CPA Fees & Tax Liability on the Sale of a Rental

[Jack Barkow]

What should someone generally expect to pay for tax preparation?  I currently work a W2 job and have 5-6 rentals in my personal name out of state.  Looking at Federal plus 2 state tax returns and associated real estate schedules.  No LLCs or entities at the moment.  I'm just curious if $1250 is a big overpayment or pretty par for the course for taxes like that.  I think my CPA is doing a great job, but I also don't know how much is actually going into the tax prep.

Secondly.  I sold a rental this year and I would like to know if I need to make any pre-payments for the tax liability on the sale.  Can I just wait until next year and do my taxes to see how it shakes out or would I be looking at a massive penalty?  My CPA said he charges $280/hour to do any sort of work on determining estimated prepayments and I'm not really looking to spend like that at the moment unless it is warranted to avoid a much larger penalty.

Any help is appreciated thanks!

[Eamonn McElroy]

It always slightly humors me when individuals don't want to pay their CPA for an hour of value-add work right after they just paid tens of thousands of dollars to real estate agents and brokerages...