Why use a tax professional?
A great question - especially since there now seems to be a number of self-help options available. The answer to this question simply boils down to two very important aspects - time and expertise.
Time: First of all - what is your time worth? Regardless of the tool or self-help option you select...you will still be devoting a significant amount of your time to preparing and completing your tax return. Time that could be spent on other more productive, meaningful phases of your evening or weekend (or both).
Expertise: Secondly, the U.S. tax code has undergone an unprecedented level of change in the past few years. Some of the changes to the tax code are permanent, some are temporary and many have arbitrary qualification thresholds that may or may not apply to your situation. When you prepare one and only one tax return per year...can you - or do you want to - stay on top of all of the changes that may affect your tax obligation?
Using a tax professional not only saves you precious time, but it also provides you with a level of assurance that your tax return has been compiled correctly and tailored to your specific tax situation. Self-help tools can be useful, but rarely do they provide you with any material understanding of your tax profile and more importantly - how to adjust it to your benefit.