How best to find an accountant

[Baylor3217]

I've often done taxes myself or paid H&R to do them (not cost effective in my opinion).

However, I'm curious how to go about finding a quality adviser to help with things like tax selling, stock planning etc and what is reasonable to pay?

[kkbmustang]

Usually word of mouth referrals will get you great results. Payment - are you talking about tax advice and tax planning (usually hourly) or tax return prep (usually flat fee). PM me and I can give you some referrals.

[ASquared]

Personal referrals from friends, business associates etc especially that may be in a similar situation as yourself. 

For example, I am an independent contractor with an LLC treated as an S-corp for taxes.  Received my recommendation from another professional with a similar setup and I've been very happy with our accountant the last 8 years.

[rocketman48097]

I am a CPA, in my opinion, getting an accountant to do most tax returns is a complete waste of money.  Use tax software instead, I use www.taxact.com.  Even though it can be free, I pay $10 per year so they will pull my old information in and I don't need to re-enter it myself.  Lazy, I know, but well worth the nominal fee in my opinion. 

You will also learn more and when you are stuck, ask someone you know the questions you are stuck on.  I have tremendous knowledge of tax law, yet I am still mostly limited like others who know far less than I do.  I still have to put my money in 401k's to avoid higher tax rates, just like everyone else, for example.  Sure, I am doing a funky move by itemizing this year and not next year by paying two years of property taxes in one year as well as paying one month of my mortgage early this year, but even then, because the standard deduction is so high, this may only save me $300 in taxes this year, if that. 

[neoptolemus412]

Getting a CPA really only pays off if you have your own business.  As an individual taxpayer, there is only so much you can do to minimize your tax bill.  Most of the solutions are in turbotax and can be discovered via a google search.

Where a CPA comes into play is when you 1) own your own business, 2) assets reach 7 figures, &/or 3) you have a complex estate plan (trusts/variable life insurance).  If two out of the 3 are correct, then you should use a CPA in some shape or form to help figure out how to organize your business life.  Otherwise, it's tough to justify the costs.

For investments, it's tough to get someone to give up their time to speak about buying/selling securities unless you have a decent asset base invested with them.  It's just not profitable for them.  If you are investing under six figures, I would suggest low cost index funds until you find an advisor who fits your investment philosophy/risk profile.  This way they'll have to make an argument for the value of their services vs. simple indexing at a low cost complex (Vanguard, fidelity). 

[MrsPete]

Rocketman, we've been using a computer program for years, and I'm glad to hear an expert say it's the right choice. 

Going back to the original question, I have consulted a CPA once -- only once, when I needed some advice concerning a moderately complicated inheritance question -- and I found him through word of mouth.  He seemed very knowledgeable, and his advice turned out to be dead-on.  My question was only a matter of 15 minutes or so, and he didn't even charge me for the visit; rather, he asked that I return to him when I needed "real work" done.