Important to Ge A Local Accountant?

Question

Hi all,I am relatively new to BP. I am looking for an accountant who is familiar with real estate STR investment. I tried searching on the forums for accountant recommendations. How crucial is it to get an accountant who is local?I am based in Austin, TX. Any accountant who serves this area, please reach out to me.

Leeling

Robin Simon · Answer

In this day and age, having someone local is really just personal preference decision, not really necessary.  It does vary by state though, so you should probably split the difference, and use someone somewhere in Texas

Jennifer Niedo · Answer

Hi Leeling. As everyone mentioned here, you don't need someone who is local. You need someone competent.  As a real estate investor, you need someone who understands all your real estate strategies because only then can they truly understand the proper tax ramifications not just for today but for your long term goals.  Then you need someone to make sure you're audit ready because that's a new IRS campaign-the bigger the dollar amount, the more likely you're going to find yourself in an audit. And most importantly, you need someone to give you advice on asset protection in case Uncle Sam brings you to financial meltdown.  Those are the things you want to focus on.  Take it from someone who digs people out of their 6 foot grave everyone took them to...it's very important to be taken cared of full circle.

Aaron Gordy - using a bookkeeper and handing it off to a CPA firm is great until you end up like one of my clients who was referred to me...those poor guys paid a bookkeeper and then a fancy CPA firm only to find themselves in some serious trouble with the IRS that can literally cause their financial demise.  Now they've paid me over 20k for clean up just so they can get on with their lives in peace without any backlash from Uncle Sam in the future.  I do not recommend using different firms because in the end, you, the taxpayer, loses.  Everyone will be pointing fingers at each other while you will be stiffed with the big fat IRS bill. It will be your assets the IRS will take and it will be you that may have to pay the IRS whatever crazy unreasonable amount they want you to pay because the local Revenue Officers today are on a major power trip-and that won't get any better.  In the end, you will be the loser so careful with that.  Unfortunately, you won't even know it until there's nothing you can do about it other than hire someone like me to minimize the damage and help you keep your life intact.  And I'm super expensive when you're 6 feet under. That's what I mean when I say you need to make sure that you are covered full circle.

Eliott Elias · Answer

Local to Texas yes, they don’t have to be located in the same city as you

Fulton Abraham Sanchez · Answer

@Leeling Chew, hi. There a few CPAs working with clients remotely. Reach out to one that fits your investing requirements.

FAS CPA & Consultants

Jordan Moorhead · Answer

You don't really need a local accountant in TX because we don't have state taxes. You do need an accountant that understands real estate.

Aaron Gordy · Answer

You should get a cpa or cpa firm that is real estate knowledgeable. I use a book keeper and then hand everything off to cpa firm. Believe it or not, it has saved me substantially more than it has cost me.