STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

nyc_shopgirl · Dooney & Bourke

RE: Taxes

crystal · Kate Spade

i've always done my own taxes until last year, but for some reason i decided to try my mom's tax lady last year. first i did my own on a free site to see how much i could get back on my own, then i let her do them & she got me an add'l $200 (her fee was $50 plus $10 for efile- faster). i know that this year i especially need to have someone do them because i had 3 jobs (one full time, the others part), 401k, mutual fund, savings acct, charitable donations, student loan interest, renter's credit, etc. i'm sure i could figure it out if i tried, but it's so much easier to sit there and have someone ask u questions to see if u qualify for different deductions. i mean, there could be new stuff this year that i don't know about & only someone who's paid to research this stuff would know. i mean, there's nothing wrong doing it yourself, i just feel that when a tax pro does it u know ur getting the max return! (plus, i'm pretty sure they are responsible if u get audited... at least in some way, since they are the ones that prepared the documents.)

Prissy · Dooney & Bourke

I've used the tax cut software for the past couple of years with no problem.

honey · Gucci

i just did them with turbo tax and i'm very, very happy with the results. plus it was super easy. though i'm kind of pissed that i gave all this money to the gov. and just let them sit on it.

carmenb513 · Coach

Crystal....what's a renter's credit?

Karina · Chanel

I used http://www.freetaxusa.com

They gave me $2k more than Turbo Tax and H&R Block.com did because they asked me more questions

they charged me $13.95 to e-file federal, state and give me a copy of both

crystal · Kate Spade

i think the renter's credit might just be a CA thing, but i never knew about it till last year (and i had been renting for 3 at that point). i'm just saying there's a whole buncha deductions u might be eligible for and when u go to a human person they can ask you questions & u can ask them questions to make sure u get every one of them. i mean i guess if ur financial life is pretty uncomplicated then u might as well use the internet. i guess it also depends on how valuable ur time is... i was at the tax lady for 15 min & that was for me AND my mom! if i had done it myself it woulda taken much longer to research what deductions i was eligible for.

bostongal · BCBG

I used TaxAct online last year, and it was so easy. I did both my federal and state, federal was free and state only cost me $7. I had my refund within 3 weeks, direct deposited!