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My parents were TurboTax users for 25+ years until my dad retired last year and they finally used an accountant. The difference was shocking! The accountant found almost $4k in missed deductions just on their rental properties alone. The biggest advantage seems to be that accountants know the "gray areas" and exactly how aggressive you can safely be with deductions. They also know the latest tax law changes that might not make it into TurboTax immediately. Nothing against TurboTax, but there's a reason accountants still exist in the age of software! Might be worth at least getting a consultation to see what you're missing.
Wow $4k is a lot! Do you know what specific deductions they were missing? I'm now second-guessing myself about how thorough I've been with my rental property deductions.
The biggest miss was around home office deductions related to managing their rentals. They had never claimed any home office space despite doing all the management work from home. The accountant also found some vehicle expenses they hadn't claimed properly and reclassified some repairs they had made as capital improvements that could be depreciated differently. Another thing was timing of income and expenses between tax years. The accountant showed them how to legally shift some income and expenses between years to minimize their overall tax burden. It's all completely legitimate, just strategic in a way they hadn't considered with TurboTax.
I'm a CPA and I'll tell you something most tax pros won't: for many people with relatively simple situations (even with a rental), TurboTax is absolutely fine. The software has improved tremendously over the years. Where professionals add value: 1) Complex situations (multiple properties, businesses, unusual investments) 2) Audit protection and representation 3) Year-round tax planning, not just filing 4) Identifying industry-specific deductions you might not know about If you've been comfortable with TurboTax for 20 years and understand your situation well, you're probably not missing much. Maybe consider a one-time consultation with a tax pro just to verify, but don't feel pressured to change what's working for you.
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Tax attorney here. Even if the unrealized gains tax proposal passes, it would almost certainly have a significant exemption amount - current proposals target billionaires and those with $100M+ in income. For most investors and property owners, traditional recordkeeping would continue to apply. That said, maintaining good records is always important. For real estate, keep receipts for all improvements (not regular maintenance) as these add to your cost basis. For collectibles, document purchase prices and get periodic appraisals if the values are significant. Digital photos with dates can also help establish condition and ownership timeline.
Would the proposal likely include retirement accounts or just taxable investments? I'm nowhere near the wealth threshold, but just curious how comprehensive it would be.
Retirement accounts would almost certainly be excluded from any unrealized gains tax proposal. These accounts already have specific tax treatment - traditional accounts are tax-deferred until withdrawal, while Roth accounts are already post-tax money growing tax-free. The proposals being discussed are primarily targeting accumulated wealth in taxable accounts that currently allows some ultra-wealthy individuals to avoid income taxation by holding appreciating assets indefinitely, borrowing against them for living expenses, and never triggering taxable events through sales.
I think people are overthinking this. The US tax system is mostly built on self-reporting anyway. For non-public assets, you'd probably just estimate fair market value in good faith, similar to how you value items donated to charity. IRS would only really challenge outlier valuations.
That's way too simplistic. The IRS absolutely challenges valuations on items worth significant amounts. Try valuing a $1M painting at $2M for a charitable donation and see how that goes. With billions in tax revenue at stake, they'd implement strict appraisal requirements.
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One thing to consider that nobody's mentioned yet - you might want to look at having your PSC elect S corporation status rather than C corporation. With a C corp PSC, you're subject to that flat 21% corporate rate plus personal taxes on distributions (potential double taxation). An S corp PSC still gives you some potential employment tax savings, but income passes through to your personal return so you avoid the double taxation issue. Plus you have more flexibility with loss pass-through if either line of business has a down year.
That's interesting - I hadn't considered switching to an S corp. Would I lose any benefits by making that change? And would it affect how I handle the two different income streams?
You wouldn't lose the liability protection benefits, but you would lose the ability to retain earnings at the corporate level at the 21% rate. All income would flow through to your personal return regardless of whether you take it out of the business. For handling the two income streams, there's no difference - both producing and consulting still qualify as personal services. You'd still want to maintain clear records separating the different business activities, but the S corp can absolutely handle both streams. The main benefit is avoiding potential double taxation, especially if you need to take most of the income out as compensation anyway.
Has anyone addressed how to handle the 24 monthly payments part? I'm in a similar situation with my PSC and trying to figure out if there are timing benefits to how these future payments get recognized as income.
There's actually an opportunity there depending on your overall income situation. With a C corp PSC, you could potentially recognize those monthly payments as corporate income when received, then time your salary distributions strategically based on your personal tax situation each year. Gives you more flexibility than if you were receiving those payments directly as an individual.
That's a great point I hadn't thought about. I'm definitely interested in knowing if there are smart ways to handle the timing of those monthly payments to optimize my tax situation.
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Something nobody has mentioned yet - if you're really worried, you can request your tax transcripts from the IRS! They're free and show exactly what the IRS has on file for you. I do this every year as a double-check. There are different types: - Account transcript: Shows payments, adjustments, penalties - Return transcript: Shows most of what was on your filed return - Record of Account: Combines the above two - Wage & Income: Shows reported W-2s, 1099s, etc. The account transcript will show if your payment was received and if there are any balance due. You can get them online at irs.gov or by mail.
Can you get these transcripts right away or is there a waiting period after filing?
There's a processing time of about 2-3 weeks after you file before the current year's transcripts become available. Prior years are available immediately. The "account transcript" will update faster than the others and will show your payment, so that's the best one to check first if you're concerned about whether your payment was properly applied.
I'm in literally the same boat! Filed and paid $1200 on Feb 15th (ouch) and was wondering the same thing. Called IRS yesterday after stressing for a week and the agent told me "no news is good news" - if they don't contact you about issues, everything is fine. She confirmed my payment posted correctly and return was accepted. Apparently they only send formal notices if there are problems or if you're getting a refund. If you paid what you owed and the return calculates correctly, you won't get any notification. Weird system but that's how it works!
That "no news is good news" thing is so stressful though! Like, can they not send a simple "yep we got it, you're good" email in 2025?? The government is so behind on technology.
Giovanni Ricci
Another option nobody's mentioned yet - check your online account at SSA.gov. You can create an account on the Social Security Administration website and view your reported wages, which will show all W-2 income reported under your SSN. Might not have all the withholding details you need, but at least you can verify the income amounts from all your employers.
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Yuki Yamamoto
•Will the SSA site show my current year W-2 info though? I thought it only updates annually and wouldn't have my 2024 information available yet for filing in 2025?
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Giovanni Ricci
•You're right to question this - the SSA website typically doesn't show current tax year information in time for filing. It usually updates around July for the previous year's wages. So while it's a good resource for verifying past years or checking if old employers reported your wages correctly, it won't help with your current filing situation. For current year W-2s that you're missing, you'll need to contact either the employer directly or the IRS as others have suggested. The IRS typically has the current year information in their system before it appears in the SSA database.
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NeonNomad
I once forgot to include a W-2 for about $2,500 and got a letter from the IRS about 8 months later. They adjusted my return automatically, charged me the additional tax plus interest, and reduced my refund for the following year. Wasn't a huge deal but definitely would have been simpler to just include it from the start.
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Fatima Al-Hashemi
•Did they charge you any penalties or just the tax and interest? I'm in a similar situation but it's been 2 years and I haven't heard anything...
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