Some accountants charge a flat rate, some charge by the hour, and others may base their fee on your anticipated refund. Provide a copy of last year’s return and ask for an estimate of their fees. Let them know about any special circumstances that affect your tax situation this year, such as marriage or divorce, purchase of a rental property, or the start of a new business. If they charge a flat rate, make sure you know what is included in that fee.

But for a little bit more, you can get a trustworthy tax advisor who cares about your situation, helps you understand tax changes, and ensures you get the maximum refund back this year. You may decide to hire an accountant for filing tax returns or additional services. Survey report, the average hourly rate of CPAs for filing federal/state tax returns was $180, and $174 for other tax services. Of course, the number of hours billed by a CPA depends on the service, and is impacted by the level of organization of your files. At the end of the day, hiring an accountant can start a fruitful relationship with a financial consultant.

How to hire a tax professional

The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. But self-employed individuals can still deduct tax preparation fees. But cost can also depend on the cost of living in your location. Preparing a simple 2022 tax return in New Jersey in 2023 will reportedly cost you about $175. It usually costs more to have a professional itemize your deductions than to claim the standard deduction for your filing status.

Having an accountant makes future tax planning much easier and is one of the value adds. I think you’re right not to take anything questionable. But using an accountant might make some of those corner https://quick-bookkeeping.net/ cases more understandable. We’ve had an accountant as an advisor for quite some time so it will be interesting if he can give more specific advice once the numbers are all in front of him.

How Do I Find a Reputable Tax Consultant?

The accountant prepares and file all of our taxes for us. All we have to do is provide him with How Much Will It Cost To Hire An Accountant To Do My Taxes? all of the necessary data. Everything sounds pretty straightforward except for one thing.

• However, you might want to pay someone to do it just to relieve yourself of the stress and make sure nothing gets missed.
• If you’re a small business owner, managing your financial books is not an expense you want draining your bank account.
• Your new accountant will likely ask for copies of the last two or three years of tax returns, so make sure you get those from your old accountant.
• You can also hire an accountant who has a particular specialization, for example, if you own a small business or live abroad.