Quote:
Originally Posted by gusmahler
The local tax place I went to today charges $25 if you have them prepare a return, but not file it.
Block doesn't and I thought that was the industry standard, but if the place you went to is the only option as a second opinion it's still often going to be worth it for a return of anything more than minimal complexity. (Admittedly is difficult for me to convey what that level of complexity is.) There are just so many things it's possible to screw up or, more likely, simply not notice or think of.
The trick is that for obvious reasons they won't hand you the return they prepared without charging you, which is why it can be best to whip it up in TurboTax yourself first, if you're contemplating self-filing, or have your CPA do it or whatever, then get a second place to do look that over. For that they'll usually charge (though you may convince your preparer not to, for a quick once-over), but again, it's often going to be worth it.
For any given return there is a single, correct answer, but the complexity is great enough that getting to that answer is something most professionals, from storefront moron to Big Eight (once) accounting firm, are not going to arrive very often.