These are good points, I agree. Definitely do not use the pro software unless you are very comfortable with taxes. Regarding myself, for example, I have been self preparing for years while my returns were simple and once they got complicated I hired a CPA for 2 years who would invite me into his office for 5 to 10 hours every tax season and we'd do all my returns together. I've also spent at least 100 maybe 200 hours over the past few years educating myself on taxes. I'm going to guess very few consumers have done this.
