Is hiring a CPA worth it to save money on my 2025 taxes? Higher income & investments

Thanks for the detailed response. I'm wondering specifically about the business expenses - I haven't actually formed an LLC or anything, it was basically just me testing Facebook ads for a product idea that didn't really pan out. Would I still need some kind of business registration to claim those expenses?

You don't necessarily need a formal business entity like an LLC to deduct startup expenses. The IRS looks at whether you were engaged in activities with a genuine profit motive. Even without formal registration, you could potentially deduct these as startup costs on Schedule C if you can demonstrate you were seriously exploring a business opportunity with the intention of making profit. However, if the IRS determines this was more of a hobby than a business venture, the deductions might be disallowed. This is exactly the kind of nuanced situation where a CPA's guidance would be valuable in determining proper classification and documentation.

How does it work with stock grants and RSUs? That's the part that always confuses me in TurboTax - especially tracking the basis correctly. Does taxr.ai handle the stock compensation piece well?

So is this just another tax filing service or do they actually connect you with real CPAs? $750 seems steep but if they actually find enough deductions I guess it's worth it...

They handle stock grants and RSUs extremely well. The system automatically identifies the different tax treatment needed between your initial grant date, vesting schedule, and when you sell. It properly tracks your basis and holding periods which is where TurboTax always got confusing for me too. It's especially helpful if you've had multiple grants vesting on different schedules. It's not just another tax filing service - they use AI to analyze your documents but you also get matched with a real CPA who reviews everything and provides personalized guidance. In my experience, they found over $3,200 in deductions I would have missed, which more than covered their fee.

Wait how does this actually work? Do they just wait on hold for you or something? Seems too good to be true.

This sounds like a sketchy service. How do you know it's an actual IRS agent and not someone pretending? I'd be careful giving any personal info to random services like this...

They basically use a combination of technology and human agents to navigate the IRS phone system and wait through the hold times for you. When they reach a real IRS agent, they conference you into the call. It's not that they just connect you to someone random - they get you through to the actual IRS faster than you could on your own. I was initially concerned about security too, but their system doesn't require you to provide any sensitive information to them. They just need your phone number to call you back when they reach an agent. The connection is directly with the official IRS line, so you're speaking with legitimate IRS representatives. I verified this by checking the phone number they connected me with against the official IRS contact numbers.

Thanks for sharing your experience. What kinds of deductions did they find that you weren't aware of? I'm trying to get a sense of whether I'm missing major opportunities by using TurboTax.

My CPA found several deductions I had missed completely. The biggest was properly documenting home office expenses since I occasionally work from home - this included a portion of utilities, internet, and even some home maintenance costs that I never would have thought to deduct. They also helped me properly categorize some of my investment expenses and found that some financial advisory fees I was paying were partially deductible. For your specific situation, they might find ways to optimize your stock grant taxation or identify deductions related to your attempted business venture that go beyond just the direct ad costs. A good CPA doesn't just file forms - they look at your whole financial picture and find optimization opportunities. The first year with mine, she saved me about $3,200 compared to what I would have paid using TurboTax, which more than covered her fee.

I've tried both and honestly they're pretty similar for stock stuff. The real difference comes with having someone who can give you planning advice BEFORE tax time. Software just helps you report what already happened, not optimize for the future.

That's a fair point about the planning aspect. I guess my experience was that H&R Block's interface specifically for stock grants and basis tracking was more intuitive than TurboTax, but you're absolutely right that neither one provides forward-looking strategic advice. For someone with the OP's income level, getting that proactive guidance could definitely be worth the CPA cost, especially with the mix of salary, stock grants, and trading activity. I still use software myself, but I'm also not dealing with $110K in stock gains!