Newbie needs your advice. Should I hire a CPA or use Turbotax?

[Elio Guillen]

I purchased a turnkey investment property mid December 2016 and now it's time to file my taxes. In hindsight, I should have probably waited to make the purchase early January to avoid this issue, but I guess you live and you learn. I was originally planning to hire a CPA to complete my 2017 taxes, but now I'm wondering if should hire a CPA sooner to help me complete my 2016 taxes. 

My taxes aren't too complicated - I basically have my W2, a few hundred dollars of index fund dividend income, and my turnkey property I bought mid December 2016. I typically use Turbotax, but I'm stuck since I don't know how to find the land value of my property. Should I use the land value listed on a site like realtor.com or should I use the land value listed on the property appraisal? I'm sure this would be a piece of cake for a CPA, to answer but should I hire a CPA if I only had one property for about two weeks in 2016?

Thanks. I appreciate all of your responses.

[Lance Lvovsky]

Generally you would do an allocation of your purchase price to the land and building portion based on the allocation done by the county property appraiser.

As to your question about hiring a CPA, I am probably biased as I am a CPA, but I think ultimately you need to do what's best for you. While you may be able to get away doing your taxes yourself this year, you will need a CPA as you grow portfolio.

I will also tell you that far too often I have seen people file incorrect taxes. So in summary, a CPA can add real value to your tax return. Plus, a good CPA can assist you with tax planning - and that's where things get really exciting.

Feel free to reach out or post here with questions.