Find the right Tax Accountant for you

Finding a qualified tax accountant can be a daunting process. Our goal at TaxAccountant.com is to make it easy for you to find a qualified tax professional to help you complete your tax returns (and maximize your tax refund!) quickly, accurately, and for a fair price.

The first thing you should know is that there are generally two categories of tax professionals who can help you with your return:

• CPAs, or Certified Professional Accountants
• EAs, or Enrolled Agents

Should you hire a CPA or an EA to do your tax return?

A typical tax accounting CPA can charge well over $100/ hour with an average rate probably around $150/ hour. An Enrolled Agent however, generally costs much less, with most EAs charging less than $100/ hour, and many available for around the $40/ hour mark. That cost difference means that choosing a CPA to do your taxes may end up costing you 50% to 100% more than using an EA. When evaluating whether or not it's worth it to use a Certified Professional Accountant over an Enrolled Agent, you may want to ask yourself the following questions:

• How high is your income? (High earners are more likely to be audited, pay more tax, and usually have more to gain from following an efficient tax reduction strategy
• Is your tax return particularly complex? (Factors such as buying or selling a home, changing jobs, foreign-derived income, or changing marital status can complicate your tax return and make it more worthwhile to go with a CPA.)
• Do you own your own business, or are you self-employed? (Business owners and the self-employed are much more likely to be audited than W-2 employees.)

Working with a Tax Accountant

Filing our income tax return is something that we all dread about. It is a two-fold burden. Not only we will be deducted a portion of our hard earned money, we also have to wallow in numbers and declare accurate figures from a year-long compilation of our tax account. And it is such comforting to know that there are people whom we can ask for assistance regarding our tax account. Today's modern life has afforded us industry specializing in tax preparation and accounting services. Hard-working people who are too busy and stressed to file their annual tax dues can run to tax accountants for salvation.

Specializing in the management and computation of tax account, tax accountants are the saviors of people who hate numbers and people who are deprived of organizing abilities. Tax accountants know all the processes to complete our income tax account declaration, and can give advice on how to make the most out of the tax exemptions imposed by the government. Most tax accountants render their services for a certain rate per hour, so if ever we will work with one one we need to make sure that all the papers that she or he needs can be pulled up as easy as a page flip.

The required tax account forms are the following: first, the W-2 forms, which we regularly receive from our employers on the first month of the year. If you accidentally misplaced your W-2 forms, you can ask our employer to give you a new copy. For self-employed people, 1099-MISC forms for self-employment income are needed. Tax account computation also requires the 1099-INT and 1099-DIV slips, interest and dividends forms, respectively; 1099-B forms that shows brokerage trades in stocks and bonds; K-1 forms for income from a partnership, small business, or trust; and 1099-SSA form that shows Social Security received. We also need to make a clear compilation of documents on expenditures like education expenses, moving expenses, and medical and dental expenses.