As soon as tax season rolls around, the commercials for tax software hit the airwaves. With influx of sales pitches for tax software, many American do not know whether they should hire a tax professional or purchase the latest version of tax software. Yes, those who pay taxes have more tax software options than ever before, but the fact that tax professionals are in business shows that they are a necessary part of the American way of life.
Low Priced Tax Software
Tax software does offer one benefit over tax professionals: the price. It is significantly cheaper to purchase tax software, since most of them are in the price range between $10 and $100. You might be able to find some tax preparers who charge around $100, but Certified Public Accountants will charge $200 or more.
Speedy Software with Simple Designs
Along with a low price, tax software does have a few other pros. The first is the speed of preparing the return. You might be able to complete your taxes in about an hour. A tax professional might need a few days, simply because of the volume that needs to be completed. The other benefit is simplicity. People who have simple returns can get them completed simply with tax software.
Better Tax Software with Professional Accountants
While all of these benefits make tax software sound like a great option for taxes, there are so many other benefits to hiring a tax accountant. Spending $100 or less on a tax program might sound like a bargain, but that $100 program cannot compete with the expert programs that professional accountants use. Their software can cost $1000 up to $6000. With that higher price, tax accountants are able to assess data entry, line items, and organization to ensure that your forms are properly completed. With better assessment, tax professionals are able to get more money back than inexpensive software will.
Tax Professionals Build Financial Relationships
Tax preparation professionals are able to build relationships with their customers. Our accountants at Acceler8 take time to get to know you and your financial situation. A software program might know your name, address, and social security number, but it does not know you and your special situations. Tax professionals can help you prepare your annual taxes and they can also help with financial situations throughout the year. They can work with exit strategies for businesses, bookkeeping, saving for education, and business coaching, too. No software can complete with a human when it comes to anticipating suggestions, helping with capital gains, and enjoying friendly conversation.
Tax Professionals Working Year-Round for You
The reason you only see tax software advertised on television and online during tax season is that the software is only useful during tax season. A professional accountant is available all year because your finances need attention all year. At Acceler8, our tax professionals truly are available to help you with any financial conversations throughout the calendar year – not just for the first few months of the year.
Hiring a Tax Professional Saves Money and Time
If you do decide to file your taxes with an inexpensive tax software and something goes wrong, you will need to see a tax professional to straighten out the problem. The time it takes to work through challenging tax issues makes it worth every penny to hire a high quality accountant who knows the regulations and system. Instead of spending numerous hours working on repairing mistakes that an inexpensive software program made, you could be focusing on your own livelihood and making more money.
The professionals at Acceler8 can answer any questions you have about hiring a tax accountant versus using tax software during this important time of the year. Contact us at (480) 270-8325.