Author Topic: How is TurboTax for businesses?  (Read 1346 times)

Vilgan

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How is TurboTax for businesses?
« on: October 29, 2015, 09:51:42 AM »
Hi all,

I had a tax guy who we used because he was family, although he seemed to do a really great job. However, he recently retired for health reasons and left the business. I'm debating finding another tax person or just using turbo tax. I used turbo tax when taxes were very straightforward (1040EZ, standard deduction, employee only) but things are now a bit more complicated.

Specifically:

two member LLC
Doing business in multiple states, have offices in different states
no employees, but have made payments to ~5 sub contractors who we'll need to send 1099s to
Also some sole proprietorship freelance income from before we formed the business
Regular "employee" income from before we did all the above

I'm strongly tempted to use turbo tax and then check everything after, but I've also heard a lot of criticism of turbo tax from various tax experts. This might just be bias, or it might be a valid issue that could end up costing $$ in unnecessary taxes.

How have people's experiences with TurboTax for business been? Has anyone gone from turbo tax to a CPA and saved a lot of money? If so, were there specific areas to be aware of?

I figure it will be a fairly involved process regardless, but I had a pleasant experience with turbo tax in the past and would be happy to use it again unless I'm seriously costing myself money by doing so.

DaveR

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Re: How is TurboTax for businesses?
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2015, 10:09:31 AM »
I use TurboTax + CPA. Here's why: TurboTax is cheap, cheaper than my CPA. If I go through all the wizards and forms in TurboTax, I: 1) gather up 99% of the paperwork my CPA will need, and 2) understand my taxes pretty well, so can have intelligent conversations with my CPA.

And as a bonus, I have a copy of TurboTax I can use to help my mom file her (much easier) taxes.

Since it sounds like a lot of transition this year, you're situation probably means it makes a lot of sense to have an expert involved. How involved depends on how hands-on you want to be.

BlueHouse

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Re: How is TurboTax for businesses?
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2015, 12:55:15 PM »
I tried TT for business when I first launched my business in 2008.   I found it to be unusable for my needs.  I was unfamiliar with many of the terms, and when I clicked on links to explain the "why"  as you do in personal TT, the links didn't work or there simply was no explanation. 
I've been thinking of trying again now that I have a few years of experience, and I think that DaveR's suggestion is a good one.  I had planned to get TT last year and try to recreate what my accountant did, but I got lazy and never followed up. 

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!