Real Estate Investor · Lansdowne, PA · Member since 2015 · 35 posts · 9 votes
Hello, I'm new to investing. I've been doing research for a while and finally pulled the trigger a few months ago house hacking a duplex. Since I'm now a property owner and investor I'm looking to have my taxes done by a more personalized real estate based CPA vs going back to H&R block. They have done a well enough job this far but each year I seem to get a new person that seems confused and must continually ask for guidance from senior personnel. Id prefer to deal with a more knowledgeable CPA whom doesn't seem confused with each form and can maximize my return and minimize my taxable income. If anyone has some good suggestions please let me know
For a real estate CPA you must first decide whether or not you want to use someone local or non-local.
With a local CPA you will have the obvious benefit of being able to see them face-to-face and shake their hands. If that's the type of relationship you want to have, I'd recommend joining a local FaceBook group or reaching out to investors in your area here on BP and asking for referrals.
The downside to the local CPA is that there simply may not be a local CPA who is an expert in real estate accounting/tax. That's where the big benefit of expanding your search to non-local CPAs really comes in handy.
The non-local CPAs make great use of today's technology to collaborate effectively. Video calls and cloud file exchanges are two examples. The only thing you really can't do with the non-local CPA is shake their hand.
Non-local CPAs will also have insights to what investors are doing around the country, and sometimes even globe. If you are interested in investing out of your area, you may be surprised to find that a non-local CPA has clients in the area and can tell you all about it.
Regardless of whether you choose a local or non-local CPA, your CPA MUST invest in real estate themselves and have a practice that is primarily dedicated to servicing real estate investors or real estate business owners. If your CPA lacks any two of the above traits, they may not have the expertise they claim to have.