Correct, I did my own taxes one year and the next year had my CPA review them, he found thousands of dollars I left on the table, so in the end it ended up costing me thousands more to do my own taxes.
Also, one of the most important lessons to learn in business is that business expenses that come off the gross are completely different than personal life expenses that come off post tax money.
What was this thousands of dollars you left on the table? I’m always confused by these stories…did you literally just sit down with the raw federal and state forms? I’ve always used TurboTax, and it’s hard for me to understand how you could go through their process and answer all the questions and somehow miss thousands of dollars worth of deductions or credits, unless you have a very esoteric tax situation.
It had to do with a real estate sale, also I have a business that's incorporated in a different state than in which it operates so I pay multiple states taxes, etc.
I also used turbo tax, did it right (as far as I thought). That's exactly the thing, I just mindlessly filled out each step in turbo tax and did what it said, I don't truly know like my CPA does. Some of the things he does for me aren't really options on turbo tax as far as I understand.
Also, one of the most important lessons to learn in business is that business expenses that come off the gross are completely different than personal life expenses that come off post tax money.