# Is hiring an accountant to do my taxes really worth the cost or is e-filing sufficient?



## kielrini (Jan 3, 2022)

In my case, I only have income from my full-time job. I don't own any property and am single. Is it really worth it for me to pay an accountant to do my taxes?


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## 255 (Sep 8, 2018)

@kielrini -- I suppose, it depends. I have routinely completed my own U.S. income taxes using the fillable forms available for free on Internal Revenue Service | An official website of the United States government. Last year I utilized tax preparation software for the sole purpose to get my refund earlier (I used professional software, that had a registered tax preparer sign off before submission.)

An accountant gives you an air of correctness, in the eyes of the IRS -- so can theoretically reduce your chance of audit. Although, my mother routinely used an accountant and she often had letter "questions" that the accountant handled (I don't think he was that "aggressive" either.)

Some folks like the idea of utilizing a "professional" -- it gives them piece of mind. I myself have always prepared my own, but I am of the mind to transfer the responsibility to my eldest daughter in the future (once her kids are older,) so as to eliminate that responsibility from my wife, after I pass.

I do believe you'd be a lot better off, in the future, to prepare your own, at least initially -- so you understand what you are submitting. Even if an accountant submits your returns for you -- the responsibility to pay penalties and interest if you are audited and considered at fault, is yours (your accountant may provide a 100% reimbursement guarantee.) Cheers, 255


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

kielrini said:


> In my case, I only have income from my full-time job. I don't own any property and am single. Is it really worth it for me to pay an accountant to do my taxes?


It rather depends on how much the accountant is planning to charge you.


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

I am like 255 and daughter. I was the daughter (well son really) and have been doing my own US taxes all my life now. Strangely I have used an accountant for my Australian taxes most of my life, but just because he is an old family friend and I don't mind throwing a little bit of business his way.

I would like to suggest that there is also a nice middle ground which is something I regularly suggest to those who have a reasonable head for numbers and following instructions which is to find an accountant to prepare your taxes and then get them to walk you through your return ... which is probably something that they should be doing anyways. You can then use that as a template for future returns.. until your circumstances change at which point you can go back to an accountant... rinse and repeat. Some forms like Foreign Tax Credits have instructions are terribly convoluted. When I first used that specific form I had to reverse engineer a worked example I found to ensure my calcuations were correct. Having someone to walk you through it once would have saved me a bit of time, that first year.

If you want to avoid the cost of an accountant even for that template, then e-filing as opposed to paper filing has the added advantage that it will prevent some of the more basic errors that could result by doing the basic calculations... while they do generally have Q&A screens to walk you through the process, they are really geared for those living in the US... and are not perfect, some providers are much better than others, some forms are barely supported, but if you have an idea of what forms you need you can generally quickly identify if you have missed something.

Be mindful that the efiling providers are improving their security, introducing 2FA (a good thing) but the way some of them have done it is problematic for those outside of the US. For example some require a US phone number (as opposed to using other online authenticators), others require a US credit card (if you cannot efile for free) or put up other hurdles that can make life a bit difficult. So do your research before picking one.


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