Accounting? Taxes?

[Lilith]

heres the deal I am in a partnership with my husband. We normally file our regular taxes joint, no big deal. Now with this whole partnership/business thing i am all confused and at a loss of witch direction to choose.

How should i file? I would rather do most if not all the filing my self instead of using an accountant, i just don't know witch direction to go.

Should i lump all the info up in one, do my business and personal taxes all in one as if we were sole propiritiors or self employed or should i do two separate fillings. business then personal. OUr tax ID for the business is the same as our normal taxes, under my hubbys info.

business wise We don't have employees, technically. We have some write off for tools and supplies,gas.

Personally we have a morgage and 3 kids nothing else really to deduct that matter any how since the kids boost my standard deductions above my itemized.

If i have to break down and get an accountant i will i just hate not knowing every little step and how to do it or what ever when it comes to my $, and i know if i could just figure out the best route to start with the rest will be a breeze for me to do.

any ideas on what to do our where to look?

[torn asunder]

my suggestion would be to go ahead and pay for an accountant the first year, then from that point, you can use the return they give you as a guideline for the future. just make sure you ask them to walk you through their process so you can understand what they're doing.

(btw, fees paid for tax preparation are deductible, if you itemize... i've been deducting it for years, when i use them...)

[Msterbeau]

A good friend of mine does my taxes. I have small business stuff to deal with... he works magic usually. :-)

[Lilith]

my suggestion would be to go ahead and pay for an accountant the first year, then from that point, you can use the return they give you as a guideline for the future. just make sure you ask them to walk you through their process so you can understand what they're doing.

(btw, fees paid for tax preparation are deductible, if you itemize... i've been deducting it for years, when i use them...)

I was talking this over with Lestat and he said pretty much the same thing. Are accountants usually happy to walk you threw it? The ones i used when iwas younger for my personal taxes have ben the sort that just go about there work and hand ya the papers at the end.

Do you have any refferals on who or where to go?

[torn asunder]

i just go to my local H&R Block, but the first year, i asked to watch them fill things out, since it was my first time dealing with itemizing (mortgage stuff, due to buying a new house) the lady was pretty accomodating. of course, it was earlier in the season, not crunch-time - that might help...

[n0Mad]

Are accountants usually happy to walk you threw it?

If they won't step you through the process, go to another one. And another one. And another one. You'll find one. Use a line like, "This is the first year we've had to deal with this partnership and we're unsure on how it works. We'd like to see what everything on the form means and how you go about doing this so we can keep better records for next year." As they explain things to you, say stuff like, "Facinating. I never could've done this on my own. Thanks so much for your help. You truly are a life saver."

And as TA said, go early in the season.

[Lilith]

If they won't step you through the process, go to another one. And another one. And another one. You'll find one. Use a line like, "This is the first year we've had to deal with this partnership and we're unsure on how it works. We'd like to see what everything on the form means and how you go about doing this so we can keep better records for next year." As they explain things to you, say stuff like, "Facinating. I never could've done this on my own. Thanks so much for your help. You truly are a life saver."

And as TA said, go early in the season.

Great Script!

I will proablly be going befor january is over, i hate waiting till the last minute to do taxes then waiting for the million other returns to get prossed and wait for ever for my loot!

[Onyx]

If you want to take a look at how things might look if you did different ways, you can use turbotax online for free. I use it for my business and it found legal deductions that my (former) accountant missed.

it's at http://turbotax.intuit.com/ and be sure to use the business one (the $74 one, home and business).

You don't get charged until the very end and you can see all the results, and there is no charge at all if you choose not to use them. Might be a good idea even if you do use an accountant to see what deductions it finds.

It's nice because you can try to file different ways on there and it shows you what the results will be for each one.

[n0Mad]

You don't get charged until the very end and you can see all the results, and there is no charge at all if you choose not to use them.

If you follow the link to webfile from the IRS website, then you can use Turbo Tax or many other website filing systems for free. That's what I did last year.

[Onyx]

If you follow the link to webfile from the IRS website, then you can use Turbo Tax or many other website filing systems for free. That's what I did last year.

Wow - cool I'm definitely going that route this year then.

[Lilith]

I have been using the free version of turbo tax for many years and love them, Great suggestion Onyx thank you.