Do you do your own taxes or hire someone to do it for you?

[nick87]

There's all these commercials on tv for things like HR block, and there are individual accountants that large businesses acquire, but personally I prefer to do taxes on my own. If I owned a big business then I'd hire someone because that would be a lot of information and a lot of numbers to crunch which would be difficult and time consuming, but right now it's nothing I can't handle. Of course, right now, I'm not making much, so it's not much to have to deal with.

[lizzief79]

I do my own taxes. I live in the UK and do my self-assessment tax return online. I keep track of my accounts on a spreadsheet on the computer. It doesn't actually take that long to complete the self-assessment but it is a bit of a pain. I don't really earn enough to pay for someone else to do it for me as I only freelance for about 20 hours a week. For someone making a substantial amount of money or for a bigger company then I would definitely recommend using the expertise of a professional though.

[Lostvalleyguy]

I like to do my own taxes. One of the things it does for me is that it allows me to look at what I am deducting, and where I might be able to make adjustments to improve the way I do business. Having said that, I should add that I am a small operation and can easily keep track of everything on my own. A larger business would likely need professional advice and tax preparation as it would be a more complicated process. Having multiple sources of income for me is where it gets tricky as some comes in as professional income, some as investment income, and some from other sources. With software and electronic filing these days, it does make things a lot easier for an individual to do their own taxes than in the past.

[LindaKay]

I did my own this year. I used TurboTax Pro for Business.

[firelily99]

I have done them myself until this year and decided to have a friend who is a CPA take a swing at them. It didn't cost me much and she ended up saving me quite a bit of money in the process. It helped me and it benefited her business as well - a win win for both of us!

[FancyFree]

I do them myself. Turbo Tax has a module for business. I just read the questions carefully.

[SteakTartare]

I have a tax accountant handle our yearly filings. Our federal and state tax returns are fairly complex, so its good to have another set of eyes on it. That and it frees up a chunk of time I can spend on other things.

[Jessi]

I do my own taxes as well.

If had an extremely large business, chances are, I would already have an accountant. I feel like the accountant could probably do the taxes at that point, but at the same time, for the sake of keeping things legal and being sure the accountant isn't altering the books at all, it would be a good idea to hire someone specifically to do the taxes anyway.

[mikelouis]

We have an accountant who works out our taxes. But of course once in a while there is always an external auditor who comes to verify what we have been submitting as your tax returns. I think that way is much better so that there is no one playing some tricks.

[gHiros]

I usually have an accountant/CPA do my taxes, however, this year I decided to do it on my own. Yup, I made the plunge, but I managed to save some bucks this year by doing the taxes. Getting the hang of the S-Corp filing was a learning experience, but somehow I made it before the deadline. Hopefully I won't get it rejected by the IRS and the state tax department ...