The time I screwed up my taxes

A few years into my 1099 career, I did my taxes using TurboTax.

That has worked for me for a long time, as my tax situation was simple.

My tax situation was STILL simple as a solo 1099 so I decided to use it again, as opposed to getting an accountant.

Once I finished inputting all my information, it said I would get a REFUND of $15,000!

I was super excited! And suspicious.

So I triple checked it and I couldn't find anything I did wrong.

Woohoo!

I didn't file it, but I decided to pay off the balance of my wife's student loans, which was around $15,000.

But something kept bugging me because my estimates were wayyyy off.

So I decided to look again and I saw one checkbox that I didn't check off.

I checked it, and it turns out I would OWE $3,000.

Doh!

Not a big deal, but I did have to manage my cash flow for a bit.

Is the moral of the story to get an accountant?

Nope.

I would still do it by myself if I were solo, but if the estimate is way different than 30-40% of what you earned as a 1099, then I would just keep checking it until you find out why exactly it's so different.

Being a solo 1099 doesn't add that much complexity to your tax situation, at least if you're just providing services to the government through a single prime (which is likely the case), so unless you were already using an accountant, I recommend just keep doing it yourself.

Want the full playbook? Check out Going 1099.