Just need to vent...

I admit to using a CPA to do my annual tax return(s). Perhaps somewhat due to laziness, but mostly due to my significant other's lack of faith in me to do it correctly.

JeffD

 

funny you'd mention - having practiced in fed tax court back in the day, the better ½ no longer lets our taxes get done by yours truly. After learning lessons the hard way, it's less flack - not correcting the CPA when they don't know of something recent, it's better to just bite one's tongue rather than face the consequences of the better ½. Many of them now simply rely on tax software to know what they don't know - as do run-of-the-milll accountants.
Soon all of these crafts will be relying on AI anyway, one supposes.

 

Happy Wife, Happy Life.....

Whatever the CPA misses will be cheaper than marriage counseling, a divorce lawyer, and a HECK OF A LOT CHEAPER than half your stuff.

 

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
this

such a slow learner sometimes

 

What is the issue other than paint color and a piece of bad trim?

 

Assuming Mendel stood in the same place as the other photographer, the whole house, driveway, and yard got twisted slightly counterclockwise

 

Hello RJ! Pardon me I tried to private message you but for some reason it was not working. Folks on Reddit told me to reach out to you as I am in Austin, Texas and am looking for someone to do an EGR system cleaning

 

Well for one thing - the driveway asphalt / pavement is shot as mentioned above, plus garage doors look a little sketchy, side fence is dilapidated & weeds growing up between the slats. We've had scores of listing over the decades, & always had sellers use our contract painters & gardeners to clean things up, roll in a lawn, plant flowers Etc with the teaching that the touch-ups will pay for themselves.

 

What I see is a low res pic in the summer with a high sun vs a high res pic in the winter with a low sun. Maybe an unoccupied house.

 

Over the past decade or so, a lot of people have purchased homes around here sight unseen.
I’m sure there were a lot of surprises.
I would never do, without an in person inspection.
But when houses sell in a day at auction, it is difficult

 

With most States having a right of you refusal within an x amount of days - sellers would be morons to accept buyers that are sight unseen. We never allowed that on our listings.

 

I have a friend who does real estate photography. He has software that turns a dismal cloudy day into a sunny one with puffy white clouds, and makes the grass greener, etc. He also takes amazing photos of wildlife, but that's probably less profitable.

Your version made the trees in the far background less uniform and more scraggly.

 

Yep.been there done that
Our neighbor 2 doors down demo'd their house. We sold 2 doors down w/the demo looking like a grassy lot via photos hop.

 

The US-IRS does have a free tax e-filing program ...

E-file: Do your taxes for free

. . . with restrictions . . .

"Guided tax software
For $89,000 adjusted gross income (AGI) or less ... "

 

I don't believe it does capital gains or anything tricky like depreciation expense. It's just an electronic version of 1040ez, W2 & 1099 forms. Don't believe you can run itemized deductions; but I could be wrong.

Yes; most tax filing services just run their own version of Turbo Tax - No tax rules to remember... How do you know when they miss a deduction? They're going to error on the side of caution and NOT take every deduction available. I've been called out three times; just showed up with receipts in hand. The hard-nosed ones will start pointing to other parts of my tax forms. I tell them, I'm sorry you didn't mention anything about that section - Let's make another appointment so I can bring in the documentations for that. May I speak to your supervisor, since we could've handled this in one go, if you told me about concerns you had in that section also? They usually drop it at that point.
Bottom Line, if you can prove your deduction, you should take it. I know people that won't take deductions, because it throws up red flags. I also know people who don't tell the truth and answer the tax software questions by looking at the taxes owed counter. If the counter goes down, that's their answer. When I tell them they're going to get audited, they say it's the tax software's fault for letting him lie in it. Can't reason with anyone that can bend logic like that....

 

Of course not, the Tax Preparation Lobby makes sure of that. They don't want free government services to cut any more into their revenue stream than is politically necessary.

I do use tax software for ease and error avoidance, but have never used any other form of paid tax service. Have always needed to use the long form (originally with guidance from mother, who was the family investment expert), not the shorter 1040A or later 1040EZ, from my very first filing at age 18. The few things missed and discovered too late, have totaled less than the avoided cost of tax prep services.