Expenses for Lawyers, Accountants, Tax Advisors, etc

Expenses for Lawyers, Accountants, Tax Advisors, etc

Member since 2018 · 18 posts · 1 vote

Something I've always wondered and don't see much talk about is in regards to taking into account the expenses for Attorneys, CPAs, and others that would be in your "power" team. Shouldn't this be included in the PITI expenses?

I don’t know how they work really. For example, in car insurance if you don’t have car insurance at the time of an accident, you can’t just call one up and pay the premium and expect them to cover your losses. You must have insurance PRIOR to an accident taking place for them to cover you right? Is this also how it works when it comes to getting sued? You must already have a subscription in place in order for the lawyer to want to protect you or is it you only pay them when you need them? Or how about when they say “consult your lawyer first.” Is this typically free? What I’m getting at is do you only pay them as you go or is it a recurring payment? And why aren’t these things factored into budgets much when most people talk numbers in investing?

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  • Basit SiddiqiBusiness Member
    Accountant · New York, NY · Member since 2015 · 8k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    @Juan Santos

    PITI stands for principal, interest, taxes, insurance.
    I wouldn't include payments for attorney/accountants in PITI but you can certainly count it towards operating expenses.

    Attorney costs can be thought of as two-fold
    Start-up = formation of LLC, reviewing purchase/sale agreements, reviewing partnership agreements, etc
    on-going = tenant evictions, liability discussions, etc

    Accountants can be thought of as the same way
    Start-up = setting up a tax strategy, discuss entity types, etc
    on-going = bookkeeping, tax compliance

    Regarding the costs to account against your rental property from an accountant/attorney
    If the total bill for tax fees is $1,000 and it would have cost you $500 to do just a personal return without properties, I would only count $500 towards the rental business instead of $1,000

    Regarding the attorney question, having discussions with an attorney prior to getting sued is helpful as he will provide you tips on how not to get sued. He may still be able to help after you get sued but it would be better to atleast have an initial consultation on what to do and what not to do.

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