Somani Global vs DIY tax software

When software is the right call

One W-2, the standard deduction, maybe some interest income: software files that in twenty minutes for less than $100 and gets it right. A sole proprietor with a simple Schedule C, no employees and one state can often manage too, if the books are clean. Nobody needs to pay a firm for that, and we say so on the free call when it applies.

Where it goes wrong

• Form 5472. Consumer software does not prepare it, and it cannot be e-filed anyway. Foreign-owned LLCs using software simply skip it, then meet the $25,000 penalty.
• Partnerships and S-corps. Business editions exist, but the K-1s, capital accounts, reasonable salary and basis tracking are where self-prepared returns fail audits.
• Multi-state. Sales into other states, remote employees, or a move mid-year multiply the returns and the apportionment rules.
• Back years. Software supports the current year and perhaps two prior; unfiled 2021 returns and penalty-relief requests are outside it.
• The notice. When the IRS writes, the software is not going to answer. A PTIN-only preparer is not allowed to either. Only a CPA, EA or attorney can represent you.

What we charge for that software does not

A business return from $99, prepared by a team of Certified Accountants, CPAs and Enrolled Agents, with the state and entity filings quoted in the same number, a person who replies within 8 hours, and representation if a notice arrives. Bookkeeping from $99 a month so the return is built on reconciled numbers rather than a shoebox. The saving over software is not in the fee; it is in the penalties, the missed deductions and the year you do not spend answering letters.

Questions people ask

Other comparisons

• Somani Global vs a local CPA firm
• Somani Global vs a freelance bookkeeper
• Somani Global vs an in-house accountant
• Somani Global vs online formation services
• Free calculators and checkers
• Tax filing by state