I am of the opinion that doing your taxes yourself brings you to a higher level of understanding of your tax structure, which also flows into your investment decisions as what's good, what's so-so, what's bad, and how it effects to your taxes. You do your taxes each year to decades, so spend the time to learn.
Without that understanding, at best you will be knee jerking as to why your tax bill is the way it is. It is often said that in investing, no one has a higher interest in your investments than you, and the same applies to your taxes.
Case in point to JBTX's parent's tax return, where the CPA was just being a paper mill, yet JBTX knew from his experiences that an error was happening.
On the other hand, there is a time and place for a CPA. My Dad (last parent) passed Sept 2022 and I had a CPA do the his last tax filing and Estate Trust 1041 for TY 2022 and 2023. Was it done perfectly, I have no idea, but I also know I knew little about the mechanics of pro-rating tax between Dad and the Estate, nor what items could be an expense to the Estate's Trust, nor creating the K-1's. This was an 1-off function I'll likely never need to do again, so I trust the CPA did it reasonably correct. I will say, that in reviewing the tax submissions, all seemed reasonable to me.
Without that understanding, at best you will be knee jerking as to why your tax bill is the way it is. It is often said that in investing, no one has a higher interest in your investments than you, and the same applies to your taxes.
Case in point to JBTX's parent's tax return, where the CPA was just being a paper mill, yet JBTX knew from his experiences that an error was happening.
On the other hand, there is a time and place for a CPA. My Dad (last parent) passed Sept 2022 and I had a CPA do the his last tax filing and Estate Trust 1041 for TY 2022 and 2023. Was it done perfectly, I have no idea, but I also know I knew little about the mechanics of pro-rating tax between Dad and the Estate, nor what items could be an expense to the Estate's Trust, nor creating the K-1's. This was an 1-off function I'll likely never need to do again, so I trust the CPA did it reasonably correct. I will say, that in reviewing the tax submissions, all seemed reasonable to me.
Statistics: Posted by RetiredAL — Thu Mar 06, 2025 2:34 am