Filing taxes - pay someone else or do-it-yourself?

[SweetDeals]

I've been debating whether it makes more sense to pay someone else to complete our taxes this year, or to file them ourselves.

Last year my taxes were a little more complicated (due to self-employment income & expenses) so i paid H&R Block to do them. I felt like it was a good investment because I wasn't clear about which of my expenses were eligible.

But I don't have any self-employment income this year so my taxes will be more straightforward. My wife thinks we should go back to H&R Block, just for peace of mind (in other words, she trusts them more than she trusts me ). But I don't like paying someone to do something I can do myself.

Do people on here usually do their own taxes, or pay someone else to do them?

[Insane]

I've heard so many bad things about H&R block. And you aren't really that protected. I'd just buy the software and do it yourself. It's really easy.

[JumboShrimp]

H&R Block isn't very trustworthy. They screwed up my husband's tax return so that he ended up owing the government instead of getting a refund, and when my husband went back to H&R Block to complain, they said it was too much trouble to fix it and told him to just pay the government.

[nadiabreckon]

We usually buy the software, but this year we were entitled to do our taxes for free on the QuickTax website because all we have our income slips and no expenses...

The last time I paid somebody to do my taxes, they forgot to enter one of my T4's. I received a 350$ return, but when I was audited, ended up having to pay everything back to the gov't. Needless to say, the company I hired got a piece of my mind, but wouldn't take any of the blame. Never again are we going to hire somebody after that!

[khipson]

I've always done my own, except for one year, and that year I had to pay in CPP because they classified all my misc bits of random income (mystery shopping, contract work, babysitting, etc) as business income instead of putting it on line 130 "other income," so I wasn't thrilled.

Even self-employment isn't actually all that complicated if you take your time and read through the documents - I've done it before. And it saves you paying them to do it :D

[ashedfc]

I've always done my own, except for one year, and that year I had to pay in CPP because they classified all my misc bits of random income (mystery shopping, contract work, babysitting, etc) as business income instead of putting it on line 130 "other income," so I wasn't thrilled.

Even self-employment isn't actually all that complicated if you take your time and read through the documents - I've done it before. And it saves you paying them to do it :D

If there was all these random income as business income, & I believe you never had a serperate designated office (at least during the duration those income were made), then, you could deduct whole lot of expenses - like
gas, breakfast, lunch, coffee, gifts (to promote your business), a portion of your mortgage (as you were using your house to work on your business income),phone bill (entirely or only a portion depends, if you have one only the landline or cell phone too).
Your deductions can go upto 100% of the business income (this way you can offset all the business (random income) & not pay any tax & CPP.
You might still do a reassessment & claim whatever extra you paid in that calender year.
[email protected]
Financial Advisor
FundEX Investments Inc.

[haneylaw]

I've used Quicktax since it was available, first in software form and now online. Before that, I did it the old fashioned paper way. We used H&R Block once because hubby had capital gains and I wasn't sure how to handle it. We might as well done it ourselves. Our rep was useless, didn't know some of our "obscure" write offs. (I'm a transport employee who can write off meals etc..) This year I used Quicktax online, it cost me $16.99 for my single return. I had to report hubby being self employed, rental income, all of my weird write-offs as a transport employee...

Obviously I recommend doing it yourself. Studio tax is free, UFile is cheap-ish, I prefer Quicktax's program. It's the closest to the paper returns that I am familiar with I guess. Good luck!

[Grey]

Do it yourself
The guide and forms are pretty straightforward.

[SweetDeals]

Thanks everyone. That's scary about H&R Block making mistakes. It sounds like the overwhelming advice is to do them myself.

I used to always do my own taxes before getting married, and I know it really isn't that hard. Now I just have to convince my wife that I'm the best person for the job!

[khipson]

ashedfc - Thanks, I know all of that but my total income is already under the personal exemption so I don't bother. But the one year I did babysitting full-time, I did it all out like that.

[Tanise Robinson]

We always use an accountant. They know all the "loopholes" and can do a way better job than my husband or me.

[ashedfc]

Relying too much on the accountant may not be the right thing. Accountants (CGA, CA, etc) charge too much, & those who don't charge too much - they themselves don't know much. I mean a lot of tax filers are just 1 course for H&R Block, Taxwide, Softron, etc.
I would rather recommend, everyone with a reasonable income to buy this book:
Tax Planning for You and Your Family, its from KPMG (the accounting firm), & they issue a new edition every year. You can buy the latest edition just to be updated.
Its important to know, what kind of tax planning strategies are available.
Only you can help yourself.

[nadiabreckon]

Relying too much on the accountant may not be the right thing. Accountants (CGA, CA, etc) charge too much, & those who don't charge too much - they themselves don't know much. I mean a lot of tax filers are just 1 course for H&R Block, Taxwide, Softron, etc.
I would rather recommend, everyone with a reasonable income to buy this book:
Tax Planning for You and Your Family, its from KPMG (the accounting firm), & they issue a new edition every year. You can buy the latest edition just to be updated.
Its important to know, what kind of tax planning strategies are available.
Only you can help yourself.

So I'm not trying to open a can of worms here ...but I'm gonna say it anyway...
You don't recommend accountants, yet you are recommending a book by an accounting firm? Isn't that, well, a little weird?!

[ashedfc]

You misunderstood my opinion on accountants.
Accountants are defined by their area of specialization. Accountants do make mistakes. When you are familiar with the tax laws, it helps in doing the accounting correctly & more effectively. For example,
1. Converting the T5 income into T3 (so tax implications are reduced substantially).
2. If assets are in outside Canada, & there is business income, investment income, trust income (it gets more & more complicated).
3. Is the business owner taking a T4, or T4A or T4PSP income (taxes are significantly different in each). The T4PSP does not pay a CPP contribution (I came across couple of tax filers who had no clue on this).
4. If trading stocks is your profession - is it a income or capital gain/ loss (Taxes are completely different).
My recommendation of this KPMG book of $23.95, it describes several strategies of tax planning.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/...2096-item.html

[terrarankin]

i tried studiotax for the first time (free) and it is super easy. why pay for quicktax when you can download a great free tax program~