Rukh O'Rorke
Junior Associate
Joined: Jul 4, 2016 13:31:15 GMT -5
Posts: 9,985
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Sept 4, 2021 13:10:13 GMT -5
Do any of you use a tax planner/tax prep/CPA?
What are their credentials?
How did you find them?
How good are they?/Have they saved time & money?/How much?
what recommendations do you have for someone finding someone?
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jeffreymo
Familiar Member
Joined: Jan 21, 2011 12:32:17 GMT -5
Posts: 968
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Post by jeffreymo on Sept 4, 2021 14:00:49 GMT -5
We were referred to our CPA by my sister-in-law. It’s a firm with 20 or so accountants and for consultation we deal with the founder of the firm. We have 3 K-1’s from some partnerships and it is too complicated for me to handle. We only pay $600/year for the tax filings and then we’ll have 1 or 2 conversation throughout the year at $100/hour. We’re going to maintain the relationship as long as we’re a part of the partnerships because I think the real value will come when we go to sell and need help with a valuation and managing the capital gains. If it wasn’t for those I think we would be using turbo tax as I have a good enough understanding of the other stuff.
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Deleted
Joined: Mar 29, 2024 4:29:35 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2021 15:21:51 GMT -5
I wish I could find a decent one. I use TurboTax for the actual mechanics. My taxes have a lot of moving parts (two major brokerage accounts, a bit of foreign tax credits, itemized deductions, buying and selling securities) but 99% of getting the taxes correct is keeping good records. I don't need to pay anyone for that. But- I wish I could find one to help me with strategy. I've learned plenty along the way- donor-advised funds, QCDs to charity when I have to do a Required Minimum Distribution in a few years, leaving your HSA to a charitable institution (naming them beneficiary) because if left to a person they have to pay taxes on all of it.. At one point when I rolled over a large 401(k) into a brokerage IRA I put it into Berkshire-Hathaway and realized later that was a bad place for it. BRK doesn't pay dividends so it just sits there and grows. Taking it out of an IRA would mean nearly all of it would be taxed as ordinary income when most of it would be a long-term capital gain if it were outside of an IRA. As I added to my IRA accounts I gradually sold the BRK in the IRA and bought it outside of the IRA. I really would like someone to look over my investments and make those types of suggestions, especially since I'm retired now and withdrawing from the after-tax accounts. I tried last year- a friend is a CPA and has his own medium-size firm. I explained what I wanted and the first thing he wanted to do was run a Monte Carlo simulation with all my assets, projected income and expenses, for about $1,000. I already get that from one of my brokerage accounts as part of the service and that's not what I wanted. My brother is a retired tax partner for a large international firm and I might ask him for a referral one of these days. Or I may continue to go it alone. I have to give a "pet peeve" story about the types who just input the numbers. Late in 1984 I called the CPA my Ex used and told him we'd gotten married and had a child that year. In subsequent months I spoon-fed him all the details, probably in much better shape than he ever got from the Ex. He plugged then all into the computer and on April %$$##! 14 told me he needed two large checks to the state of NJ- one for 1984 and a 1985 Q1 estimate. When our two decent incomes were added together, one got taxed completely at the highest marginal rate. No warning beforehand at all. Never used him again after that.
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Rukh O'Rorke
Junior Associate
Joined: Jul 4, 2016 13:31:15 GMT -5
Posts: 9,985
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Sept 4, 2021 16:11:51 GMT -5
I wish I could find a decent one. I use TurboTax for the actual mechanics. My taxes have a lot of moving parts (two major brokerage accounts, a bit of foreign tax credits, itemized deductions, buying and selling securities) but 99% of getting the taxes correct is keeping good records. I don't need to pay anyone for that. But- I wish I could find one to help me with strategy. I've learned plenty along the way- donor-advised funds, QCDs to charity when I have to do a Required Minimum Distribution in a few years, leaving your HSA to a charitable institution (naming them beneficiary) because if left to a person they have to pay taxes on all of it.. At one point when I rolled over a large 401(k) into a brokerage IRA I put it into Berkshire-Hathaway and realized later that was a bad place for it. BRK doesn't pay dividends so it just sits there and grows. Taking it out of an IRA would mean nearly all of it would be taxed as ordinary income when most of it would be a long-term capital gain if it were outside of an IRA. As I added to my IRA accounts I gradually sold the BRK in the IRA and bought it outside of the IRA. I really would like someone to look over my investments and make those types of suggestions, especially since I'm retired now and withdrawing from the after-tax accounts. I tried last year- a friend is a CPA and has his own medium-size firm. I explained what I wanted and the first thing he wanted to do was run a Monte Carlo simulation with all my assets, projected income and expenses, for about $1,000. I already get that from one of my brokerage accounts as part of the service and that's not what I wanted. My brother is a retired tax partner for a large international firm and I might ask him for a referral one of these days. Or I may continue to go it alone. I have to give a "pet peeve" story about the types who just input the numbers. Late in 1984 I called the CPA my Ex used and told him we'd gotten married and had a child that year. In subsequent months I spoon-fed him all the details, probably in much better shape than he ever got from the Ex. He plugged then all into the computer and on April %$$##! 14 told me he needed two large checks to the state of NJ- one for 1984 and a 1985 Q1 estimate. When our two decent incomes were added together, one got taxed completely at the highest marginal rate. No warning beforehand at all. Never used him again after that. I went to one guy about 7? years ago. I just got really disappointed with him telling me how much money he was saving me. He typed the numbers I gave him into the softwear to calculate my tax. He didn't "do" anything to save me money. I didn't see the point in paying 3x the price of turbo tax for that. I likely wouldn't have questioned it so much if he was making such a big deal out of so repeatedly.
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TheOtherMe
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Dec 24, 2010 14:40:52 GMT -5
Posts: 26,962
Mini-Profile Name Color: e619e6
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Post by TheOtherMe on Sept 4, 2021 17:21:11 GMT -5
When I prepared taxes for the man who was a Certified Financial Planner, he did the talking with the clients.
We peons put in all the numbers. We had forecasting software that he sometimes played with when clients were present. But the numbers had been given to him by the client and then he had given us the what ifs and we calculated it with software. He did give a 1 hour free consultation but you had to have $1 million in assets you planned to invest.
Two years after I left there, he got totally rid of the tax side and it's a family firm dealing in investments only.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 5, 2021 22:15:45 GMT -5
We have one, TD found her word of mouth, and when she retired her son took the business over.
It isn’t so much as the money they saved, but the fact that we have a complicated tax return which includes foreign income and investments. The hard copy of our taxes is a good 1/2” stack of paper.
Sometimes, I miss my EZ form I could fill out in 30 min.
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MN-Investor
Well-Known Member
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 22:22:44 GMT -5
Posts: 1,935
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Post by MN-Investor on Sept 5, 2021 23:57:47 GMT -5
I would expect a financial advisor to be able to review my investments and make recommendations based on my current tax rate, annual expenses, expected retirement date, anticipation of large outlays, i.e., college, a new house, etc. I would expect that person to suggest applicable tax account savings investments and retirement account investments. I would also only go to a fee based advisor, never an advisor who makes his money off of selling me investment products and never an advisor who wants to be paid a percentage of assets under management. No one manages my investments other than me! They can recommend. That's it. For that I will pay them a certain fee. That said, I've never felt the need to go to an financial advisor. My husband and I did extremely well on our own. We got involved in Bogleheads 10 years ago. The local chapter had great, informative meetings. I highly recommend their website - both their very active forum and their Wiki. Great investment advice. As far as tax return preparers... I have a master's degree in business taxation, so I just use TurboTax. My return is pretty straightforward. I wouldn't get investment advice from a tax return preparer. They may give you some guidance, but suggesting particular investments is not what they are trained in. As far as finding a tax return preparer, ask friends who they use. If your return is simple, then H&R Block might be enough. The more complex your return is, the better trained your preparer should be. If you own rental homes, ask other folks who also own rental property who does their returns. If you're an author, ask other authors.
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sesfw
Junior Associate
Today is the first day of the rest of my life
Joined: Dec 21, 2010 15:45:17 GMT -5
Posts: 6,268
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Post by sesfw on Sept 9, 2021 19:04:07 GMT -5
DH worked for H&R for quite a few years, and after he left he did ours with Turbotax. Now that life has changed for us, we go back to H&R.
Get an experienced preparer and things go OK
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