Scott Brown (not his real name), an associate of mine, is the owner of a single member LLC. Scott who files a Schedule A, Schedule C, Schedule D (stock trading), and Schedule E, has previously had his taxes done at H & R Block. But Scott became quite disappointed with Block’s services, when I pointed out to him that he was not receiving his annual depreciation deductions. Consequently, I encouraged him to purchase a copy of the e-book “Doing Your Own Taxes is as Easy as 1,2,3,” for tax year 2013. Disgruntled with his tax preparer, Scott finally decided to take the plunge and do his own taxes.

Scott also purchased a popular tax software, and using it in conjunction with the e-book, he quickly realized that doing his own taxes was not quite as difficult as he’d always perceived it to be.

A couple days after filing his taxes, Scott approached me with a huge smile on his face; he had indeed derived some significant benefits, just from doing his own taxes for the first time.

First of all, in doing his own taxes, he no longer had to disclose his sensitive personal information to another person. He saw this as being significant, as it eliminated the risk of having his personal information falling into the wrong hands. The fact is, no one knows how safe their personal information is after they have left it with their tax preparer. The IRS is in fact grappling with a five-fold increase in taxpayer identity theft since 2008, and is advising that if you use tax accountants, you should query them on what measures they have in place to protect your information.

Scott realized that doing his taxes actually saved him a bundle—his accountant was charging him over $500 to do his returns.

Utilizing the info in the e-book, Scott realized that doing his own taxes actually placed him in full control of his tax return for the first time. Because he could work on his taxes at his own pace, he had the luxury of taking as much time as he wanted, to do whatever research was necessary to ensure optimum results, which of course, can potentially translate into thousands of dollars in his pocket each year. Scott stated that doing his own taxes also allowed him to be somewhat proactive, as far as being able to identify all his eligible tax credits and deductions, even before he actually began the process.

Doing his own taxes also motivated Scott to take a closer look at his own finances, and as he immersed himself in the process, he realized that he had suddenly become more knowledgeable about tax matters and money management issues.

You, too, can empower yourself as Scott did. Yes, you can claim your financial independence, as far as your taxes are concerned, and wean yourself from your tax preparer. This you can do by purchasing a copy of “Doing Your Own Taxes is as Easy as 1, 2, 3,” on TaxConnections.com or on Amazon.com.

For further information, Let’s Meet on TaxConnections.