What's a reasonable cost for tax / corporation structure advice?

What's a reasonable cost for tax / corporation structure advice?

Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2022 · 7 posts · 1 vote

Hi Everyone - Looking to crowdsource some info on what typical costs are for these types of services... some background info: I'm an aspiring investor and have recently moved into a new primary for my wife and I to live, while keeping our previous home and are in the process of turning that into a rental (our first rental property). Our plan is to add additional properties over time to build wealth, reduce our tax burden, and ultimately enable an early retirement. I listened to BP episode 569 with Tom Wheelright discussing tax strategies and after, I reached out to his firm, Wealthability, to get an understanding of their services and a quote. They will assign a team of tax experts to design an entity structure (for example, set up an S corporation in X state), they will deliver this blueprint to me, provide ongoing tax advice during the year, and do my taxes this year as part of their up front fee. The fee is $12,750 for this blueprint to be delivered and for tax prep this year, but then no recurring fee moving forward. I can pay them each year to do my taxes which would be separate. I would need to go out and actually implement the strategy which would incur additional costs. Their value prop is that they will deliver a multiple ROI in tax savings over time if these strategies are implemented, which I don't doubt, but it's a big up front cost that could be put to use elsewhere.

Question is: what's a reasonable fee to pay for something like this? Is this actually a good deal, way too high, somewhere in the middle?

Thank you!


1Reply
25 views

Most Popular Reply

Real Estate Consultant · Seattle, WA · Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 784 votes
4y

You don’t need any of that with one rental. If you really really really want to form LLCs and make it super complicated, pay an attorney a couple hundred bucks and a CPA another couple hundred bucks, then call your insurance broker and they’ll sell you a new insurance policy. Should be all done in under $1k, filing fees included

See this reply in the discussion

9 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Real Estate Consultant · Seattle, WA · Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 784 votes
    4y

    You don’t need any of that with one rental. If you really really really want to form LLCs and make it super complicated, pay an attorney a couple hundred bucks and a CPA another couple hundred bucks, then call your insurance broker and they’ll sell you a new insurance policy. Should be all done in under $1k, filing fees included

  • Greg O'BrienBusiness Member
    Accountant · Boston, MA · Member since 2019 · 386 posts · 336 votes
    4y

    @Jason Long it could be its hard to say. However, its great that you are investing in your endeavors early!

    I’d ask about ways to stay connected throughout the year as many of our early on investor clients have lots of tax/entity questions throughout the year they need assistance with. You’ll also want to understand the resouces to implement as implementation/maintenance is as important as the in depth strategy itsself.

  • Real Estate Investor · Tempe, AZ · Member since 2012 · 874 posts · 648 votes
    4y

    @Jason Long way too high, in my opinion.

    Step zero is to have adequate insurance, including liability insurance for your property.  Make sure, at a minimum, that you now have a landlord’s policy on your old house.  

    Step one for you is to keep your rental income and expenses separate from your personal bank accounts.  Set up a business bank account and run everything through it.  

    Step two is to track it on in excel or on Google Sheets.  Something super simple.  You shouldn’t have many expenses and sounds like there’s only one income (rent) check at this point. 

    Step three is to download schedule E from the IRS site and familiarize yourself with how you reporting real estate. Dig into it best you can.  

    Step four is to take what you've done for a few months and now ask better questions about what you need. You'll likely find that you need none of what Tom Wheelwright is selling at this stage. Maybe you want an LLC. Maybe you want a bookkeeper. Maybe not. Do it for a bit and then decide. You'll be worlds ahead - in knowledge and in money in your pocket - than outsourcing this to a firm upfront.

    Good luck!

  • Bruce WoodruffPro Member
    Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
    4y

    I am more used to paying $1200 for an attorney to draw up an LLC or S Corp, and then about $600 for tax prep. So less than $2k total, and these were top notch people, not cheapos....

  • Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2022 · 7 posts · 1 vote
    4y
    Quote from @Sergey A. Petrov:

    You don’t need any of that with one rental. If you really really really want to form LLCs and make it super complicated, pay an attorney a couple hundred bucks and a CPA another couple hundred bucks, then call your insurance broker and they’ll sell you a new insurance policy. Should be all done in under $1k, filing fees included

     thanks for the advice @Sergey A. Petrov!

  • Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2022 · 7 posts · 1 vote
    4y
    Quote from @Greg O'Brien:

    @Jason Long it could be its hard to say. However, its great that you are investing in your endeavors early!

    I’d ask about ways to stay connected throughout the year as many of our early on investor clients have lots of tax/entity questions throughout the year they need assistance with. You’ll also want to understand the resouces to implement as implementation/maintenance is as important as the in depth strategy itsself.

     Thanks @Greg O'Brien!

  • Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2022 · 7 posts · 1 vote
    4y
    Quote from @Dan Schwartz:

    @Jason Long way too high, in my opinion.

    Step zero is to have adequate insurance, including liability insurance for your property.  Make sure, at a minimum, that you now have a landlord’s policy on your old house.  

    Step one for you is to keep your rental income and expenses separate from your personal bank accounts.  Set up a business bank account and run everything through it.  

    Step two is to track it on in excel or on Google Sheets.  Something super simple.  You shouldn’t have many expenses and sounds like there’s only one income (rent) check at this point. 

    Step three is to download schedule E from the IRS site and familiarize yourself with how you reporting real estate. Dig into it best you can.  

    Step four is to take what you've done for a few months and now ask better questions about what you need. You'll likely find that you need none of what Tom Wheelwright is selling at this stage. Maybe you want an LLC. Maybe you want a bookkeeper. Maybe not. Do it for a bit and then decide. You'll be worlds ahead - in knowledge and in money in your pocket - than outsourcing this to a firm upfront.

    Good luck!

     super practical and helpful advice @Dan Schwartz thank you!

  • Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2022 · 7 posts · 1 vote
    4y
    Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

    I am more used to paying $1200 for an attorney to draw up an LLC or S Corp, and then about $600 for tax prep. So less than $2k total, and these were top notch people, not cheapos....

     yeah that definitely sounds more like it @Bruce Woodruff, thanks for chiming in!

  • Metro NY + New Bedford · Member since 2022 · 294 posts · 216 votes
    4y
    Quote from @Jason Long:

    Hi Everyone - Looking to crowdsource some info on what typical costs are for these types of services... some background info: I'm an aspiring investor and have recently moved into a new primary for my wife and I to live, while keeping our previous home and are in the process of turning that into a rental (our first rental property). Our plan is to add additional properties over time to build wealth, reduce our tax burden, and ultimately enable an early retirement. I listened to BP episode 569 with Tom Wheelright discussing tax strategies and after, I reached out to his firm, Wealthability, to get an understanding of their services and a quote. They will assign a team of tax experts to design an entity structure (for example, set up an S corporation in X state), they will deliver this blueprint to me, provide ongoing tax advice during the year, and do my taxes this year as part of their up front fee. The fee is $12,750 for this blueprint to be delivered and for tax prep this year, but then no recurring fee moving forward. I can pay them each year to do my taxes which would be separate. I would need to go out and actually implement the strategy which would incur additional costs. Their value prop is that they will deliver a multiple ROI in tax savings over time if these strategies are implemented, which I don't doubt, but it's a big up front cost that could be put to use elsewhere.

    Question is: what's a reasonable fee to pay for something like this? Is this actually a good deal, way too high, somewhere in the middle?

    Thank you!


    I think Wealthability has a killer business model!
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.