am i getting ripped off...accounting

leadsupplier

leadsupplier

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Aug 11, 2009
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This is my first year making money online so I went to an accountant to get my taxes done. Here's how it went. I walked in gave him 2 w2s from previous jobs. And 2 w9s from two different networks. From there I printed out two credit cars statements and circled my expenses then printed my bank statements and circled and added up my expenses.

Just got a call today and they're charging me $350. I called hour block and they quoted me $150. I personally feel like 350 is way high considering I made clear all my expenses and I think he thinks he can rip me off.

Can you guys tell me if I'm gettin ripped off or not
 


I've never paid under $500 for tax prep from a CPA and that was years ago.

$350 doesn't sound high at all - sure you can go to one of the walmart of tax prep places and have some corporate idiot too dumb to open their own CPA practice do your taxes, but taxes are one area I don't fuck around in.

You have to weigh the costs of a) missing some deduction that saves you way more than the $200 difference as well as b) the time (opportunity cost) of an audit AND c) any fines/penalties.

edit: I'd also use Turbo Tax and do it myself over an hour/h&r block place if things were incredibly simple.
 
Depends man. I remember a friend paying a CA 200/hr for doing fuck all. He even charged to talk to him for a 2 minute phone convo!

For your shit though, I don't think you need some fancy accounting shit. Unless you made mega bank and you plan to shelter most of your monies from uncle sam. If he can save you more than $300 he's worth it.

Disclaimer : I'm Canadian so it might be a lil diff for you guys.
 
I'm not ballin outta control with my revenue. But it was enough to get an accountant. He did seems to save me money unless I really fucked up my estimate. I was plannin on paying 4 or 5 gs and it only came go like 2500 so I can't complain. And hour block is garbage which is why I went private. So after hearing some of your shit maybe its not that bad
 
350 is way high... if you're not really making that much money. But if you are making a bit of decent coinage, its better to pay 500$ for a CPA, than several thousand in an audit later cuz you either forgot something, or something was a number off.
 
Like I said I did the harder stuff and had 4 different income sources two w2s and two w9s. I also have no business created yet. Imho I think he's charging a little much but I literally had no other options
 
leadsupplier said:
Like I said I did the harder stuff and had 4 different income sources two w2s and two w9s. I also have no business created yet. Imho I think he's charging a little much but I literally had no other options
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why didn't you just do it yourself on turbotax or something, it would've saved you some money, that's easy stuff.
 
I paid $350 and I was more than happy with the service I was provided with. I supplied them with a Quickbooks file and they did my personal and LLC taxes.

Like Sonny said, taxes are an area I do not fuck around in.
 
i was just confused about the whole being a business thing so i needed an accountant ...

i think this guys pullin a fast one on me .. but what the hell can i do?
 
kblessinggr said:
Did they in any way inform you of the charges ahead of time, or least some kind of billing rate, or did they just do the work, and then tell you after-the-fact how much it would cost you.
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He never informed me. I never asked either. He just told me he needed some moere paperwork. So I gave it go him in a voicemail. Next thing I know he has them done and that's what he charged me

I just called liberty down here and they quoted me 75.
 
No he needed some informattion I called him with it and left a voicemail. From there he never called back so I called and he said it was done.
 
My situation was the same as yours until this year. I always just used turbotax since I had maybe 10 w9s and I had all my expenses in order and I even pay quarterly as well. It sounds like with any software, you should be able to do it yourself this year.
 
i go to a guy that costs $3700. But he saved me about 30k compared to a guy that was going to charge me $600. It was worth it.
 
leadsupplier said:
No he needed some informattion I called him with it and left a voicemail. From there he never called back so I called and he said it was done.
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Doesn't sound like you came to an agreement of cost prior to him doing the work. If he has not already filed for you, it may be safe to just say you'll take your business elsewhere, especially since it doesn't sound like you actually went to pick up the results just simply heard bout what they would be charging you. And since it doesn't sound like an H&R block or something, then you probably didn't sign anything agreeing with their terms yet (so their fuckup for not getting something in writing or something to state what they would be charging before they actually did the work)

... thats only based on what I'm seeing in the thread.
 
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