[hubster]

Here my situation. My work situation is like this. I work out of the house on web development. I get all my work from one company, but I am not an employee of that company, so I get a 1099 from them. Taxes are not taken out of my paycheck. Now its time for taxes. Prior to this year I lived at home and my mom took my stuff to her accountant and it was all taken care of. Last year was my first year living on my own, in a different state.

Obviously I want to pay as little taxes as possible legally. Should I go to an accountant or would I be able to do a good job on turbo tax? I have turbo tax for free to if that makes any difference. I'm assuming I will be able to take rent and utilities as deductions because I have a home office.

[Scalamanga]

If you are claiming a home office make sure that is legit. Home office is a major red flag for the IRS. I'm sure turbo tax will be able to calculate everything. You'll be allowed to claim only a portion of your rent and utilities. You'll take the total square footage of your apartment and divide it by the square footage of the home office. That will give you the pertcentage you can claim on rent and utilities.

[hubster]

If you are claiming a home office make sure that is legit. Home office is a major red flag for the IRS. I'm sure turbo tax will be able to calculate everything. You'll be allowed to claim only a portion of your rent and utilities. You'll take the total square footage of your apartment and divide it by the square footage of the home office. That will give you the pertcentage you can claim on rent and utilities.

Yup that's what I read. Do you think I should stick with turbo tax as opposed to getting an accountant?

[ngates815]

Yup that's what I read. Do you think I should stick with turbo tax as opposed to getting an accountant?

I'd pay the 75 bucks to have someone do them for ya.

I'd call up a private company and explain to them what your situation is, and then you can gather the information that they say you need.

[CollegeOverUnder]

I use turbo tax but nothing wrong with taken a safer safe route if you feel like it just to be careful. if I was you I wasn't really sure I would pay someone just to help you out for future references. Run it on Turbo Tax by yourself then take it to a real accountant and see what they get and see if Turbo Tax was close.

[Dkid]

definitely take it to the accountant if your not 100% sure.

The IRS is no joke.

[uup115]

Putting an accountant between you and the IRS adds another layer of plausible deniability....plus they look at that step as you being serious about keeping records straight...the IRS like most entities usually take the path of least resistance and accountants usually know more about taxation then the people who work for the IRS.

[flocko76]

I'd say get an accountant. They should know exactly what to do to keep you from getting audited and minimum tax paying.