My tax situation will need additional Resources

[PricklyPete]

I have been doing my taxes and now my wife's taxes as long as I can remember, but this year between my job, investments, and now property rentals, I think I need the help of a professional for both advice and to actually do my taxes. I wish I had the time to do it all myself...but the reality iS that I just don't have the time.

So, do I just need to get a good CPA to do my taxes or do I need also need the services of a tax attorney?

Also, how important is it that the CPA or tax attorney is from the same town or region that I technically live in? Would they more affectively know the applicable tax codes if they were nearby?

Thanks for any input.

 

[kranky]

A CPA alone ought to be enough. Unless you have some strange LOCAL tax laws related to income tax, anyone who practices in your state would be able to handle it. Ask your friends for a recommendation - much better than just picking a name out of the phone book.

Remember that you'll end up paying primarily for their time so the more organized you keep your records, the less it will cost you. Don't be that "Here's a shoebox with all my receipts" customer.

 

[Ns1]

You just need an EA or a CPA

 

[EagleKeeper]

If you have been using tax s/w, then you are halfway there.

If not, it will simplify your situation immensely.


For Property rentals, you need the time to enter expenses - 1-2 minutes per item.
I have an in-law that provides it to me via a spreadsheet and then I just puts in the totals.

If the first time using S/W figure an additiional 15-30 minutes per property to set up the baseline.

Investments end up being lumped into one number for electronic transmission or manual entry at the IRS level. Depending on how many sales you had and how well documented, figure 2-3 minutes per transation.

If you have time to spend on ATOT, you can learn info from the tax thread.

remember, the professional will only work with the information that you provide to them. Unless they know you inside and out, they will nto dig into your life to find the grey areas.

So what you are doing is paying them to type in information into a program that you coul dbe doing yourself. And when you do it yourself, you jog your memory on expenses (by reading directions) that if handed over may never occur to you.

 

[DrPizza]

Unless they know you inside and out, they will nto dig into your life to find the grey areas.

Depends on the CPA. We went to one who knows farms inside & out. She was able to point out enough deductions we wouldn't have thought of that the difference in our return was much more than the cost of the CPA. I'm not sure what tax software my wife used, but it certainly didn't ask us if any of our animals died. (Business loss) And she was able to notice little things that we should have had, but didn't. "Don't you drive to go pick up your grain?" Although only a 12 mile round trip, it was more than 300 miles during the year & at 42 cents a mile, just one more of those little things that really add up in the long run.

 

[GoPackGo]

I was thinking you owed the IRS a million dollars in back taxes.

I was going to recommend Roni Lynn Deutsch.

 

[PricklyPete]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I understand where you are coming from Eagle Keeper...and I'll keep that in mind...I still feel that it might be good for me to start a relationship with a good CPA for the long term. Still, I've always been the one to do things myself...so I may just keep puttering along doing it myself.