How much do you pay your CPA?

I paid a little over $12,000 this year. A dozen state returns and K-1s and some foreign stuff with FBARs and 8938s plus the trading. Money well spent in my opinion, I could have spent a lot of hours I didn't have on it and still screwed a bunch of things up.

All depends on the complexity of your return and how many CPAs there are out there that can handle it, so asking the broad question without some context doesn't really yield useful answers to your particular situation.
 
4500 for 2020 Fed and CA, K-1s this year had new rules. Also did Canadian return for 800 USD. Unless you have professional software, it is hard to do on your own correctly.

True Stories: Mother and father in-law did a dubious tax scheme where the company made no money but only provided a write off. IRS disallowed it and lawyers said ignore the 6K payment due. So they did. Fast forward 7 years late and it turned into 80K CA and 175K IRS bill. And another story of a friend move to Australia and did not pay taxes for 3 years. They hit him with a past due bill, and penalties with 22% interest.

I have payed a lot in taxes, and just want to keep it straight, so the bill is just the cost of doing business.
 
Alternate viewpoint: it's not like being a CPA makes you a genius incapable of making mistakes. I'd rather understand and complete my own taxes rather than signing off on someone else's work who doesn't have the same incentives as myself.
 
sprstpd said:
Alternate viewpoint: it's not like being a CPA makes you a genius incapable of making mistakes. I'd rather understand and complete my own taxes rather than signing off on someone else's work who doesn't have the same incentives as myself.
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It's not like being a doctor makes you a genius incapable of making mistakes. Would you rather understand and complete your own brain surgery should you need it rather than living with the results of a brain surgeon who doesn't have the same incentives as yourself?

I tell you, anti intellectualism is a cancer in the country.
 
Sig said:
It's not like being a doctor makes you a genius incapable of making mistakes. Would you rather understand and complete your own brain surgery should you need it rather than living with the results of a brain surgeon who doesn't have the same incentives as yourself?

I tell you, anti intellectualism is a cancer in the country.
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I disagree with your analogy. You or a CPA can attempt your taxes.

But you or a brain surgeon operating on your own head is different. I mean, how the hell do you operate on your own brain? With mirrors and pre-hensile arms?

Not to mention, if you move the scalpel a millimeter too far to the left, you lose motor function, and operation over. At least the external brain surgeon can continue working.
 
Overnight said:
I disagree with your analogy. You or a CPA can attempt your taxes.

But you or a brain surgeon operating on your own head is different. I mean, how the hell do you operate on your own brain? With mirrors and pre-hensile arms?

Not to mention, if you move the scalpel a millimeter too far to the left, you lose motor function, and operation over. At least the external brain surgeon can continue working.
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I don't agree with your analogy either. Taxes are just math and anybody can do math and they aren't inside your own body.
 
I want to add another point, when IRS does not audit you, it most likely is because they had not select your return by their algorithm, not because your CPA did a good job; so, learn to not get on the IRS's radar, if your CPA cannot do this well, file your own tax with the best software you can get; and after a few years, it becomes easy. I have multiple LLCs, trading accounts, and both used CPAs and filed by myself.
 
What do you guys think someone should be paying to get their taxes done who is just a part-time swing trader, making about 5 trades a week, no LLCs or anything extra like that?
 
horizon said:
So I was thinking my CPA overcharged me, I paid $1,000 to get my tax return done and no book keeping service or anything else. I also had to correct my CPA many times (used the wrong form, put in wrong number...) and there is no Extra works other than put in the number I gave.
Also my gain is less than 100k a year. I am not sure the service is charged based on the works of the CPA or based on my gain. So I want to ask to have the ideas of the reasonable charge a CPA should ask. How much do you guys pay for your CPA? Thanks for your sharing.
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%%
MOST charge for the number of IRS pages/time.
Income has little to do with it.[IF he puts in a whole lot of wrong numbers ask for a bit of a credit on his fee,bro.]
MY cpa had barely readable numbers;
but I figured that may be an advantage/who wants to ask for a translation on every number/LOL...………………...………………………………...……………...……………..NO, its not based on your gain/loss
Small businesses get charged more/more paperwork.$1,000 sounds about right; could call 5 more and ask for an esitmate on how many pages you have.
FOR a simple tax return that may be too hi; but sounds about right for your complex business return.
 
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