Im a sole proprietor. Small biz for 15 years. One employee. My last accountant sat with me for an hour and plugged in my numbers (i do perfect book keeping), and gave me advice for a total of $300.
He was older and retired.
I used a friends accountant the following year. Charged $550 in 2021. Then 700 plus 200 for a membership where he would rep you if audit. so $900 second year. Then,
I bought a house, remodeled and rented it. had everything totaled on one sheet for him to plug in numbers.
He charged me 1600 this year. Im guessing 20-30 min of work. Looks like over $600 additional for that?
Havent said anything yet but im curious if im the only one that thinks this is nuts and if there are more reasonable options out there. small sole prop with one house rental 1600 for im guessing 1.5 hours of work max. wtf. .
Cheapest option is to do it yourself. It will only be the cheapest option until you make a mistake that the IRS questions and then it will likely be the most expensive option.
CPAs charge how much they can get, just like any other business. Shop around if you want cheaper, and make sure you’re considering what you’re actually getting.
You can’t become a CPA by doing a 6 week online boot camp though, so rates commensurate with someone who put in the energy and investment into an advanced degree and education to provide them the certifications they need will be higher than something like a cleaning service. Just the nature of how the economy works.