Need advice on cost-effective tax help for self-employed with specific questions

Having worked in tax preparation for years, I totally understand your situation! You've done the hard work already and just need confirmation on a few specifics. For targeted questions like yours, you might consider booking a consultation with an independent CPA or EA (Enrolled Agent) who offers hourly services. Many will do a quick review of your prepared return and answer specific questions without requiring you to file through them. Expect to pay around $75-150 for an hour consultation, which should be plenty of time for your questions. Local accounting firms are often more flexible than chains with these kinds of arrangements. Just call a few and explain exactly what you need - verification of your self-completed return and answers to specific questions about business expenses and depreciation.

I was in exactly the same boat last year! After trying to get answers from chains who just wanted me to pay them to redo my whole return, I found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which was perfect for what you need. I uploaded my draft return and asked specific questions about my freelance photography expenses. The AI analyzed all my tax docs and gave detailed answers about what expenses qualified and how to handle depreciation for my camera equipment. It was way cheaper than hiring someone for an in-person consultation, and I could ask as many follow-up questions as I needed without feeling rushed.

I wanted to follow up on my skepticism about taxr.ai from my earlier comment. I decided to try it with my similar situation (freelance graphic design with both Schedule C and W-2 income), and I'm honestly impressed. I had questions about deducting my Adobe subscription and home office, and whether to depreciate my new tablet. The advice was detailed and specific to my situation, with actual references to tax regulations. It caught that I was calculating my home office deduction incorrectly and saved me over $600! Definitely worth checking out if you just need targeted advice without paying for a full consultation.

If you need to talk to an actual IRS agent to verify anything (like depreciation rules for your specific industry), I highly recommend Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I wasted HOURS on hold with the IRS last year trying to get clarification on some self-employment questions. With Claimyr, I didn't have to wait on hold at all - they called the IRS, navigated the phone tree, waited on hold, and then called me once they had an actual IRS agent on the line. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent was able to answer my specific questions about depreciation thresholds and confirmed I was filing correctly. Saved me so much stress and uncertainty!

Well I'm eating my words now. After being super skeptical about Claimyr in my previous comment, I tried it yesterday out of desperation. Had a question about my self-employment estimated tax payments that I couldn't get a straight answer on anywhere. It actually worked!! I got a call back in about 40 minutes (way faster than the 2+ hours I wasted trying on my own last week). Got connected to an IRS rep who pulled up my account and confirmed my payments had been properly applied. Problem solved in minutes once I actually got through. For what it's worth to the original poster, the IRS agent also told me items under $2,500 can be fully expensed in most cases instead of depreciated (look up the "de minimis safe harbor election").

Another option nobody's mentioned is checking if your local community college offers tax assistance. The one near me has accounting students (supervised by their professors who are CPAs) who do free tax reviews. They can't file for you, but they'll go over your return and answer specific questions. Might be worth looking into if you're trying to save money. Just call the business/accounting department and ask if they have a VITA or tax assistance program.

If your questions are specifically about depreciation under $1000, you might not need paid help at all. Look up "de minimis safe harbor election" - basically, the IRS allows you to immediately expense (not depreciate) business property that costs less than $2,500 per item. You just need to have an accounting policy in place (even if it's just written down for yourself) and elect this on your tax return. Could save you a lot of hassle with depreciation schedules.