Any nurses file their own taxes? Turbo? h&r block?

londonflo · Apr 13

Beerman said:

This thread makes me sad.

I am sad also. Can you elaborate on your statement.

I can elaborate on mine....I went to HR Block. The tax preparer could not not answer my questions about what was deductible other than say "it is up to you" "its your decision" BUT I asked what do the tax rules say?. Got again "It's up to you"....couldn't field any questions or guidance except to say "sign here".

I wondered if the guy ever went to some kind of education ( to learn to just evade the question) or did he just walk in from the street.

After that I went to a CPA. Got explanations, suggestions for employment requirements and deductions which I had never considered. The tax code is very complicated, get someone who will explore all possible deductions. ...Do politicians do their own taxes?

Beerman, BSN · Apr 13

londonflo said:

I am sad also. Can you elaborate on your statement.

I can elaborate on mine....I went to HR Block. The tax preparer could not not answer my questions about what was deductible other than say "it is up to you" "its your decision" BUT I asked what do the tax rules say?. Got again "It's up to you"....couldn't field any questions or guidance except to say "sign here".

I wondered if the guy ever went to some kind of education ( to learn to just evade the question) or did he just walk in from the street.

After that I went to a CPA. Got explanations, suggestions for employment requirements and deductions which I had never considered. The tax code is very complicated, get someone who will explore all possible deductions. ...Do politicians do their own taxes?

Yes, if you go to those people they should be able to answer your questions.

What makes me sad is that a vast majority of our population doesn't have a basic understanding of taxes. And, don't seem to care to learn.

The entirety of our tax code is indeed complicated. However, for most of us, preparing and filing our income tax returns is pretty strait forward.

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Apr 14

Well, this year I ended up using H&R Block instead of the free Tax Act Software. Tax Act was $40 to e-file state and my brother offered to let me use his H&R Block software he paid for, 5 free federal e-files and $20 for state. I had already input the info to Tax Act but decided to go ahead and try his to save $20 bucks. It was a mistake. I realized I had tried it last year, but it wasn't as user friendly, and I had gone back to Tax Act.

Both could be better for early retirees re using your 401k/403B without penalty via Rule of 55 and also Roth IRA. At first Tax Act charged me the penalty for the 403b and I finally figured out what the problem was and changed the code. Also, I discovered H&R Block had originally tried to tax my Roth IRA from last year, probably one of the reasons I quit so it had my AGI wrong, and you need that correct for this year's tax to process correctly!

I don't know why the software can't cue you to asking if you meet eligibility vs assuming your retirement should be taxable and penalized if you are younger than 59 1/2. Also, neither cued me to the Roth cost basis I.e. your total contributions you put in, so they know you are taking from that and not interest. It took me a while to figure out where to find that in the software. I have a Vanguard Roth IRA and I couldn't find it there either. I had to manually add it up from all the years which was a headache as well when I first retired.

Then at the end H&R block said I owed more for state, and I had to figure out why. It's because they don't transfer the federal info to the state such as property tax and health insurance premiums which are deductible for my state automatically. On the bright side I did find out my dental insurance was also deductible for the state so that helped as well. Finally, after that both Tax Act and H&R block aligned with the same result!

The biggest reason I won't use H&R block again is because when I tried to e-file it was a mess! It took me around 2 hours before it processed. I had to keep trying as it would just spin and tell me can't calculate state sales tax yet it already had! Then the internet wasn't connected or our programs aren't compatible or their system might be down! The worst part is I would have quit and paid the extra $20 for Tax Act but I discovered H&R Block had already charged me even though neither my federal nor state had gone thru yet! On top of that they double charged me and apparently, they know this is a problem because one of the FAQ is Will I be charged more than once if I have problems e-filing! So pissed! Then when I get thru to H&R Block which took an hour for a call back, they told me don't worry it will probably correct itself, but if it doesn't just call us back again instead of refunding the duplicate charge in the first place!

I can see why people go to a CPA tax professional, but I don't have the money for that, and I have a fairly simple return. Maybe it makes sense to try if you have a complicated situation or one time to learn more. I will say when I was working the tax return software was fairly user friendly and I loved Tax Act.

There are a lot of free programs on the IRS website. Tax Act is very generous you can make up to 79K AGI and use their free version at IRS.gov! It's just $40 for state to e-file. Whereas H&R Block has gotten into trouble with the govenrment for trying to confuse and upsell people on things they don't need. There is even a class action lawsuit now.

Turbotax too has been in the news for it's own problems. Inside TurboTax's 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans From Filing Their Taxes for Free — ProPublica

How to File Your Taxes for Free With TurboTax This Year (bellinghamherald.com)

I didn't even see them on the IRS website this year, although I found at Turbotax free e-file that only 37% would qualify with no info on income limits etc, seems shady to me. TurboTax® Official Site: File Taxes Online, Tax Filing Made Easy (intuit.com)

What's really ridiculous we are one of the only countries that has to pay to file taxes, most of the world it is free just like other things we don't have free childcare, college, family medical leave and vacation and of course health insurance! We are really a third world country in a lot of ways!

londonflo · Apr 14

brandy1017 said:

I can see why people go to a CPA tax professional, but I don't have the money for that, and I have a fairly simple return.

You will pay a "fairly simple price" with a CPA tax professional (not a corporation that rent in a strip mall 3 months of the year and hires people dressed like the "Statue of Liberty" waving you down.) Who pays for that? As a nurse we have a lot of work supplies that the hospital does not supply. Dry board markers and erasers, stethoscopes, pulse ox (everyone has their own now), uniforms including maybe white underwear to wear under uniforms, only used for that activity. watch, more...Add it up...slowly get dressed pre shift to figure out that your shoes are only for work, bunion pads, and (where I worked, if you wore a skirt/dress you had to wear white (nurse mate) panty hose.

I had an antiques business and a salaried with PRN work and couldn't figure out how I'd I used those completed tax forms as a model for the next couple of years. Best $$ I ever spent.

The bill was negligible, did not know him before tax season and married him years later ( after a chance encounter not related to business)

Quote

but I don't have the money for that

You have the money... You will find you get more $$$ in your return.