tax preparer expert for gambling win/losses in Phoenix,Az area (rental, casinos)

[pursiankitty123]

I know I have waited until the last minute as I have been in denial. I am new to AZ as of last May and have won several jackpots on slots here in Phoenix...to the tune of about $50,000. I have my win/loss statements from the casinos and I really need to find an accountant that knows what they are doing in this matter. My accountant that I used last year wouldn't use win/loss statesments for last years taxes 2010 and I am still paying payments to IRS every mth. I won alot more this year and am so scared of what I will owe! I know I should have paid it right away, but i didn't, so here I am panicking! Does anyone know a good accountant/tax preparer that can help me face these issues in Phoenix or any of the areas around PHX?

[khuntrevor]

unless you are a professional gambler, the tax part is simple, even with TurboTax. TT is better than using a tax-preparer.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by khuntrevor

unless you are a professional gambler, the tax part is simple, even with TurboTax. TT is better than using a tax-preparer.

You know, it's funny you mention that. Our tax guy bailed on us at the last minute this year leaving us with business and personal taxes to file. I sucked it up and bought TT home/business and while it took a weekend to plod through it I got it done and filed. Not hard really, just took time to go through all the info and enter it for the first time but TT will populate itself next year so that'll be easier.
Were I the OP I'd go with TT, they have decent support for questions and for the most part it's just answering step by step questions.
Hey, if it's good enough for Turbo Tax Tim Geithner (our Treasury Sec.) it's good enough for us!
On edit: Try to avoid the Mac version as it doesn't have some of the options of the PC version and one biggie is you can't import from Quickbooks for Mac into TT for Mac, that's why it took a weekend.

[AZgarden]

Moderator cut: snip I used Tax Act online, which is also a very good way to file taxes.

[khuntrevor]

Originally Posted by PhxBarb

So, you won more than $50,000 playing slots??? Would you be willing to share your playing secrets with us? How in the world? I have done my measley taxes, and paid my dues, so now I would LOVE to go casino hopping ! Of course every time I go, I lose, never win. BTW I used Tax Act online, which is also a very good way to file taxes.

Barb, I actually have used TaxAct for the last two years and it cost me 17.95, it did a great job on the rental property and stock trades, too. It would also cover gambling and 50 other kinds of 1099s. Remember to not use losing race tickets that have footprints on them to offset your winnings.

The above point about Gietner is spot on. Tax preparers use software, too.

[ReadyFreddy]

I've never paid for tax prep but I always figured the preparer would just ask me the questions that come up on the tax software. I can read, and prefer to! And the gambling wins/losses is a question in the software so I don't know how a tax pro could choose to ignore it.

I used Tax Act online for a few years but I didn't like that when I needed electronic copies of my returns for something later, I had to pay them for them. I think with the CD ones like Turbo Tax I get to save a pdf of my reports to my own drive, so I went back to using that.

[khuntrevor]

them archiving is an option, Fred. You can print and save the PDFs.