CPA with Experience in Syndications?

Question

I've historically done my own taxes and lately the complexity has just barely stayed on my side of the line of understanding it all... but that's all coming to an end this year.  This year is the first year I'll have a couple of syndications under my belt (one multi-family apartment and one storage unit) and I can already see that the tax implications of those are well beyond what I know!  I definitely need an experienced hand at this.

So I'm looking for a CPA with extensive experience dealing with the subtleties of taxes for passive investors of syndications.  I would prefer said CPA to be in Arizona but that's not a hard requirement.  I'm just unsure how "portable" CPAs are after visiting the "CPA Mobility" site.

For what it's worth, I do see quite a few requests for CPA recommendations on this forum, but my searching didn't come across any specifically requesting one with syndication expertise. If there is an existing thread with recommendations and referrals, then please point me in that direction!

Michael Plaks · Answer

@Kurt Granroth

Syndication is such a fancy loud word, quite handy to impress your friends, but really all you have for taxes is a Form K1 from the partnership. All tax decisions will be made for you at the partnership level, and you have no control over them unless it's a very small deal with just a handful of people involved.

It's pretty hard to mess up adding a K1 to your tax return, although I have seen way too many people who "succeeded" in this challenge. As long as your tax accountant is reasonably competent, you should be fine.

We have about 20 tax experts on this forum, all specializing in REI, and any of us can handle K1s in our sleep. Yes, state tax rules do vary, but we make an effort to stay on top of them.

If I misunderstood your situation and you actually run the syndication, as opposed to merely being a passive investor - then you do need a high-level specialist. @Brandon Hall and @Lance Lvovsky are two of the best ones.

Brian Burke · Answer

@Kurt Granroth my CPA is with a big firm and happens to be located in the office building next door to mine.  But believe it or not I haven't seen him in three years except when we went to lunch a few months ago.

So I wouldn't worry too much about the "local" obstacle.  It's really not an obstacle these days with email & skype.

You might reach out to @Brandon Hall, he is used to working for remote clients in all aspects of real estate.

Brandon Hall · Answer

@Kurt Granroth are you on the GP or LP side or both?

Our client base is primarily made up of accredited investors who take LP stakes in deals and GPs of syndicates and funds. For our large clients we provide a fully functional finance department. For the LPs, we provide tax strategy and compliance.

And thanks @Brian Burke!!

Basit Siddiqi · Answer

@Kurt GranrothYou mentioned having an LP interest in a syndication. This indicates that you have an interest in a partnership or LLC.Your taxes does get complicated as now you will receive "K-1's" from these syndications. If you don't plan to get the K-1's before April 15th - you may be required to extend your individual return.Depending on the states that the syndication does business in; you may be required to file additional state returns(in addition to AZ).

For the most part - you can work with any CPA/Accountant as technology allows people to work and communicate remotely. CPA's are normally issued by a state(CA, NY, etc) but that doesn't restrict them to doing taxes in that state. The State CPA designation is normally restricted to the audit reports that you can issue.

Ahad Ali · Answer

Many CPAs work remotely now. Get a free consult with a few and make you decision that way, see if they have knowledge of your state, and can handle this issue and go from there.

Brandon Hall · Answer

@Kurt Granroth tax strategy is advisory. The compliance piece is the tax filing. You save money on the advisory, not compliance (unless mistakes were made that need to be corrected).

Kurt Granroth · Answer

@Brandon Hall - I'm on the LP side.

So with "tax strategy", does that include actually filing my taxes or is it more that you'd tell me what to do and I'd be responsible for doing the filing myself?  I'm still not clear how CPAs work across state lines when it comes to taxes.

Doug McVinua · Answer

@Kurt Granroth A few of my investors with fairly complex tax scenarios work with:

Doug Stutzman

Certified Public Accountant

Chartered Global Management Accountant

Mauldin CPA's

Doug is located in Mesa and might be worth a phone call. Bigger Pockets won't allow me to post his number.

CPA with Experience in Syndications?

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