Is this a good rate for an CPA to file income tax in Northern Virginia?

[Anonymous]

We are new to the area, married filing jointly, one with W2 income and the other self-employed. We also have income from investment accounts and 1 rental property. We received a quote for 1,800. Is this typical for the area? Thanks for any feedback

[Anonymous]

Seems a little high; I'd expect to pay $800 - $1000 at a one-person or small firm.

[Anonymous]

Is this the fee for the first year, or what this person intends to charge every year?

Its seems high for what you describe as your situation, but usually the first year is higher to set you up in the system and there is always some risk you aren't declaring everything and the CPA assumes some liability.

You could easily do your own taxes with a TurboTax professional edition for much less.

[Anonymous]

This is for each year, thanks for the feedback, will get more quotes.

[Anonymous]

Doing taxes for a rental property on TurboTax is pretty easy. You just need to separate improvements from repairs and Google a few things. A few of the issues can get slightly complicated, but nothing that you couldn't figure out after doing a little research.

[Anonymous]

100% too high

[Anonymous]

It can be hard to find someone who wants to do a simple-ish tax return, as I learned a couple of years ago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are new to the area, married filing jointly, one with W2 income and the other self-employed. We also have income from investment accounts and 1 rental property. We received a quote for 1,800. Is this typical for the area? Thanks for any feedback

We are looking for a new firm if you are open to sharing the name

[Anonymous]

That’s a good price with rentals and self-employment.

[Anonymous]

We pay $500/year. That includes some minor self-employment stuff and used to include some rental income. I think we get good deal and we really like our accountant. Your quote seems pretty high to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s a good price with rentals and self-employment.

I agree and I work at a tax firm in Northern VA. Pp is absolutely right that you can do all of this on TurboTax for much less but you may not want to deal with that.