Towards the end of this article, the author recommends and links to another article about doing your own taxes[1]. I think this is a good suggestion. I've been

Towards the end of this article, the author recommends and links to another article about doing your own taxes[1]. I think this is a good suggestion. I've been doing my own taxes for years. In my experience, it is about the same level of effort as using the tax software. Instead of typing your numbers into tax software, you type the same numbers directly into the IRS's forms[2] and maybe use a calculator a couple of times. While there are some nooks & crannies that may take some time to figure out the first time you do them, the general approach is always the same: add up your incomes, subtract your deductions, apply tax to the difference, subtract your contributions. Done. Keep that algorithm in mind and it's quite easy to just follow the directions and see how each step is accomplishing each part of the algorithm. The first time you do it yourself, you can compare your final return against what the tax prep software did for you last year to sanity check your results. If I was running my own business or something, I'd probably hire an accountant, but for individuals who only have some W-2s and 1099s and stuff, it's just an hour or two of simple math and you're done. [1] Sadly has more AI generated slop at the top, but what're you gonna do. https://www.mikekasberg.com/blog/2024/03/15/i-did-my-own-taxes-by-hand-and-you-can-too.html https://www.mikekasberg.com/blog/2024/03/15/i-did-my-own-tax... [2] https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-forms https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/free-file-fillable-form...