Just picked up my taxes from my accountant

[Ferrets are Cool]

I run a small business. A very small business that keeps my wife and I above water. I am paying 2K more this year than I did the last two years, while my gross income was less than those two years.

I don't mind paying the taxes. I really don't. What made me really, really mad was what my accountant of 20 years said to my wife, who picked them up for us today. Paraphrasing, "Yeah, they were higher this year, but brace yourself for next year after Biden has "his way" with the tax code. It's gonna make this year look like a picnic."

To be honest, it's a good thing it wasn't me picking up those documents. I would have probably ruined a friendship of 20 years. I was furious after my wife relayed this to me. I think my exact statement was, "it makes me so upset when otherwise smart people are so FUCKING STUPID!!"

rant off.

[mzmolly]

1. I'd find a new accountant.

It sounds like your current guy has an agenda.

[proud patriot]

11. +1

[BobTheSubgenius]

17. OTOH, this guy's agenda would probably make him find every deduction possible.

[mzmolly]

18. Not if he wants to feign a Biden

tax increase.

[pnwest]

2. Consider using H&R Block Small Business advisors.

Sorry to sound like a commercial...they offer bookkeeping services, payroll and expert tax advice and tax prep! You can also take your return in for a Second Look at no charge, make sure you got everything you’re entitled to, and talk with them about their Small Biz services. Find an office that’s open year round near you.

[TheBlackAdder]

12. Family had two bad experiences with H&R services. They guessed, mishandled and I had to pay to fix.

.

I had IRS shit to deal with and it took a year to settle the fuckedupness.

They also humped up my daughter's taxes too and charged around $400.
My private accountant charges $400 for two of my kids tax returns.

My experience was in a NJ office. My daughter's in a MA office, so it wasn't just one location.

.

[Blue_true]

13. I had a bad experience with them years ago also.

The thing is some of their people are skilled and well trained, but you have to know who those people are and hope those people stay around. If you get a “trainee”, you could end up totally screwed if your tax situation has any complexity to it at all. They claim that a senior person reviews the trainee’s work, but how thorough is that when each person is dealing with maybe 30 clients per day?

[TheBlackAdder]

16. I would just like to see a quicker tax process, since the IRS pretty much has all of our info anyway

.

I'm not talking about those stupid flat taxes the RWers keep trying to push that fucks the poor.

I'm talking about not needing an accountant or buy software updates that 2 major firms control and bribe politicians to keep the complexity there. They're just as bad as the NRA and stress out almost every American household for weeks and cost us all a ton of money and productivity. I view politicians that cater to these two major firms just as bad as those taking NRA money--fucking over almost the entire country, especially average people, for a few grand every year.

.

[Maraya1969]

3. Yea, I'd also find a new accountant and I'd make it a point of telling the old one why.

But that's just me.

[magicarpet]

4. Dump him,... politically charged comments of that nature are totally uncalled for.

[UpInArms]

5. Your taxes was the result of

trump’s crap, it was waphat came out from the 2917;corporate giveaway.

[orleans]

6. breathe.... and get rid of that guy

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

7. Friend or not if it were me I would find another accountant.

I used to work for Liberty Tax and they never brought up politics in any way.

Bringing up politics can lose customers.

[Liberal In Texas]

8. Yep, bye friend of 20 years. If my accountant of 20 some years said that I'd cut him loose.

I've dumped anybody who's a repub out of my life. Business or friends. It has a way of keeping my blood pressure from going off the chart.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. I will chime in to what others have said.

Get a new accountant.

I don't have a small business (or a medium or large business for that matter), just my personal income and associated taxes. So I wish I could understand why you are paying more this year with a lower gross. Is there any chance your accountant made a mistake? Or is there anything you can do to mitigate taxes for next year?

I have an accountant who does my taxes, mainly because a decade ago they were really complicated and I wasn't about to attempt to do them myself. I think the world of my accountant. He makes doing my taxes easy and, dare I say, delightful. Normally I sit with him in his office as he inputs everything from the various forms I've given him, and explains to me what is what, why I'm paying what I am paying. He makes my taxes a pleasure, something I look forward to. This year, because of the pandemic, I didn't get to sit with him, and actually his son, who is now in the practice, did my actual taxes. But when I went to pick up the forms and sign what needed to be signed, Frank the accountant (the son is Ben) came out to chat with me and gave me a lovely hug. First hug in a year or more. It was good.

[Ferrets are Cool]

10. In answer to your question, I had fewer deductions this year.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

14. Check it out... Trump's tax cuts were phasing down weren't they?

Seems I remember it was all "temporary" for non-millionaires that is.

[Blue_true]

15. Maybe you should buy yourself 5 goats and call yourself a Farmer.

That works to allow you to income average over a five year period of your choosing. You could have the first two years be last year and this year. In Florida, I believe the tactic is being abused, people are putting horses, goats, donkeys into fields and claiming a farmstead so that they can smooth out their tax situation advantageous to them, but abusive to the rest of us who don’t use such a trick (don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of farming, but I would do it only as a self-supporting profit making, tax paying business, not as a tax shield).