file taxes

On the fence about hiring a tax professional, buying tax prep software, or just filing taxes yourself? Let’s compare them! Pros and Cons of Tax Prep Software Tax preparation software is a great way to do your own taxes in a way that offers subtle guidance. So let’s talk about the pros and cons. The pros: tax software is affordable, speedy, and (if you got a good one) easy to use. Purchasing software will always cost less than hiring a real-life CPA or another tax pro. And this price is tailored to your tax needs. If you have an easy return, without lots of property dependents, and business accounts to reconcile, you will pay much less than someone who does have assets in all of these areas that need to be accounted for. As for speed, once you’ve collected all the necessary information, doing your taxes using tax prep software should very rarely take you more than an hour. And most software is straightforward, instructional, and user-friendly. Many of the cons of tax prep software will be pros for hiring a tax professional and vice versa. Using tax prep software means that you are going it “alone” in a sense – while the software may have helpful tools and insights if you get stuck, it doesn’t have the human touch and knowledge that a trained tax preparer will. Tax prep software also isn’t as well-equipped to handle more complex questions. And with all the COVID aid and new tax rules present in tax years 2020 and 2021, it’s much more likely that you’ll need some extra help navigating those changes. Pros and Cons of Hiring a Tax Pro Hiring a tax pro comes with its own unique perks. One pro of paying someone else to do your taxes is that you don’t have to do them! But besides that, professional tax preparers often have much more advanced (and expensive) tax software they use to make sure your taxes,  corrections, and TIN checking are done correctly and accurately. Arguably the biggest pro to hiring a tax preparer is the human touch element. When …

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