Complicated tax season.

[BrassMagnet]

using Turbotax my retirement, inheritance, and rental business taxes come out to about 150 pages with all the worksheets and forms. Taxes in the USA are a mess. I think the only way to fix that is to require every Congress critter to personally do their own taxes without software or assistance. And then audit them and prosecute them for any errors they make. I bet we'd have a rational system within a year.

You are the Man with a Superior Plan!

[elmacgyver0]

I think dverna is in the right ballpark, figure on a thousand and go home happy.

[imashooter2]

We first hired an accountant when we started renting my wife’s ancestral home. He charges us a fee per form every year and then "discounts” it. Last year’s filing was a touch over $300. In the 15 or so years we have used him, we have received demand letters from the IRS claiming errors twice. In each case our guy prepared documentation and composed a letter for us to send back supporting our position. In both cases the IRS determined we were correct. There was no charge for this documentation and frankly, avoiding audits and dealing with the IRS would be worth paying extra if he did charge us.

[15meter]

Thanks for the great advice! I am calling the accountant that handled my father's taxes for years.

Probably the smartest thing you can do, he will be familiar with the details and should have retained prior years tax forms to refer to.

Continuity raises fewer red flags with the IRS, particularly if the accountant has a track record of no screw ups filing other people's forms.

[jaysouth]

I was a licensed CPA several decades ago in several Middle Atlantic states doing tax and audit work. I would not prepare a current day tax return if my life depended on it. Hire a CPA and pay them for their expertise.

[Rapier]

Our filings look more like a book, we file multiple entities, plus our individual returns. We have had a CPA firm for 40+ years. Only time we paid over $1,000 for a filing was with an audit that got complicated and drug out because the Agent's father was killed in Opal. The agent's father's estate and funeral arrangements caused the audit to start and stop several times.

A CPA and would not fool with those folks any other way. Once done by the CPA, it is done and done.