Tax consultation for middle income individuals
My longtime tax preparer has retired and I am hoping to do my own 2024 tax return, as my spouse has been unemployed for over a year and I'd prefer not to pay over $1000 for a return. I am middle income so I'd not qualify for free tax help. I am wondering about experiences with the IRS tax help hotline, either by phone or online. Alternatively, I am wondering if, once I do my homework, it would be possible to have a consultation with an experienced preparer to ask any lingering questions. I'd be happy to pay for the one time consultation. (I don't think our situation is very complicated: some inside/outside retirement accounts and a 529 plan for our college-age daughter.) Thank you in advance.
Feb 1, 2025
Parent Replies
I love my tax preparer, Nini Yang (408-464-7563). She’s awesome, insightful, and also has her securities licenses so understands investments.
I don't have experience with the IRS tax help hotline and or an experienced preparer. But we've been doing our own returns for over 10 years with olt.com and haven't had issues (and it costs less than $20). I found their online software pretty easy to use and they have chat/phone if you need help with the software.
I presume you then could take it to someone to look over - OLT lets you print out all the forms before submitting. Hopefully someone else can recommend a preparer to look over it should you wish to do that.
I'm not sure what his rate would be for a one time consultation but the tax preparer/CPA I have been working with for the last few years, Bryce Forney, is excellent. He is very knowledgable and does great work but, even more importantly, he is responsive and always answers all my questions even if they seem silly. He really takes the time to talk through things and I've never felt like he prioritizes other, higher-paying clients (which I have felt from tax preparers in the past). Could be worth reaching out and seeing if he would do a one time consultation with you! His website is: https://www.forneycpa.com/
We have used Turbotax for a couple of decades.
I've been using TurboTax for a very long time. It's very straightforward and easy to use. I believe the cost of using the service ranges from $30-$250 depending on how complex your taxes are and/or if you want to be able to talk to a human in the process. Good luck!
FWIW I started using turbotax a few years ago and it's easy - my sense is the only reason to use a professional is when you're itemizing a lot of stuff, maybe self-employed, or have particularly complex taxes for some other reason. We have a 529 as well, but just wages to report otherwise. Less that $100 and a couple hours' work max (more the first year).
I’ve always done our taxes using TurboTax and it is honestly so simple. Especially since (I assume) you don’t have small business income and you’re not filing “married filing separately” (situations that can make things complicated from my experience) I bet you can do it yourself. The programs walks you through the process step by step. TurboTax also offers different levels of support from an actual person for an added cost, but still far less than paying a tax preparer.
You might want to check out the TurboTax or H&R Block programs. I've used both over the years and been very pleased. H&R Block is a bit cheaper, but TurboTax does a nice job of sending you where you need to go with accurate questions and might be a better choice for a first-timer. One year, I did have a complicated question [IRS changed where you were supposed to enter something], and TurboTax provided a couple of consultants who eventually found the answer at no extra cost to me. Way cheaper than a CPA or tax agent, and I've never had a return questioned.
I have been using Turbotax to self-file for the past 4 years and find it straight-forward. I had a death in the family and needed one-off tax advice, and went to Viet Dinh in Walnut Creek. I found him knowledgeable and his office responded within a business day to requests (though this was during tax off-season): https://www.yelp.com/biz/tax-services-walnut-creek-4. The other places I called locally in Berkeley and Oakland had higher consulting fees or it took days to get a reply from them.
I was in a similar situation! As a test, I did our taxes (I really like Freetaxusa.com and it's free) and then booked an appointment at Robert Abbott taxes (recommended by a friend). When Oscar did our taxes, the return was about 30% higher than my own calculations. It justified the cost (as of today, it cost $350) of paying in our experience. We've used them for around 8-9 years and I just had our 2024 taxes done today. They're in Martinez and super easy to get to. We're middle class and over the years have had things like solar expenses, new EV credits etc. We also have the standard things like FSA dependent care, home office etc.
Hope this helps!
Check out the AARP Tax-Aide program (which yes, you are eligible for; the income limits are high and at some sites nonexistent). The one in Berkeley is here: https://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/events/tax-assistance-2025 For other locations, see https://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/aarp-taxaide/locations/
We usually do our own taxes, usually with Turbo Taxes. If you haven't tried tax software in a while, it's gotten pretty good, we use Turbo Tax, mostly because it's easy to use the same one every year. One thing I just read that surprised me is that the online bank Chime is offering free tax services for customers: https://www.chime.com/taxes/