Since the cost of your tax prep program is deductible, it makes good sense to use one if you can find one that you can trust. The major ones generally do a good job of covering all the exceptions and special conditions. The main difficulty is that they don't always tell you why they ask for specific bits of info and where they're going to put it, so it's sometimes hard to be sure whether or not an item has been included where you intended.

It usually takes me about as long to verify the program-prepared return as it used to to prepare one when I used a manual typewriter.

Most of the forms you should need can be downloaded from the IRS, and they've greatly improved what's available in terms of the instructions. A note though on .pdf forms - you have to do the download, which is the slow part with my dial-up connection, before you can read it; so you might as well do the save of the whole thing unless disk space is really critical. Reopen from the copy on your hard drive, and you'll find you can skip around much faster than working from the temp file copy, if you need to copy out extracts for your own notes.

The only form I've found that you can't download is the 1099 you send to the IRS if you pay workers. That one is barcoded with fluorescent ink, or some such magic, and you are (or were last year) required to send an original. (The specification for how to print it was about 300 pages long last year. It's a lot easier just to get one from the IRS if you need it.) You do not have to use a specific form for the 1099-MISC that you send to the workers you paid, as long as you include all the required info.

If you want a "sit down" book with all the rules I've found the Laskers' Guides pretty good, but it's been a few years since I've needed that much info so I haven't looked at a recent one. (The cost of the book is a deductible "cost of tax preparation" just like a program, isn't it?)

Incidentally, the only two returns I've sent in that I know had errors were the two that I paid someone to do for me. Both were when I was on extended business travel so I let the ex-wife take them to a "preparer," since I couldn't get to my records to do them myself. Nothing major in either case, and that's not the only reason she's the ex... . Both cases were rather stupid errors, due to the preparer not kowing about how to treat "unusual" business expenses; and both cost me a little bit of money. I don't really believe the "seasonal tax offices" can do anything you can't do yourself, although it may be nice to let someone else handle the paperwork for you. Real accountants usually charge more than it's worth to me - and are worth it if you really need help.

John