User:Cwatt1
From TaxAlmanac
Hello everyone --
My name is Cary. Although I'm not currently a professional tax preparer (not yet, anyway) I have a keen interest in taxation, accounting, and mathematical fields in general. My position is Senior Pension Plan Specialist for a major corporation in the Chicago area. In that capacity I handle plan administration issues and government reporting responsibilities (PBGC premium payments, Form 5500 filings) for all of the defined benefit pension plans covering employees and retirees of my company.
I am planning to retire in October 2008 after 30-plus years of service, and would like to look at tax preparation as a part time post-retirement career. I have an MBA in accounting and passed the CPA exam in 1980, but have not yet done any formal tax preparation work for clients. At present I do tax preparation work for my family only -- trust 1041 as well as standard 1040 reporting -- but am interested in learning as much as I can about as many tax topics as I can with an eye toward expanding my knowledge and skills.
I currently use ProSeries software (pay-per-return) and find it very helpful. There's little question that what good software does can be a learning experience by itself, and can spur you to greater study of the tax code and regs. I strongly feel, however, that no one should rely totally on software. I've got a problem with advertisements for the TurboTax's and TaxCut's of the world that imply that all you have to do is plug in the numbers, and you're all set (so why rely on a professional preparer?) That kind of thinking is misleading at best, and downright dangerous at worst. Not that these programs in and of themselves are bad, but if you don't understand tax law and can't do a tax return using pencil and paper, your software-prepared tax return stands a good chance of not being worth the paper you print it on.
I've learned a lot from reading, study, and participating in forums like this one, and I hope to be able to contribute once in a while to the extent I'm able.
