Why hire a tax professional for your personal tax return if you could just use free TurboTax or another online service? A waste of money, no? Tax accounting is a dying profession, much like punch-card computer operators of a previous generation?
Can't blame people for thinking this. The marketers of the online services do a great job.
Here is the answer: While the online services do try to guide a taxpayer, clicking on the wrong buttons can cause a very undesired result. Many times, taxpayers don't even know what to click on. For more complex returns, these services end up charging anyhow.
Do they analyze married filing jointly vs. separately? Do they notify you that claiming every deduction/exclusion and refund possible can sometimes even cause a reduced refund? Or no refund at all, causing $1000's in lost refunds? No.
New systems using Artificial Intelligence are being designed, but presently are still woefully lacking.
Paying a professional tax preparer can easily pay for itself, and then some, with the additional deductions/refunds gained through using the preparer's expertise.
Last but not least, no need to dread tax season anymore, having to spend yet another few sleepless nights working on your return. Just hand everything over to your trusted tax advisor.
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