Who’s going to do your tax return next year?

Now is the right time to answer that question because it makes sense to sit down with your CPA now and do a year end review of your situation. If you don’t meet before the end of the year, you might not have time to do some of the things your CPA recommends. I’m not going to run through a list of the things you could do before the end of the year to save yourself some money, but your CPA will and if you wait you’ll lose out on those opportunities.

But, who’s going to do the return? Will it be the same person as last year? Or are you ready for someone new?

I’d suggest that you do some shopping. CPAs are willing to deal and some of them are anxious for the business. We cut the price of our corporate return by 75% by shopping around and found an excellent accountant willing to do the work. This is the right time to conduct your search. Ask for referrals and start interviewing.

There’s one good reason to be careful about switching, even if it means a substantial reduction in cost. If your CPA is a good referral source then you should factor that in to your decision. When we switched our corporate return we were careful to be sure we left plenty of work behind with the old CPA (a good referral source). Several of our attorneys have his firm do their personal returns and they are maintaining a good relationship with him.

Think about all aspects of your relationship when you make a change. Don’t allow there to be any unforeseen consequences.