Using Turbo Tax to file taxes?

[jively]

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How bad of an idea would it be to use Turbo Tax to file as a professional gambler?

I'm 27 and single, with no dependents. I own my own home. My sole source of income is online poker. I haven't made as much as a lot of the young pros (under 100k) but its enough for me to live comfortably on.

It seems like finding a knowledgeable CPA (about gambling professionally) before the due date for taxes would be tougher then me just doing the basics with Turbo Tax. Am i wrong? Comments or suggestions welcome.

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If you estimate how much tax you owe, you can pay and file an extension, and have 6 extra months to find a good professional (who won't be under the April 15 crunch).

TurboTax is good, but other people's reviews are right - it is not an expert on anything. It will ask all the questions and put them in the right boxes and calculate and print everything correctly. It does not really help on judgement issues.

-Tom

[Paul B.]

Bump. I'm using Turbo Tax to file an extension but when I print the form out, it says "Form Not Final - Do Not File" across the page. Is it supposed to be like that?

Also, if I lived in California from August 2006 to March 2007 but in New York before that, do I need to file extensions for both states?

[Kevmath]

Make sure you update the program, if you go to Help/About TurboTax, then click on the version details button. Look for TurboTax 1040 along the left hand side and look for the number on the right. The most recent version is 06-79.

[okayplayer]

I've used TurboTax for the last 6 or 7 yrs, and been filing as a pro for the last 3. You can deduct your home office, and TT walks you through all the deductions (though you might have to have the self employed/business version - which I've been using - to do the Sched C.

[Paul B.]

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if I lived in California from August 2006 to March 2007 but in New York before that, do I need to file extensions for both states?

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[BillytheKidd]

yes, you need to file extensions for any and all governments that you have to file a tax report with. Why not just get your taxes done before the 15th? It really only takes a few hours to file them, and after you file them, you can always correct them if you find some grevious error in your favor.