The cutoff for the EIC for a married couple with two kids is just under the $40K mark, so there are a lot of working class families who qualify. I know you didn't mean to, KFC, but I have to concur with Tex on the stereotype; poor doesn't always mean "deadbeat".

That's the good thing about RAL's, though. They may cost a tad more on our end but we walk out knowing the preparer's bill is paid.

KFC: Thank you for clarifying. The cut-off for EIC is not extremely low (definitely not poverty level) so many decent, honest, working families qualify for it.



I'm not saying that your son isn't financially successful. The way the tax system works, though, he DOES (or should) qualify for EIC (unless I'm waaay off on his rank and years in service).

What I'm getting at is, as Gideon said, not just "poor deadbeats" get EIC. Whether EIC should exist at all is another topic completely, but it's not all that hard to qualify for when you have children.

PS - My husand is enlisted and considering his non-taxable allowances, medical insurance premiums we aren't paying, the commissary discount (locally, it's about 20%), and an average-sized electricity bill that we are not required to pay, along with his base pay, he makes about $75K (we do live in a high cost of living area, though).

I'm NOT complaining about military pay. I'm just trying (maybe unsuccessfully) to illustrate my point, which is: not just "poor deadbeats" receive EIC. Decent, hardworking, promptly-paying people get it too.

With Turbo Tax, (and no offense), why should someone come to you? I am just curious.

There's nothing really wrong with Turbo Tax, but I'd suggest every few years you hire a CPA to do your taxes especially if you have any significant changes or just to make sure things are right. It's a good thing to go in with questions that you may have like investments, IRA's, inheritance questions you may have, etc.

Turbo Tax can't sit down and ask you questions across the desk like a CPA can. For instance, you build a relationship with your clients. They come in (or some just drop off) and usually questions are asked like, "your child is a senior this year? What are you doing for college plans?" Do you know about the FASFA form? Do y ou know when it needs to be filed? .........so I drove by your house and saw you selling cornstalks out front......did you know that you have to claim that for income? Yes, but do you know that if you claim the income that you can deduct the seeds, dirt, manure and other stuff you bought to make those stalks......and did you know that probably when all is done, you'll be taking a loss.....and be better off?

We've had people come in that have been doing turbo tax but still have questions they need answered. We also have had people do turbo tax and miss deductions they could have had. But I do think Turbo Tax from what little I know about it is pretty thorough.

If you're just cut and dry and the same old stuff every year, you're probably fine. Like you said, you just kind of go by what has already been done. But many of our clients when they come in have questions about other things like tax planning, investments etc. Like one person sold some land this year. She wanted to know how that was going to effect her for next year's taxes. We suggested for her to make a big tax payment at the end of this year as an estimated tax. That way she's got her income and expense in the same year. Otherwise she would be putting that expense on next year's return but that doesn't help her income this year. She needs that deduction.

Saved me $375 for the next 3 years we had that rental property

You're talking only service fees right? You must have to pay for the Turbo Tax Program every year right? Are you dedducting that? What's that? Half what you'd pay an accountant every year? Well say you spend $50 for the program. Say you pay $100 for tax prep. It would be worth the extra $50 or $60 to have a tax guy you trust every year to do this for you. You might have to spend a couple of hours yourself when it would only take a CPA an hour or so to do it. Time is money.

Sometimes people think they are saving money by doing their own taxes when they don't realize they've actually lost money that an accountant could get for them by applying tax law the client would have no idea was available. Remember these tax laws change yearly. It's hard to keep up with them. We've seen that alot. Sometimes we go back a year or two and do ammended tax returns to get them extra money they missed.

In our office when someone new comes in, we ask for their last year's return. That way we can check to see roughly if they took the deductions they had coming to them. Some do fine, some don't.

I skipped Turbo Tax for one reason: Political campaign expenditures. Nice to have some insurance (someone who has your back) by paying the money to have it done. Just my opinion.

Barring shysters, can we say "All the time"?

I would.