[mdlug] Open Source accounting software

[Dan Pritts]

On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 11:10:35AM -0500, Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
> Yep, personal-tax-software is a category I've never understood.
> *Buying* a personal-tax-package is like paying to be locked naked in a
> small cold damp room for several hours.  It seems obvious why there

> I work in IT - other people pay me to solve their IT issues.  I pay a
> mechanic to fix my car, I pay a dentist to maintain my teeth, and I pay
> an accountant to do my taxes.  All of them do what they do far more
> quickly and effectively than I could perform those same tasks.

I paid someone to do my (not super complicated, but i need a 1040
not 1040A or EZ) taxes for a few years.

Then I realized that most of the work was collecting all the data,
and that I was paying them $150 to sit in front of turbotax for an
hour and mail me the results.  I was going in person to drop
everything off, which probably took an hour out of my day (as i
write this i realize i should have mailed it).

I now pay $50 for turbotax, spend the hour locked in a small cold damp room
(actually, my living room, listening to music), and i'm done.

Of course, I often fix my own car, too.  Not as much as I used to before
children, but some still.

danno
--
dan pritts
danno at umich.edu
734-929-9770