Can I be my own accountant?
January 8, 2010 5:57 PM   Subscribe

TaxFilter - I know YANMA (You are not my accountant), but I'm seeking some advice about whether I can do my own taxes this year or if I should see a professional.

Here's the situation:

For the first half of the year I was an independent contractor working from home and made two quarterly tax payments to the Illinois state and federal government according to an estimate provided by my previous accountant based on earning about 40K in 2009. Well, as luck would have it in this economy, I lost my contracting gig just after my second quarterly payment and went back to working hourly.

Details:
Me- Paid taxes through 6-15-09 for the independent contracting and have been employed and paying taxes via my employer since 6-28-09. Was making 40K/yr, now making about 18K/yr. Negligible interest from my 401K and student loans. Multiple W-2s from substitute teaching (though not much income, I only subbed about 10 days last year) Paid ~500 for tuition last year out of pocket.

Wife- full-time grad student making about 7K a year with no 401K interest, no other income. Not sure where her assistanceship paid tuition fits in.

We've lived in IL all year and have no out of state taxes. We've also been married all year. I was keeping track of all of my work related bill expenses in the event that I could deduct a portion of them (though if it's more work than it's worth, I might not even bother).

Basically, I'm just concerned about doing it correctly and hopefully not having to pay any taxes come april 15th. Before the out of state move and getting married and all of that tax related craziness, I routinely did my own taxes with no issues, so I'm fairly confident if it's just a matter of filling out my 1040A or 1040EZ and mailing them in.

Q1- Will I be able to do my own taxes this year?
Q2- If I should see an accountant, is this something that HR Block can handle? or alternatively, turbotax online?(I can't afford my fancy pants accountant anymore)
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith to Work & Money (3 answers total)
 
This post probably had a bunch of answers before the server crash thing, but now it's empty, so I guess I'll answer!

It seems like you should be able to do your own taxes. As long as you follow the instructions, the 1040 is pretty easy to complete. If you don't have business expenses to deduct, I think you can use Schedule C-EZ for your self-employment income (but verify that, because I might be wrong). Basically, just take the 1040, go line by line, if you have any questions, read the instructions or search irs.gov for a publication about the issue. Same procedure for your state taxes I would assume, but I have no IL-specific knowledge.

No need to go to HR Block. If you want to electronically prepare or file check out TaxSlayer. It's really easy to use and is quite affordable.
posted by melissasaurus at 7:21 AM on January 9, 2010


Also, for the education expenses and grants, refer to Publication 970. It explains the various deductions and which grants/scholarships need to be included in income. Note: the link is for the 2008 publication - it hasn't been updated for 2009 yet.
posted by melissasaurus at 7:25 AM on January 9, 2010


Your wife's school may or may not have paid FICA taxes for her last year. She may or may not have to pay them. I wouldn't trust them to get this right.
posted by miyabo at 11:11 AM on January 9, 2010


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