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Comment by andrewtbham | Hacker News Reader

i recommend an accountant. you may need to pay state income tax as well.

Honestly, if you're just an independent contractor without complex corporate structure and ownership, or depreciating assets, just buy TurboTax. It will be less than what you'll end up paying an accountant, and chances are you'll just end up watching them use it.

Of course, if you have any abnormal conditions (e.g. multiple partners, several large assets, etc.) then a tax accountant could provide some money-saving advice.

Have you used TurboTax for this type of tax return? How complex was your return when you used it?

I've used TurboTax for my return for the last five (?) years; I have a full-time job (W-2), but I also do a fair amount of freelancing (1099).

I doubt that I would be able to do my return on my own without TurboTax; it walks you through all of the deductions you can take if you have contracting income - the portion of your mortgage that applies to your home office, any whole-house improvements you made to your home (heating/roofing/etc.), any improvements you made directly to your home office, depreciation of assets used solely for your job, etc. I'm sure that the ~$50 I spend on TurboTax each year is more than offset by the money it saves me.

Honestly, even if you understand the forms well, TurboTax is decent software to manage the process. OK it's crappy software... but it's better than spreadsheets.

Yep, and significantly more complex returns as well for the past 5-6 years.

Partnerships are very complex returns, and I was able to do a return for that.

Nice ... thanks everyone for the info!

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