Tax Preparation for Real Estate Investors – Need Advice!

[Vincent Pflieger]

Hey everyone,

It’s tax season, and I’m trying to figure out the best approach for my situation. A year ago, my taxes were pretty straightforward—just W-2 income and some Airbnb earnings from my place. But last year, I bought a triplex in Cleveland (buy and hold) and a single-family home (SFH) in December, which I’m still waiting to rent out.

I’ve spoken with a few CPAs and got different pricing:

• Taxstra PLLC: $1,500 for tax prep plus ongoing tax guidance throughout the year.

• Prime Corporate Services: $2,800 upfront, plus $100/month (deducted at the end of the year).

Both have great reviews on Google.

My question is: Am I too small at this stage to go with the more expensive option? How did you handle tax prep when you first started investing, especially with a plan to scale over time? Would love to hear your experiences and strategies!

Thanks in advance!

[Michael Plaks]

Quote from @Vincent Pflieger:

Hey everyone,

It’s tax season, and I’m trying to figure out the best approach for my situation. A year ago, my taxes were pretty straightforward—just W-2 income and some Airbnb earnings from my place. But last year, I bought a triplex in Cleveland (buy and hold) and a single-family home (SFH) in December, which I’m still waiting to rent out.

I’ve spoken with a few CPAs and got different pricing:

• Taxstra PLLC: $1,500 for tax prep plus ongoing tax guidance throughout the year.

• Prime Corporate Services: $2,800 upfront, plus $100/month (deducted at the end of the year).

Both have great reviews on Google.

My question is: Am I too small at this stage to go with the more expensive option? How did you handle tax prep when you first started investing, especially with a plan to scale over time? Would love to hear your experiences and strategies!

You can never compare such quotes apples-to-apples, sorry. It's like comparing restaurant prices or hotel prices. Yes, different prices, but also different quality and different service. 

Here is more on that: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/998718-explai...

That said, $1,500 which includes an ongoing support is pretty cheap. You cannot get a quality individualized support at this price level. You can maybe get an equivalent of tech support people who read from the script. But I'm not familiar with this particular firm, so maybe  I am wrong, and they are unicorns.