I bought my first three single family homes this spring/summer. Now I'm trying to get ready for tax season. I'm looking for a good CPA in Denver (must be experienced with rentals), but am also considering doing my own accounting and tax preparation. I'm a Banker, financial analyst, and pretty comfortable with many forms of tax returns. My personal taxes are super easy, especially due to direct downloads now from financial institions. I'm looking for information about handling the rental property accounting/taxes on my own. Quickbooks keeps coming up in discussions. Does anyone use them and like them? Would they coach you through setting up depreciation on the properties, and accounting for capitalized expenses? Any ideas if they will be fully up to speed on the tax law changes this year?
@Scott PalmerMy background is similar to yours, retired now, but worked in corporate finance, systems, programming, and when I semi retired, bookkeeping.
For my personal business, I used QuickBooks Desktop. I used it since 2002 when I switched from Quicken, and prior to that several other software packages. Not only did I use QuickBooks for my rentals, I used it for several of my other businesses, as it can do multiple companies, and when I semi retired, did bookkeeping for a non-profit, and several other small businesses. All in all, it is versatile packages for all types of businesses. You can run payrolls for an additional subscription, which is cheaper than using payroll services.
I used the Desktop version, recently updated to the 2018 version for $199.00. This compares to the QBO which carries a monthly charge, more expensive in the long run. While I did not use the online version, I understand the desktop version has more functionalities. However, if you are not a business, have consistent backup procedures for your data, with QBO, where data is in the cloud, you don't have to worry about your PC crashing. And QBO allows you to access your data from multiple locations. To me, this added functionality justifies the added cost. My PC crashed several weeks ago and fortunately I schedule backups weekly, and also backup QB every time I enter new data to a flash drive which is permanently plugged into my desktop. If you use laptops, use QB desktop, make sure you backup each session to the cloud or locally.
There are software and services for managing rentals that also do accounting. However, CPA's I run into these days are usually conversant with QuickBooks, and the CPA I used, he got on with QB when he noticed how popular it's become. He was able to get his staff to help with my bookkeeping at the non profit when I got sick a few years ago, and got me some bookkeeping gigs. With the other software, it would be harder for you to find some help if you got sick.
Professional bookkeeper here and yes, quickbooks is the way to go. Whether you use desktop or online, in my opinion, depends on the amount of collaboration you desire with others and if you prefer to be location independent (the online version can be accessed from anywhere & shared with a bookkeeper or CPA).
Intut, the makers of Quickbooks, will not provide any coaching or set up assistance. They do have customer service of course but I don’t think that’s what you’re asking about. For depreciation I would suggest studying the IRS guides or consulting a CPA for the calculations. For setup, I’d suggest a Quickbooks ProAdvisor or Bookkeeper so you do it right from the start.
If you're comforatble with double-entry accounting, know how to journal your own transactions, and don't need payroll plugins, then GnuCash is a free and open-source solution. If you need any handholding at all though, one of the various QB products is probably best for you.
You should get someone who is Advanced Certified in QuickBooks and has a niche in real estate. We are.
As to taxes, go to your local CPA association to look for books and educate your self. Do not take a short cut. I would strongly suggest hiring a tax preparer (EA or CPA) and an advisor on strategy.
@Scott Palmer I do recommend Quickbooks, but since it’s your first time, in order to avoid costly errors, you should consult a CPA. Get some help on it for this tax season and you’ll get the hang of it for next time. Better safe than sorry.
