I haven't tried TaxAct. How's the pricing compared to TurboTax? And does it let you jump directly to Schedule C without going through personal info you've already entered a million times before?

The pricing is definitely better - usually about half what TurboTax charges for the same features. For 2023 tax year I paid $65 total for federal and state with business income, compared to around $140 with TurboTax. Yes, you can jump directly to Schedule C and other forms! They have a forms-based navigation option where you can select exactly what you want to work on. You still need to complete basic personal info once, but after that you can move freely between different sections without following their sequence. It's much more efficient if you know what you're doing.

I tried the PDF forms route but got nervous about math errors. Don't the software programs check calculations and look for red flags? I'm always worried I'll miss something and get audited.

Is it different if you're in a golf-related business? I sell custom golf accessories and have display items in my office that are technically usable but mainly for showing clients.

For your situation it's completely different since those items directly relate to what you're selling. That's a clear business purpose - they're essentially product samples or demonstration items. You could likely deduct those as ordinary and necessary business expenses. In the original poster's consulting business that's unrelated to golf, it's harder to show a direct business purpose for an expensive putter beyond general office decor or client entertainment. That's where the documentation becomes more important to demonstrate regular business use.

Actually, Section 179 lets you deduct the full cost in year one rather than depreciating it - that's the whole point of the provision. But you're right that it would apply here if the putter qualifies as business equipment.

Does this work the same way if I use FreshBooks instead of QuickBooks? I find the asset tracking in FreshBooks a bit confusing for trade-ins.

FreshBooks handles fixed assets a bit differently than QuickBooks. In FreshBooks, you'll need to create a new expense for the full amount of the new laptop, then create a "credit" entry for the trade-in value. It's not as automated for calculating the remaining book value, so you'll need to know the remaining undepreciated value of your old laptop. If you're using FreshBooks, I'd recommend creating a simple spreadsheet on the side to track your fixed assets, their original purchase prices, accumulated depreciation, and current book values. This makes it much easier at tax time and ensures you're reporting everything correctly when you have trade-ins or sales of business equipment.

Thanks for the example! Did you handle this with regular depreciation or did you use Section 179 to expense the whole thing in the first year? Also, did you have to fill out any special forms for the "like-kind exchange" part?

1 Thanks for the advice! I didn't even think about depreciation. Is that something I calculate myself or do I need an accountant? And are there any military-specific deductions I should know about with this setup?

10 Depreciation is actually pretty straightforward for residential rental property. The IRS lets you depreciate the building portion (not the land) over 27.5 years. You'll need to determine what portion of your purchase price was for the building vs. land - your property tax assessment often breaks this down, or you can use a reasonable estimate like 80% building/20% land in most areas. As for military-specific deductions, you can deduct unreimbursed moving expenses (still available for military even though civilians lost this deduction), and you may be able to exclude combat pay if applicable. If you paid state taxes in non-resident states where you were temporarily stationed, you might get credits for those in certain situations. I'd recommend talking to a military-experienced tax professional your first year with this setup.

24 I've tried several and had the best luck with FreeTaxUSA. It handles the Schedule E for rentals really well and asks all the right questions about military service. Plus it's way cheaper than TurboTax especially if you have rental income - TurboTax forces you into their premium version for that.

22 Thanks! I'll give FreeTaxUSA a try. TurboTax was charging me nearly $200 for the premium version plus state filing, which seems excessive considering we get free filing options through Military OneSource.

The ID.me verification is actually why I couldn't get my transcript online! They couldn't verify my phone for some reason and I got stuck in this endless loop. Has anyone found a workaround for the ID.me verification issues?

The ID.me system can definitely be frustrating. If you're having trouble with the automated verification, try their "video chat verification" option. It lets you speak with a human representative who can manually verify your identity. It takes longer (sometimes there's a waiting room), but it usually works when the automated system fails. Another option is to use the login.gov pathway instead of ID.me if it gives you that choice. Some people have better luck with one system versus the other.

It's not just you! The tax system in the US is deliberately complicated because tax prep companies lobby to keep it that way. Many other countries have simple tax filing systems where the government pre-fills your forms and you just verify them. But companies like H&R Block and TurboTax literally spend millions lobbying to prevent simplification because it would hurt their business model.

I had no idea about the lobbying thing, but it makes total sense. I lived in Sweden for a few years and filing taxes there took like 5 minutes - they sent me a pre-filled form and I just confirmed it was correct by text message. Coming back to the US tax system was a huge shock. I'm definitely going to be more careful about saving copies of everything from now on. Lesson learned the hard way!