{"id":1230,"date":"2018-03-25T14:21:09","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T18:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2019-07-09T13:14:37","modified_gmt":"2019-07-09T17:14:37","slug":"when-to-hire-a-tax-professional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/25\/when-to-hire-a-tax-professional\/","title":{"rendered":"When to Hire a Tax Professional"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Sure, it may seem easy to do your own taxes, especially with all the easy to use tax programs available. Those taxpayers who have a simple W-2 from their employer and very little else can have a quick and easy tax filing season. However, not all taxpayers are that lucky, and there are some situations that are much more complicated. If you fall under one of the categories below, you may want to consider hiring a tax professional to help prepare and file your return, so you can ensure accuracy. <\/span><\/p>\n<ol class=\"ol1\">\n<li class=\"li2\"><b><\/b><span class=\"s2\"><b>You own rental property. <\/b>This is a complicated landscape regarding taxes, as the rules on how much property is taxed and how taxes are assessed are some of the most complicated in the tax code. If you live in your own rental property during the year, this further complicated the situation, as does any property loss (such as a fire) or made upgrades or bought items for the home. It\u2019s best to let a professional handle your Schedule E in these cases.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><b><\/b><span class=\"s2\"><b>You didn\u2019t file your past returns.<\/b> Some taxpayers just don\u2019t file their returns, especially if they think they will owe a significant amount in taxes. If you don\u2019t file, you\u2019ll be in hot water with the IRS. In many cases, it\u2019s better to file the return and not pay the taxes, then to not file at all, as the penalties will be less since you\u2019re not committing tax fraud. The penalty for \u201cfailure to file\u201d is up to 25% of the amount due.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Not filing your return is serious, and you\u2019d definitely benefit from hiring a professional to help. You\u2019ll need to file your missed returns, and a tax pro can help ensure you\u2019re getting all the deductions and credits your eligible for, and not just meeting the minimum requirements for filing, which can save you a lot of money in the end. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sure, it may seem easy to do your own taxes, especially with all the easy to use tax programs available. Those taxpayers who have a simple W-2 from their employer and very little else can have a quick and easy tax filing season. However, not all taxpayers are that lucky, and there are some situations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[597],"class_list":["post-1230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-filing","tag-tax-professional"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When to Hire a Tax Professional - eTax.com\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/25\/when-to-hire-a-tax-professional\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When to Hire a Tax Professional - eTax.com\u00ae Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sure, it may seem easy to do your own taxes, especially with all the easy to use tax programs available. Those taxpayers who have a simple W-2 from their employer and very little else can have a quick and easy tax filing season. 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