Taxes Done!!

Hi Tammy I leave that to the tax man or lady that I trust to do them for me, dont have the time to busy working my Realestate, I leave that to the other PROs that specialize in that, Jim

for the reply!

but not in real estate.

Regarding 1099s from stocks and such. With the new cash-basis reporting rules, brokerages now have until Feb 15th to send out their 1099s.

I did my own taxes for several years and as I got into more investments the longer it took to prepare them. When it started taking over 8 hours to do the 1040, I threw in the towel. Let me tell you, I wish I did that a lot sooner. If only for the piece of mind.

I was audited by the IRS (not for anything illegal mind you) for two years in a row. You have your original audit then they automatically audit you the next year, at least from what I was told. That was back in the early 00's. Anyways, I stood up to them, proved everything was right and got all of my refund that they've were with-holding for over 2 years. And yes, they pay interest on YOUR money if they erred. Which was over $800 in my case

Some advice for those that have done your own taxes for a while and then started using a preparer. Double-check their work! The first preparer I used asked very little questions and almost caused me to pay $700 more than I had to.

Regarding if I'll do my own taxes if real estate is involved... not a chance!

Good luck on your taxes everybody.

Thanks for weighing in. I have a friend who has a business and she worries that her accountant tries to take too many deductions, and she fears trouble. Makes me want to stick to my own. I use Turbo tax for now and love it for the most part. The only thing I don't like is asking them anything via people who don't speak English named Sam!

but last year was no fun since I had my LLC; so this year I will probably use an accountant-stll searching for one!
The problem I encountered with Turbo tax was that it wouldn't let me delete the LLC from my state returns; the LLC is in another state and I don't do any rei business in my state, but the program wouldn't 'understand' my situation... I don't want to go through that again...

to get Professional help--get CPA

Structure your business correctly and keep good records

You don't want to have a lunch date in the IRS offices

Get a Pro to do it, I started my first company in 1979 at the age of 23.
The very 1st thing I did was get a CPA ... I used him for another company I started in 1981, he suggested a "S Corp" & we used him until I moved to Fl. in 2001. Then I got a CPA locally. The tens of thousands I have save saved over the years has more than justified cost spent. Besides it's tax deductible, saves time & frustration, the pro keep up with all the new tax law each year, & have never had an audit in all these years.

Good point that CPA or Certified Public Accountant, is the way to go. Glad to here that you haven't been audited either, as we over here feel that it will be a high probability once we start forming a company and have re investments. CPA all the way.

This is the first year I will have a CPA do my taxes. I thought that it would be easier with haveing some rental properties. They keep up on all the new laws better than I can.