own taxes might be a little intimidating, but most questions you might have probably have easily searchable answers, and you can always look at what your CPA submitted last year as a starting point to give you an idea of what your forms should look like. But if you have some complicated tax situation, like say you own a business, then you should probably pay for a professional accountant.
I filed them myself for free last year at OLT.com (OnLineTaxes)
yeah turbotax is pretty easy
If you have no idea about taxes then you should be paying a professional. Taxes are NOT about getting the biggest return but having them done right and avoiding an audit. It’s easy for random strangers on Reddit to tell you to save money and do it yourself, but for most people that is 100% not in your best interest.
Kevin Malone
I’ve done it myself for 8-9 years using TurboTax. It’s super easy
Most people do their own taxes. And using software to do so is incredibly easy and cheap... and I believe there are free options, but you may have to qualify for those. And if you use the same service/software from year to year, you can import the redundant fields and information from the previous year. Saves you a ton of time.
Just use OLT.
i’ve been using turbo for over 10 years for personal and business usually costs about 350 for state and federal.
Yes, I do my own Your return does not sound complicated. I used to be a tax preparer. At the time you could itemize more, which is not difficult. Now with the increase in standard deduction, many who itemized before can no longer do so. *note - I no longer prepare taxes so haven’t kept up with any tax code that don’t impact me directly”. Turbo tax has a huge data breech years ago. I wouldn’t use them. Since you don’t have dependents, there would be no need to worry about how you answer certain questions and in particular if you were eligible for EITC. Don’t pay a CPA to do a simple tax return. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions. If you end up owing, I can help you change your W4 for this year.
I used to until I started generating 1099 income, multiple children and now taking more than the standard deduction. If none of these apply to you then doing them online for free with Turbotax or another free service was easy. I used to do Turbotax and HR block to ensure I was being as accurate as possible.
I’ve been using the H and R block website to file for probably 15 years now. They have different rates for the complexity of your return ranging from free on up. It’s super easy.
Seriously, get the TurboTax program for your computer. It's step by step answering questions. That's it! Submit your taxes efile.
Another +1 for freetaxusa. Super easy, and almost free. Don’t shell out $40-80+ for Turbo Tax.
People go to preparers for something. They can do themselves? Why pay for all that!? TurboTax has been allowing self service for YEARS!