[kelnos]

I used TaxAct for many years and had no real issues with it. A few years ago I started having a CPA do my taxes because my tax situation got a bit more complicated, and I didn't trust myself to even answer TaxAct's (or TurboTax's) questions correctly.

> The least sophisticated firm just said: send us everything in a zip file. That sounded appealing until they started following up with a million questions.

That's super weird. Every year I answer a 2-page questionnaire (about 30 yes/no questions), sign an engagement letter and some authorization docs, scan those, zip up all my tax documents, and send them over. My CPA rarely needs to ask any questions of me at all, and sends me my completed return for approval in early April. It's not cheap ($1700), but the peace of mind plus the lack of need for me to do much of anything, is very much worth it. I'm fairly certain I'm saving money overall, but even if my tax bill ended up being exactly the same were I to do it myself, I'd still pay to have it done for me, with a much higher expectation of correctness.