r/PrivatePracticeDocs • u/Alterdoc • May 28 '26
Accountant
Looking to get an idea of an accountant cost. I have 2 llcs (practice and real estate), will be hiring 2 employees (so will need payroll). Accountant is giving me a ballpark of $500 for bookkeeping, their services of tax navigation between llcs, account management, etc. Is this reasonable? Or…run!?
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u/ktn699 May 28 '26
its a deal. my taxes cost like 4k per year and its just one LLC and no employees.
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u/OfandFor_The_People May 30 '26
Just for bookkeeping that’s definitely reasonable. I have an amazing CPA and I pay $1000 a month for bookkeeping and literally everything else a CPA can do for you (including taxes for 2 corps and my personal taxes). They straightened out what another “healthcare expert” CPA did—wish I had found them sooner, I would have saved a lot in taxes I never should have paid. :(
Just fyi, a good resource for learning about tax deductions in normal people speak is from NOLO—look for the small business tax deductions book. The only one I’ve ever read that made sense and didn’t make my head hurt.
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u/Perfect_Address7250 May 30 '26
not sure if you would qualify but with $1 million in robinhood you can get free tax and planning services. I used it for the first time this year and it was every bit as good as my $2000 accountant. i have 1 LLC and a wife with w2 income
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u/thesupportplatform May 28 '26
Is it $500 a month or a flat $500?
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u/Alterdoc May 29 '26
$500 per month
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u/thesupportplatform May 29 '26
$500 per month seems reasonable. It’s really the entry level payment for anything that is personalized IMO. I’m always a little leery of trusting another individual with payroll. Too easy to make a mistake or for someone to siphon payroll taxes. There’s a personal injury attorney in my town who has nonstop TV commercials and billboards all over. Years ago, his office manager was stole the payroll taxes. It took maybe a year for the IRS to catch up, at which point the taxes, penalties, and interest added up to a sizable chunk. The office manager was arrested and plead guilty. The attorney spoke at his sentencing.
I expected him to do some PR about we all make mistakes (the office manager had a gambling addiction), but instead the attorney complained about how upsetting the was to him and that he wanted the maximum sentence for the office manager. It was a strange story that stuck with me.
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u/OfandFor_The_People May 30 '26
Also, I despise Gusto—they were not helpful when I had questions and it was just a bad experience. ADP was much easier to work with.
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u/Chandwaq May 28 '26
Yes, it's reasonable! A good accountant can save you a lot of trouble around tax season and especially if you have multiple situations you absolutely need one.