Denver area CPA

[Roger P.]

I just finished the “Tax Strategies for Savvy Real Estate Investors” book that was recommended - Loved the book and I got several good ideas from it. Reminds me of the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know”.

I have used a non-CPA tax guy for the last several years and I am starting to wonder if I am being underserved. He charges about $300 each year for the preparation. I provide all of the information from the W-2s, 1099s and 1098s- Quicken report for all rental expenses. The process takes about 30-45 minutes to enter the info into his software. I review the returns to verify the data was input correctly and they are sent. Seems like I could do what he is doing by using turbo tax.

We have our primary residence, a few duplexes in the metro Denver area, a rental in AZ and my W-2 job. The tax preparer has some rental properties of his own and a few of his other clients also have rentals or commercial property. I have asked about using various entities as a strategy for liability protection or tax savings and he has pretty much poop pooped the ideas as not being cost effective. He believes that the only people that make any money with LLCs or partnerships are the attorneys and CPAs that set them up. He also believes that the liability protection is better mitigated by increased liability insurance.

Is he right? Does anyone know of a tax preparer that is a specialist in the real estate arena. I am not looking to through away money but I have heard from several sources that there may be better ways to protect against liability issues and save on taxes.