Tax Tip Tuesday: Filing alone? Or getting a preparer?

With plenty of time to file your taxes, the question many are faced with is either filing them yourself or having a paid return preparer file them.

Last year, 55 percent of people choose a paid return preparer over filing taxes themselves, according to Brian Watson, a special agent with Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

A paid return preparer are specialists in the field and serve as certified public accountants, attorneys, or enrolled agents.

“By going to a paid return preparer, especially when you have a complicated situation, they are going to look for all those legal deductions you are entitled too,” Agent Watson said. “There might be tax deductions you are not aware of or different credits or things like that.”

However, the safest way to file your taxes is electronically, Watson said. He suggests researching any paid return preparer first to see if there are family members who might have one they can refer you too, before using one out of the phone book.

If you are in need of help IRS.gov has all the tools and resources that help anyone through the process. Watson said last year the website drew two billion visitors.