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There are numerous ways to prepare your taxes these days: do-it-yourself, professional filing, or computerized filing. What you choose to use can often help you save money, depending on your personal situation. Take a look at the different pros and cons of these different tax preparation strategies below.

Do-It-Yourself

If you are young, single, and don’t make over $100,000, you can probably opt to do your own taxes. If you don’t choose to itemize, the forms are easy enough to fill in. You can always check the irs.gov website to find out if you should file a 1040EZ or whether you’d do best to itemize. If you don’t have heavy deductions like home mortgage interest or other forms of non-standard income, much of your reason for going to a professional or itemizing disappears.

Professional Filing

There are great benefits to having a professional help you file your taxes. They know exactly how to get the best return you might have coming to you. Of course, you pay for their expertise and not all professionals are equal. You do have to be careful to find someone who isn’t just doing this during tax season and works in some other industry the rest of the year. It’s best to get someone who has the experience necessary to give you a good view of your situation. The money you spend on tax preparation can even be deducted the next year, if you itemize.

Having a professional help you with filing your taxes can also come in handy in case you are audited. You should have all the necessary documentation when you file your taxes, and many times simply using a professional preparer can avoid an audit. They are very good at organizing your returns and putting them in a folder that you can easily file at home, when you get back. And, if you should still be audited you can go back to the same professional to help you go through the audit process.

Computer Filings

Newer online or pc applications allow you to prepare your taxes yourself, without leaving the privacy of your own home. You won’t have the advantage of questioning the computer if you have a question, but many of these programs are very detailed. While you can use them for easier forms, you probably would do better to pay for them only when you are using some of the longer forms. They walk you though the deductions step-by-step and can even make complicated forms much easier to file. You can even pay for the product by using your refund, if you are getting one. So, if you need the cash, they are pretty handy to use and can have your Federal funds delivered straight to your bank account. One drawback is that you will have to print and organize all your documentation yourself. You want to be able to look back on at least the last three years of filings accurately, if you are audited.

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