Accountant Strut (NRR)
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
For the first time ever, I (and wifey) have decided to hire an accountant to handle our taxes. I've never gone through the process before and am wondering if people have advice on how to find a good one, what a reasonable hourly rate is, things to think about, etc. etc.Thanks,OW
Comments
Hit me with a PM if you want his phone number.
I don't think I'm rolling with H&R on this one (sorry Hoggy, been there before and it just didn't seem worth it) but my wife has a lead on someone in the North Bay we might use. The only thing is that he charges $180/hr but I have no idea if that's low or high.
$200+ is routine for a normal set of taxes if you want an accountant to handle it. I would advise that you do because for an extra $100 or so you will probably get back more than a thousand over H&R or turbotax.
The wife and I just paid $177 for H&R to do both of our taxes (which included many, many forms between the two of us) and we got a TON of money back. And it took about an hour of our time. More than worth it.
Yes, a good accountant will charge a flat rate. Really, most of them use complex software that does all the hard work. They just punch in numbers and it spits out forms. I'm sure the good ones know how to work the system though.
I normally do but this is our first year filing joint, our paperwork (combined) looks super-ugly and we'd feel better having someone else handle our business.