Hey everyone, I want to know how many of you (active traders) hire a CPA to file your tax every year? What are the pros and cons of hiring a CPA? Thanks in advance.
I would not file without a CPA.... you risk an audit with all those trades. And mine saves me money every year!
All depends. If you are comfortable with filing tax forms, can use something like Turbo-Tax, can prepare your Schedule D on a spreadsheet and are taking only legit deductions... you can probably do them yourself. If you're "not all that sure" about the above, getting some help would likely save you some money and maybe some grief.
My advice would be, if you are filing with Trader status and taking full deductions for expenses, a home office, etc., you should go with a CPA for protection and advice. If you are simply filing a sched D without Trader status, do it yourself.
Cheap bastard. What's it worth to sweat all day and toss and turn all night for six months before an audit?
Sorry to hear that you would toss and turn without a CPA. Some folks are actually factual and yes, really can do it themselves when it's basic stuff.
Can anyone recommend a CPA they've been with for at least a few years and is $400 or less? I've got a guy who knows his stuff, but is overcharging me I believe.
I found this shareware online and have been using it. It downloads all trades, including options and creates a schedule D for you. I copied the discription and pasted it below. I said freeware but the guy who wrote the program ask for donations from anyone who uses it and finds it helpful. Here is the url where you can check it out. http://americanware.netfirms.com/tradekeeper.htm TradeKeeper is a Microsoft Windows application designed to report gain/loss on your trades and to create IRS Schedule D tax form. It is not intended as a live real-time tracking system. It can automatically download your trade history from supported brokerages (see below) or a text file. TradeKeeper uses the Microsoft Access MDB file to store the data and can be customized by experienced users to create custom reports using MS Acesss to meet your specific business needs