In another thread, some folks here expressed that I shouldn't go to an accountant, and that I should go with tax software.
We moved in the year, have two states to file in, bought & sold a house in the year, moved, etc...
What say you, DinK? Should we go with software or a specialist?
Thanks,
Lavabe
I have the following dilemma.
Fact: I am highly superstitious about some things.
Fact: Last Duke-UNC game, I went to the game watch in LA.
Fact: Duke lost.
Should I go to the game watch tomorrow or stay home and eat pepperoni?
I'm not sure I can be of any advice, but I can share a painful story wit you.
I moved between 3 states (NC-SC, SC-NC, NC-CA) in the middle of the tax year and was royally screwed over when my company made mistakes in their contributions to each state. It seems they either didn't switch states, or switched to the wrong state 3 years in a row. I finally figured out my mistakes when I received about a billion audits. Turns out I had filed using the wrong forms and that I still owed money from each year, to each state (that's 2 mistakes per year). Of course the juice had been running since the first year so I owed thousands now. Thankfully, my boss went to bat for me and my company gave a me a nice big fat bonus check for the total amount of money to the IRS.
Good luck!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack... I just clicked on the PPB by accident. Somebody help me! I feel dirty!
It depends on how comfortable you are in preparing your taxes on your own. I haven't looked KY & GA returns in a while to remember how they handle the resident/non-resident issue - states don't all do it the same way.
I doubt you had a taxable gain on the sale of your house, so that shouldn't be an issue. (Since you are married, you would have to have a gain greater than $500,000 on the home sale to have a taxable gain. This could very if you hadn't lived in the home 2 out of the prior 5 years or if you used any portion of the home for business purposes.) You will want to watch the closing statements on both the sale and purchase to determine any real estate taxes that were paid. You probably paid some on the home you sold and they probably paid some on the home you bought. You will need to reduce your deduction for real estate taxes paid on the new home by the amount the seller paid on the closing statement. Also check your closing statement on the new home for any points paid on your mortgage that aren't reported on your Form 1098 reporting mortgage interest paid on your new home.
Moving expenses are somewhat limited but the IRS has Publication 521 available on their website with information on this.
Good luck. If you do go with having someone prepare the returns, be sure to get referrals from people you know in the area. I think word of mouth is the best way to find people in service/professional industries.