[lizardlady]

My head is about to explode. I usually do my income taxes myself. Simple fill in how much I made, standard deduction, taxes withheld versus taxes owed. Sign the the form and send it in.

This year is an absolute nightmare. I have regular income from my job, social security since I retired and the money I got from selling Mom's house. The first two would not be bad, pretty much same as I used to do. Figuring out the stuff related to selling the house is a friggin' nightmare. I spent the entire afternoon finding the forms I need at the IRS website and trying to understand the instructions which are written in Governmentese. Going to take a break before my head explodes and come back to it tomorrow. If I can get it sorted out tomorrow I am going to give in and pay someone to complete it for me. I never paid someone to do my taxes before. Took pride in doing it myself. Pride may have to take the backseat this year.

[divine1966]

Oh yeah it’s a headache.

Just pay someone. We always do. It’s totally not a big deal. You’d not be stressed and will be able to breathe

Accountants, tax specialists and other people in that field are trained to do what I pay them to do. I mean we can cut our own hair and pull our own teeth (lol yeah I exaggerate lol) and fix our own toilets and sew our own clothes, it’s fine. But I don’t think it’s anything extravagant to pay someone to do those things. Someone pays me to do what I am trained to do. I am glad people don’t take pride to do everything themselves, or we’d be all out of jobs and things will be done haphazardly.

During tax season they all work every day including Sundays. Call them tomorrow

[eskielover]

Oh, my now ex royally screwed up our taxes the year my mom died. Then he got a letter from the IRS that he never told me about claiming we owed them a huge amount of back taxes. I luckily had the Calif mail forwarded to my farm in Ky & got the 2nd IRS notice. They were partially correct, a big part when I finally found out & dug into the issue. Seriously my now Ex should have taken our taxes to a tax accountant like I had asked him to that year but his "know it all self" wouldn't allow him to. Luckily I got all penalties waived just not interest. So many subtle stuff when it comes to inheritance. I definitely personally suggest a tax accountant at least this year.....it gets really simple after that & easy to do in future years.....but one screw up can cost more than having a tax accountant handle it this year

[splitimage]

Good luck in figuring it out, if that's the route you go. But it might be worth taking it to a pro.

I volunteer preparing taxes, for low income people, and it never ceases to amaze my how poorly many people understand the tax system. If you just have income from a job, pension, or some form of social assistance it's dead simple It only gets complicated if you have a lot of different types of investment income or, as in your case, an inheritance.

[TishaBuv]

The expense you pay an accountant is also tax deductible. It’ll be the best money you ever spent along with hiring landscaping maintenance imho.

[divine1966]

Originally Posted by TishaBuv

The expense you pay an accountant is also tax deductible. It’ll be the best money you ever spent along with hiring landscaping maintenance imho.

Really? How do you deduct it? It’s only a few hundreds once a year no biggie but it would be nice to deduct

[TishaBuv]

Originally Posted by divine1966

Really? How do you deduct it? It’s only a few hundreds once a year no biggie but it would be nice to deduct

I’m pretty sure it is a deductible expense. It would come off income earned as a deduction.

[TishaBuv]

Oops, nevermind, it used to be.
According to the IRS, "unless you're self-employed, tax preparation fees are no longer deductible in tax years 2018 through 2025 due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that Congress signed into law on December 22, 2017.

[lizardlady]

I've decided to have a professional do my taxes this year. There are other things I pay someone else to do if I can't or don't want to. Have come around to the idea this is no different.

TishaBuv, I chuckled over your comment about paying a landscaper. I do everything in my yard. I love it!

[TishaBuv]

Originally Posted by lizardlady

I've decided to have a professional do my taxes this year. There are other things I pay someone else to do if I can't or don't want to. Have come around to the idea this is no different.

TishaBuv, I chuckled over your comment about paying a landscaper. I do everything in my yard. I love it!

For me it was just battling insects and exhausting myself. Our landscaper had skin as leathery as an aligator.

[divine1966]

Originally Posted by lizardlady

I've decided to have a professional do my taxes this year. There are other things I pay someone else to do if I can't or don't want to. Have come around to the idea this is no different.

TishaBuv, I chuckled over your comment about paying a landscaper. I do everything in my yard. I love it!

Ha we hate landscaping. There’s a reason we own a condo rather than single family home. HOA plants everything for us, cut grass, shovel snow, collect leaves, trim bushes, cut branches, we have large trees in a back yard. We could do what we choose in addition like plant extra flowers etc but it’s optional depends how we feel that year. I know people love landscaping and gardening. Nope. Not us

[lizardlady]

Lol, I stopped calling it "yard work" and call it "yard play". Nothing I enjoy so much should be called work!

TishBuv, after a lifetime of training horses and tending the farm in the Florida sun I have alligator skin too.

Divine, glad you enjoy your condo. I would be beyond miserable. Don't get me started on HOAs! I referred to the HOA at my mother's as the Gestopo. I love living in the boonies with my neighbors at a distance. Ain't it grand we each live in a place that makes us happy?

[Revenge Tour]

Like several others have mentioned, I just have my accountant do it. He is fair, nice and smart. Easily worth the money.

[divine1966]

Originally Posted by lizardlady

Lol, I stopped calling it "yard work" and call it "yard play". Nothing I enjoy so much should be called work!

TishBuv, after a lifetime of training horses and tending the farm in the Florida sun I have alligator skin too.

Divine, glad you enjoy your condo. I would be beyond miserable. Don't get me started on HOAs! I referred to the HOA at my mother's as the Gestopo. I love living in the boonies with my neighbors at a distance. Ain't it grand we each live in a place that makes us happy?

I think it’s also some luck. Our HOA is great. Worth every penny. They do an excellent job.

We barely ever see any neighbors. No one bothers us. Every condominium is different. Ours is part detached condos that is same as single family home. And some our town homes. So there is not much that shared. General drive inside the complex I guess

Some of my friends spend every free minute doing yard work. I’d hate it with passion lol I like sitting outside in my garden but someone else should do the work lol you are right that we all like different things!