Need back taxes filed ASAP (Bay Area)

July 17, 2017 8:27 AM

I need a tax preparer in/near Oakland, CA who can do QUICK turnaround on years of back unfixed taxes.

The Mrs & I have't Filed Our taxes in years because head in the ground issues. We both have our payroll deductions, but the paperwork hasn't been filed.

Now I need to show somebody recent tax documents proving we're still married or I get dropeped from her health insurance.

So I need to bring a box of tax documents to someone, and say "Please make this into something we can file as a married couple ASAP." No car, so Oakland/Berkeley/SF

Nothing exotic. She works for a state University, I'm a bartender/caterer. But I need it sorted fast.

posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey to Work & Money (5 answers total)

If you don't have anything exotic, I'd suggest that if you need turnaround that fast, get Turbotax or whatever and do 2016's now. It doesn't sound like you actually need a decade's worth of tax forms for this, just a 2016 return? Then you can take the rest to someone without this kind of time pressure. Someone local to you may know better about specific firm recommendations, but my experience with CPA firms was that even in mid-July, anybody who was capable of quick turnaround on "big box of documents" stuff was not necessarily someone you wanted to be going to. (Reputable small-firm CPAs will generally at this time of year be gearing into the business extensions that start coming due in September.)

You do not have to be current on all prior years to file for 2016, you just need to be prepared to get that process started. Even for 2016, if you do something wrong, it can be amended--your insurance people will not care if that return is actually accurate, just that it exists, which you can have done yourself by this weekend.
posted by Sequence at 9:25 AM on July 17, 2017 [7 favorites]

You can file them online yourself - This website does them and I used it the year I forgot to file them successfully.
posted by Nimmie Amee at 11:42 AM on July 17, 2017

Best answer: If this is something that is still overwhelming to you, even with the immediate need to get it done (and possibly even more so BECAUSE of the immediacy of the need), reach out to your local H&R Block office. When I finally pulled my head out to resolve a similar issue several years ago, they were able to get things knocked out in fairly short order. If you think you're going to need to talk to the IRS to resolve anything, make sure your local office has an enrolled agent who can go to bat for you.
posted by hanov3r at 3:01 PM on July 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Yeah, immediacy & DONT TOUCH IT IT'S EVIL mean H&R Block it is. Can't believe I didn't think of that option earlier.

She she taki taki, kowlmang ("Thank you very much, everyone.")
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 5:31 PM on July 17, 2017

Response by poster: In the end, the HR Block outlets all had shitty reviews, so I called the closest 5 star on Yelp. He didn't have the bandwidth, & referred me to his homie, whom I clicked with and it's all getting done.

Thanks, y'all. Sometimes the hardest things in the world just require a nudge to become "Oh fuck, it's that easy?"

She she, taki taki
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 4:23 PM on July 22, 2017 [1 favorite]