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I used tax prep software once or twice. Each time it cost about CAD 20 - 30. Then I found an accountant that'll do it for CAD 50-100 (for a simple filing). My

I used tax prep software once or twice. Each time it cost about CAD 20 - 30. Then I found an accountant that'll do it for CAD 50-100 (for a simple filing). My time spent filing tax went from 30-60 minutes to about 1 minute. The amount of psychological pain from reading endless legalese, figuring out if I had moved more than x km for work, and many other inane questions, dropped from a lot to almost zero. And the money I got back skyrocketed because this person actually knows all the legalese. Best investment ever!

esoterica 3y ago
You know you still have to tell your accountant whether or not you moved x km for work if it’s relevant for your taxes right? They aren’t omniscient, any questions that your tax software makes you answer your accountant needs to ask you too if they are doing their job right. If your taxes are simple enough that it costs less than $100 for an accountant to handle it then that means you shouldn’t have to do anything more than enter your income and biographical info into your tax software. There is no reason why hiring an accountant would be any faster or more convenient. And I’m sorry, but the fact that your taxes were so simple that your accountant charged you less than $100 and somehow still magically found extra money for you smells very fishy to me. At that price point there are no secret deductions your accountant will discover for you that turbo tax won’t automatically claim for you and that you need deep knowledge of legalese to exploit. Are you sure your accountant didn’t claim fraudulent deductions or forget to list certain sources of income? You should never judge an accountant by how much money they get back for you, when you have simple taxes your tax burden is both trivial to determine and immutable, and the only way to decrease it is fraud.
- FredPret 3y ago
  Yes but the accountant knows my general situation, knows the current state of the legalese, and can translate this into the minimum number of simple, < dozen word English sentences. As regards to your last two paragraphs, I think you're missing the point. I could find these deductions in Turbotax if I wanted to. But for $100, I don't have to think about it or wade through endless questionnaires. It's unfortunate that your mind jumps to tax fraud on my or my accountant's part before you consider this, much simpler, point.

esoterica 3y ago

You know you still have to tell your accountant whether or not you moved x km for work if it’s relevant for your taxes right? They aren’t omniscient, any questions that your tax software makes you answer your accountant needs to ask you too if they are doing their job right. If your taxes are simple enough that it costs less than $100 for an accountant to handle it then that means you shouldn’t have to do anything more than enter your income and biographical info into your tax software. There is no reason why hiring an accountant would be any faster or more convenient. And I’m sorry, but the fact that your taxes were so simple that your accountant charged you less than $100 and somehow still magically found extra money for you smells very fishy to me. At that price point there are no secret deductions your accountant will discover for you that turbo tax won’t automatically claim for you and that you need deep knowledge of legalese to exploit. Are you sure your accountant didn’t claim fraudulent deductions or forget to list certain sources of income? You should never judge an accountant by how much money they get back for you, when you have simple taxes your tax burden is both trivial to determine and immutable, and the only way to decrease it is fraud.

FredPret 3y ago
Yes but the accountant knows my general situation, knows the current state of the legalese, and can translate this into the minimum number of simple, < dozen word English sentences. As regards to your last two paragraphs, I think you're missing the point. I could find these deductions in Turbotax if I wanted to. But for $100, I don't have to think about it or wade through endless questionnaires. It's unfortunate that your mind jumps to tax fraud on my or my accountant's part before you consider this, much simpler, point.