Relative to this 4 month gig away from home…the mileage exemption for 14,000 miles and 120 days of meals exemption…it’s amazing,lol

I need a cheap high mileage vehicle and go on a diet…lol

another benefit of doing your own taxes is you can see things like that when you decide or not to add another vehicle to farm or business use. Local license registration looks a bit weird when you tell them you need to register a SUV as a farm vehicle but clearly allowed under IRS and saves thousands yearly as we constantly use it for buying feed, farm store products, checking livestock etc.....

Learning the tax codes and using them to your advantage is something many people fail to do leaving thousands on the table each year.

Tax codes offer incentives that favor investors and entrepreneurs. W2 only employees don't have as many incentives/ deductions available.

The vw cars with TDI diesel get 40 to 50 mpg.

Tax codes and laws were drafted and modified for much higher income payers than most of us. I have used the standard mileage rate for my schedule Cs forever. No need to purchase an expensive vehicle when you can get the same rates for very low investment transportation.

Bryce

Absolutely. But there are some we can utilize if we are aware of them. Some federal some state specific.

A good state specific example I qused the last two years is indianas 20% tax credit for contributing to a 529 collage savings account. Thats a 20% return on investing automatically with zero risk. My daughter was going to nursing school so I knew she would be spending mor then the limit for the program. So I opened the account deposited the 7500 limit for that year left it for 30 days took it out and paid the school and got a $1,500 state tax credit at tax time that year.

Business expenses for business owners are rental properties have all kinds of tax advantages and on and on.
When I worked construction when younger I deducted milage, clothing and tools.

Every little bit helps. A little time geting educated can have financial benefits not leaving it on the table for the government.

It may pay to talk to a planner.

It might in some cases but, it is just my opinion,...........I think it is a real learning experience to do your own taxes....... especially if you are self employed. It can really open your eyes to opportunities to grab, or things to avoid.

Meticulous record keeping is a must IMO

I have done my own since 1974. We have a lot of forms to complete but as stated above one learns a lot about managing money. A lot of tax planning can and should be done long before filing as managing income and expenses can save considerable amounts of money. We had a condo built and by planning ahead we took out significan funds for DPs and other expenses over 3 tax years and kept ourselves in the lower brackets which saved us considerable amounts of money.

Bryce

I bought my new truck too soon, can now deduct interest paid on loan from income taxes.

Yes, I mean hire a money guy to teach you things where and how to use and put your money for the best tax advantages. Not so much doing your own taxes.