spouse is in tech, there’s stocks and other factors that make them more complicated.
I use this company. Really convenient drop off, if you’re near West Portal.
Thanks. I’m willing to travel to West Portal if they are confident they can handle my taxes.
Yeah, they can handle anything.
I’ve found that TurboTax is just as easy as using a CPA even when involving ISOs or RSUs. The main effort is in gathering the documents, and you still have to do that with a CPA.
I hate that I’m basically rewarding them for lobbying against free tax software and for getting a monopoly on exporting tax data from various financial institutions, though.
We bought the most premium package from TurboTax last year, and talked to someone over the phone from TurboTax that basically said our taxes were too complex for them, and mistakes were made with our state taxes. We would like to try a different route this year.
TurboTax can handle most Bay Area stock stuff just fine, so I’m guessing your “other factors” were the problem? You’re going to get better advice if you’re a bit more specific, because there are a lot of pricing tiers here depending on what you need.
Years ago I had ownership in a company in my home country, and that created a massive headache with lots of forms to fill out, and the return had to be mailed in for some reason. My initial CPA, who told me they could do it, gave up a week before the deadline. They told me I needed to file for an extension and referred me to Safe Harbor LLP. Safe Harbor was able to do it, but it cost me $3500 in 2013 dollars. They told me my return was the simplest one they prepared that year, so they’re definitely not the choice for the more basic stuff.
After I got rid of those foreign assets I now only have bank accounts in my home country, and while TurboTax doesn’t support the FBAR, it’s easy to fill out on the official website.
TL;DR: Give more specific requirements so you can get a CPA who is sufficiently qualified but not overqualified. Simplify your situation if feasible. The FBAR sounds scary but actually isn’t.
I felt the same. Feetaxusa is a good alternative.
Remember to check that it’ll meet your needs though.
