Do we need a CPA for this tax season?

Question

My wife and I are both W-2 employees. We just started working midway through this year between a couple different jobs. I have held two jobs and she had income from our university in the form of scholarships and one job this year. She also started a small business with a friend. We don’t have any property, but we’re planning on buying at least one next year.

Should we start working with a real estate specialized CPA for this tax year?

Nate Meeker · Answer

@Evan Zeigler depends on what your ROI and ROH is (return on headache) haha. Personally, I know how to replace a toilet in my rental units, but I rather pay for it at this point and focus my time on family or building my business/portfolio versus getting lost in the details.

Alecia Loveless · Answer

@Evan Zeigler Honestly since you don’t currently own any real estate I would think if you’re comfortable doing your taxes yourself you could use something like Turbo Tax or if not someone like H&R Block or find a small accounting company to do them would be fine.

You can start looking online now if you want and likely the ones you want will have a website that will tell you what areas they specialize in such as real estate and you can call and likely set up a free consultation or talk to them on the phone about what you’ve got this year and your plans for next year and see if they’ll take you all as new clients and what they charge.

What they charge is very important to know because I had one that was charging me for every form I brought in and I had about 20 different forms from different stocks and got a huge bill of about $4200 because of it even though it took only 15 seconds to enter the information in. That was the company policy.

I am not an accountant or lawyer this is not legal advice.

Evan Zeigler · Answer

@Basit Siddiqi Understood. They only started it late this year but definitely something to look into. Appreciate your advice!

Evan Zeigler · Answer

@Alecia Loveless That sounds like a very sensible approach. Thank you for going in depth, making a suggestion, and sharing personal experience!

Basit Siddiqi · Answer

I think it will depend on the type of business along with structure of the business started between your wife and a friend.

If an entity was formed, a business return will need to be filed which can create complexities.

Do we need a CPA for this tax season?

Do we need a CPA for this tax season?

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