Taxes are a pain this year…

[LuFins Dad]

@mark said:

Ugh. Hire a freakin accountant.

And pay somebody $1800 to just do data entry into a $200 software program?

[LuFins Dad]

And we actually did, this year. I’m just backing it up as an audit. If our numbers match well enough, I will continue doing it. If we don’t, then it gets interesting.

[89th]

Yikes man, that is not fun. On the plus side, if you screw up, you are getting in good shape to not be a weak little bitch in jail.

[mark]

@LuFins-Dad said:

@mark said:

Ugh. Hire a freakin accountant.

And pay somebody $1800 to just do data entry into a $200 software program?

$1800??? Wow. My accountant is a bargain at $400.

[AndyD]

In the UK the new tax rules mean businesses/landlords etc have to submit forms quarterly.
So I've been told.

[Axtremus]

@mark said:

@LuFins-Dad said:

@mark said:

Ugh. Hire a freakin accountant.

And pay somebody $1800 to just do data entry into a $200 software program?

$1800??? Wow. My accountant is a bargain at $400.

$1,800 is more typical when an S-Corp is involved. $400 is fairly typical for the usual husband+wife joint return.

[LuFins Dad]

$1200 for the business part, $600 for the family part.

[LuFins Dad]

So far there’s a $200 to my benefit difference with me and TurboTax filling them out than the accountant. I’m thinking about running both returns through an AI to see what that says…

I imagine that within 4-5 years, Tax Preparer as an occupation will be obsolete.

[kluurs]

@LuFins-Dad said:

So far there’s a $200 to my benefit difference with me and TurboTax filling them out than the accountant. I’m thinking about running both returns through an AI to see what that says…

I imagine that within 4-5 years, Tax Preparer as an occupation will be obsolete.

Depends on how much the tax preparer companies are willing to purchase lobby congress.

[jon-nyc]

Yeah it’ll be interesting to see how many industries look for industry-specific carve out restrictions on AI use. Automate thee not me.

[taiwan_girl]

@kluurs said:

Depends on how much the tax preparer companies are willing to purchase lobby congress.

I think you are correct. The IRS started their own DIY tax preparing forms that was heavily lobbyed against by the private tax form companies.

[LuFins Dad]

It really wouldn’t be hard for the IRS to automate the whole damn thing.

[taiwan_girl]

@LuFins-Dad said:

It really wouldn’t be hard for the IRS to automate the whole damn thing.

I agree. I think that was something that we being offered last year to a certain number of US states, and then they were going to expand it to more this year.

Not sure where the objections were from, but I dont think that any states can use it this year at all.

[Doctor Phibes]

It's funny, I'd never filed a tax return before I left the UK. You really only need to do it there if you're self employed or have untaxed income. This year I tried using the free version of H&R block, but it stopped me as it said I needed to complete a particular form based on my income - which wasn't actually correct, but I had to buy the non-free one before it would acknowledge that I didn't. Bloody stupid.

[89th]