Is tax prep software worth the money?? What do you use?

I've used Turbo Tax for years, through the website not purchasing the software.

If you know where you children will be going to college, find out each school's FAFSA deadline, it can vary a bit from place to place.

Fill out an estimated FAFSA and update it when your taxes are complete. Your initial FAFSA filing date will count, even if you have not finished your taxes. Just be sure to go back and put in the final numbers.

Just curious: Why do you have to wait on a tax accountant? Our CPA does them when we take them in and we leave with a finished return.

I don't do ours anymore because dh has a business and it's a bit more complicated than I want to deal with (I hate depreciation).

We used Turbo Tax for years. Apparently their site got hacked and someone used our social security numbers and tried to get a refund. Well, the best part is we usually pay in at least 5k so the IRS was a little suspicious.

I've used TurboTax for years and have never had an issue. I usually do them pretty early but wait to send them in if we owe. I agree with the others on FAFSA -- use estimates and then go back and update, regardless if you use a tax prep or DIY with software.

How close does the FAFSA estimate need to be? Our first is headed to college next year and our taxes this year are going to be very complicated. DH retired from the military, took a job in a different state and bought a second home, while I stayed in this state and am self employed. I don't even want to try, I was planning on our CPA unraveling this mess out.

It's not like we are going to qualify for any financial aid anyway.

I use an accountant to do our personals and business taxes. Best money I spend all year. In addition to doing the taxes, he looks everything over then advises me on how I might do better the next year. He also gives me the heads up on any new tax law changes and any changes I might do to my recording keeping.

I always did our taxes in October after filing an extension. The timing just worked better for me then. Once DD reached college age, that flew out the window. Now I call my guy in December and let him know when I'll have the information to him and when I need it back. He pencils me in and ours are done and delivered right on time.

Give your guy a call and find out if he has any openings around the time you think you'll have your I for together. Last year, I had everything ready to go by the end of the year and only had to wait on a few forms. The accountant went ahead and entered everything else, then just added those numbers as they came in. Since I had everything else to him by 1/5, he had our taxes done within minutes of me calling him with the final numbers.

Marcy