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Should You Use DIY Tax Software or a Tax Preparer?
For plenty of people, DIY software is a perfectly good choice. Here is how to tell whether you are one of them, and what changes when you are not.
Reviewed by LaToya Clark-Thompson, FounderLast updated
When DIY software is a fine choice
If your return is simple, software handles it well, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. A simple return usually looks like this:
- Your income is wages on a W-2, perhaps with a little bank interest on a 1099-INT
- You take the standard deduction
- Nothing major changed this year: same filing status, same dependents, same state
- You have no business, rental, or investment sales to report
- You received no IRS or South Carolina letters about last year
If that is you, the software interview asks the right questions, the forms are standard, and the risk of a costly mistake is low. Paying someone to type in one W-2 is not always money well spent.
Where software starts to fall short
Software only knows what you tell it, and it only asks what it was built to ask. The trouble starts when your year does not fit the interview neatly:
- Side income from a side hustle or a move from W-2 to 1099 work, where Schedule C, self-employment tax and estimated payments come in
- A home bought or sold, or a first year as a landlord
- A marriage, divorce, new baby or a parent you now support, where filing status and credits shift
- Brokerage or crypto sales, where cost basis on the 1099-B is missing or wrong
- Business owners with books that do not produce a clean profit and loss
None of these are impossible in software. The risk is that you answer a question the way it seems to be asking, and the program accepts it. It will not tell you a deduction is missing if you never knew to look for it.
What you get here instead
LaToya Clark-Thompson personally leads the work, and you deal with the person doing it. That has a few practical consequences:
- Someone asks about your year, not just your forms, and catches the change you did not think to mention
- You get an explanation of what drove your refund or balance due, not just a figure at the bottom of a page
- The return is walked through with you before it is filed
- Next year, the same preparer already knows your situation
- If a letter arrives later, you have someone to bring it to
You can come into the Easley office or do everything virtually through the secure client portal. See why people choose us for the rest.
Already filed with software? Have it checked
If you used software last year and are wondering whether it got everything, the free prior-year review is the low-risk way to find out. We look at the return you filed and tell you what we see, including when it looks right. If something was missed, an amended return can often still recover it.
Not sure whether your situation needs a preparer at all? The service finder asks a few questions and points you to the right next step.
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth paying a tax preparer if I only have a W-2?
Often not, if nothing else changed. A single W-2, the standard deduction and no new life events is exactly what DIY software is good at. It becomes worth a conversation when something did change: a new dependent, a move, side income, a home purchase, or a letter from the IRS about a prior year. Those are the situations where a missed question costs more than the preparation does.
What do tax preparers catch that tax software misses?
Mostly things the software never asked about because you did not know to mention them: a filing status that no longer fits, a credit you became eligible for, a business expense that was never recorded, or income reported on the wrong schedule. Software is accurate with the answers it receives. A preparer asks about your year and questions answers that do not fit together.
Can I switch from tax software to a preparer partway through?
Yes. If you started in software and got stuck, bring what you have: your documents, and the draft if you can print or save it. We prepare the return from the source documents rather than from the draft, but the draft shows us where you got stuck. Last year’s filed return is especially useful because it carries forward figures that are easy to lose.
Do you prepare simple returns too?
Yes. We prepare individual returns of every size, and some clients with simple returns simply prefer to hand it to someone they know. We will also tell you honestly when your return is simple enough that software would serve you well. You can book a free consultation if you want to talk it through first.
Not the question you had? The full tax FAQ covers more ground, and our client reviews say what the work is actually like.
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Learn morePart of Working With Us. Not sure which service fits? Answer a few questions.
Tell us what you need
Send a short note about your situation and we’ll come back to you with a straight answer — whether that’s a quote, a next step, or a referral if it isn’t something we handle.
Prefer to talk it through first? Book a consultation and we’ll find a time, in the Easley office or virtually.
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