Should I Do My Own Taxes?

"Every year, I have to do an atomic bomb tax return, this year it is you." I had just hired Alan, a wonderful local tax accountant after we had been in business for 2 years. The first year, my bookkeeper was doing them, and I didn't know any difference between a bookkeeper, CPA, EA, etc. After showing Alan my books and previous years' return he informed me that it was not only going to be an expensive clean up, but also an expensive amended return, and regular priced this years' return. I couldn't believe it, I had hired an (albeit cheap) professional to handle my compliance work, and after the initial consultation, the cleanup was going to cost more than I had paid her all year. I was grateful that Alan was able to fix the mistakes my bookkeeper had made, and the mistake I made by hiring someone who wasn't qualified enough to handle the job at hand. My bookkeeper was a great woman, and there was nothing wrong with her as a person, but we both should have recognized that she was not a tax accountant and that the scope of the project was a little out of reach. I have since had my own accountants' work audited by other tax professionals just for peace of mind. It costs a little more, but I never want to be in that situation again. We see this time & time again with other tech companies that try to handle compliance, but do not have the proper training or skillset to actually handle the task. I learned first hand, luckily, it was early on in the journey of running a company, the value of having someone who is certified to do work I cannot Blog post description.