You know the tax law has changed. And, for many of you, that means that itemizing is no longer an option.  (If you are married, the threshold of deductions needed to itemize went from $ 12K to $ 24K- and you are limited to $ 10K for the TOTAL of your property taxes and state/local income taxes.  Of course, you could do as I have done for many a client- filed separately for the first time in decades.  Where the threshold is $ 12K- and you still have that 10K max for property/state/local taxes….)

So, if you are not itemizing, you should be computing your tax obligations yourself.  There is no need to pay an accountant.   [Note:  I will discuss what you should do if you have rental property, own a business (not a solopreneur) or even if you are a solopreneur in a few minutes.]

Most reviewers have decided that H&R Block has a great offering for those folks.  And, this program also lets you include student loans. However, NO itemized deductions are allowed.  If you are not itemizing, it seem that there is no income cap that precludes you using this program!

Don’t get worried- this year only about 10% of filers will be able to itemize their deductions- since the GOP limited state/local/property tax deductions to $ 10K –  and lumped the standard deduction and the personal exemption together (raising the total of the two numbers to $ 12K for singles, $ 18K for heads of households, and $ 24K for married filing jointly.)   See my blog – or my book- to understand how this hurt families of 4 or more (plus more than a few others).

But, if you are under the age of 51, or are actively in the military, or somehow eligible for the Earned Income Credit (EIC)- and have an adjusted gross income below the threshold ($ 66K), then you can produce your taxes – regardless of the forms you need) for free, too- but then you must use H&R Block Free File.  (Please note- it’s not clear you can do this directly from the H&R Block website.  You need to navigate to the IRS website- and it will shunt you back to the Free File site, if you so qualify.)

If you don’t make the cut for the H&R Block Free File, then the consensus reviews believe it’s time to migrate over to TurboTax Deluxe.  That’s where you should be if you are not a solopreneur, an unincorporated business owner, operate a rental real estate business, or receive a K-1 from a business or trust.

Note, this is not a free process.  But, it’s relatively cheap.  You can file with itemized deductions (Schedule A), mortgage interest credit (Form 8396), and/or HSA (health savings account contributions) for those with high-deductible health insurance forms.

(Just so you know…  These are not biased studies.  The plethora of choices included H&R Block, TurboTax, TaxAct, eSmart Tax (aka Liberty Tax), TaxSlayer, CreditKarma, and FreeTaxUSA.)

But, if you also have capital gains (Schedule D and its sister form 8797), have business deductions (Schedule C), rental property (Schedule E) or those K-1s (the second page of Schedule E), then…

That’s when everyone says (thank you, thank you , thank you), it’s time for you to come to someone like us.  Especially us.

Obviously, this means if you are running a business that must file Form 1065 (partnerships or LLCs not electing to operate other than as an LLC), Form 1120S (those entities that have qualified themselves as S entities), or Form 1120 (C corporations)- you should also rely on qualified professionals to prepare your taxes.  (Note that the first two forms also involve that new tax law provision- Qualified Business Income [QBI], that may allow 20% of your profits to pass through to you untaxed!)

For example, the NY Times advises that those with true business operations (not just a 1099, but expenses and deductions);  complicated investor portfolios; K-1’s from trust, partnerships, or small businesses; and those with tax planning issues for next year, or sending kids to college, getting an inheritance or getting married or divorced- to run, not walk- to a qualified tax professional.

We know the new tax law.  We know what you can itemize, how to handle unincorporated businesses, rental property, depreciation, capital gains, and business/trust filing.

After all, I wrote the book!

The deadlines for partnerships and S entities (as well as any entity that issues K-1s) is 15 March.  Everyone else has a Federal deadline of 15 April.  (State laws differ- for example, the Commonwealth of Virginia has a deadline of 1 May for personal taxes.)