This was a few months ago but I realized it wasn't posted here. Some discussion on fees is included in there as well.

Some highlights:

"As tax practitioners integrate GAI into their workflows, it is crucial to recognize that technology serves as a powerful tool, not a substitute for professional judgment. AI can streamline routine tasks, enhance research, and provide valuable insights, but final decisions must always rest with qualified professionals who understand the complexities of tax law and ethical standards."

"Practitioners must strictly handle all client data using only secure, enterprise-approved AI"

"AI can reduce research and drafting time, such that billing clients for manual labor or time that was not actually spent or double billing for AI-assisted tasks may violate § 10.27, depending on the facts (e.g., a noticeable pattern across clients or the size of the billing differentials). Cost savings should be passed on openly, with billing practices that reflect the efficiencies gained from the use of GAI. Practitioners should not only disclose, in general or specific terms as needed, the AI activities performed, but also fairly credit to the client’s account any cost reductions."

The bulletin:
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USIRS/bulletins/41d6e70

And a Journal of Accountancy article:

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2026/jun/irs-outlines-ai-risks-circular-230-duties-for-tax-practitioners/

Hey everyone,

One of the options I have considered is adding wealth management services to my clients and firm. I understand that these need to be completely separate businesses, communications need to be tracked properly, and registration and compliance will be substantial.

My current firm - I focus on small business clients - SCorps, Partnerships, schedule c. I want to essentially be the bridge between suggesting things like IRA, HSA, SEPs, and actually helping them set these up, as well as managing these investments inside these accounts.

As such - I was hoping to hear from firm owners who have done this, or are considering doing this.

My main questions are:

1. Has anyone formed their own RIA, considered working for a broker dealer, or done both? I am wondering if plugging in a broker dealer situation would make this far easier.

2. Did anyone partner with a financial advisor who is more experienced in the RIA side of things (like a CFP, or FA who worked for a BD) - before creating this branch of services? If so, would you reccomend or not recommend?

3. General pitfalls and other regulatory/operational considerations that I am not considering.

Comments for others to read are encouraged, and DMs are also welcome!

What would you guys charge for a SDO submission: 2022-2024, involving 2 5471s: 1 need to be fixed and the other one prepared from scratch. Possible GILTI and subchapter F. FBARS were filed and are fine. Low value assets would result in a MOP of maybe $9k. I’d only focus on 5471s and former preparer does the 1040X. I hate to do this but I’m pretty sure the work would warrant a fee higher than the MOP.

Hi all - I am thinking about a career change and trying to assess the environment and weigh my options. A little about me: I hold a Master's in Accounting, a MBA, and am a CPA. I started working for the IRS shortly after getting my undergrad and have remained there for more than two decades. I have been thinking about leaving the IRS and starting something small of my own. Although I worked at a firm while I was getting my undergrad, after so many years in the government I feel disconnected and am hoping for some advice from this community. I would appreciate any thoughts folks would be willing to share.

To automate tax prep?

I have read terms of service for CCH Axcess. Seems like they block any time of automation unless comes from them. Anyone care?

Our firm is reaching the point where we're running out of office space at our current location, which we're not willing to leave. There's a nearby town of similar size that looks like it should grow significantly in population over the next 10-15 years.

Based on our recent growth as a firm, I think opening a second office should start covering its own expenses within 2 years without adding additional staff. We're tentatively planning to staff it 2-3 days per week using existing staff.

From a logistics standpoint, staff have laptops that are used to log into Verito and VOIP for telephones and we use TaxDome for document storage/portals. Returns would still be assembled at the main office (clients pick up physical copies of their returns on 1 day each week, typically Fridays at the main office. Secondary would be whichever day we have it staffed).

For those of you that have opened a second location, what am I missing? What worked and what didn't?

For anyone who started or took over a CPA/tax practice relatively young, I’d love to hear about your experience.

I’m curious about a few things:

• How many years of experience did you have before going out on your own?
• When did you finally start feeling comfortable handling clients without constantly second-guessing yourself?
• How did you handle situations where a client asked you something you didn’t know?
• Looking back, were you actually less prepared than you thought, or more prepared than you gave yourself credit for?
• What technology or processes made the biggest difference early on?
• If you could go back to when you first started your practice, what would you do differently

I think the technical confidence/imposter syndrome side of starting young is what I’m most curious about. Did you ever really feel “ready,” or did you just get more comfortable as you went?

I am a CPA with 8 years of experience, mostly worked in small firms as well as a national firm for a time. Mostly worked on partnership, s-corp and high net worth individual returns. I was always interested in foreign taxation in regards to US expats and non-residents. I am thinking about potentially moving to Europe and was just looking at possible careers where my skill-set can be utilized effectively and US expat tax preparation came to mind.

During my career I did sometimes encounter some returns that had me prepare various foreign forms (Form 5471 GILTI, FBAR, 1116, and foreign earned income with the exclusion). I would like to understand the nuances a bit more as I only encountered a small set of situations. Is there any resource where one can learn this better?

Based on what I have searched through google it looks like there are firms where you can work as a contractor for a couple of months where you spend time preparing these returns. They seem to be remote only as well. Anyone have any experience working at these sort of places? Greenback Tax Services and Taxes for Expats are among the many I found.

Thank you for any help!

I'm coming to Reddit and hoping to find either support, or be told I'm off my own rocker.

I went back into tax a little over a year ago, been at two smaller firms in that time. The first I left due to fraud. I currently enjoy the staff at the second, and the CPA I joined is ethical and we get along well. the biggest thing we differ on is pricing/quotes for clients, and raising old prices.

Looking back on some of the returns and what he has charged, I'd be curious to know what others would charge for the following:

We are MCOL.

1: sports team staff member 1 - multi-six figure w-2 for both spouse and taxpayer, filing requirement in 9 states, has 4 rentals that are located in one state. Also has local reporting. Several brokerage statements with foreign income and taxes paid. Paper filing requirement for some of the local items.

1. sports team staff member 2 - multi-six figure w-2 for both spouse and taxpayer, filing requirement in 13 states. Client has 18 rentals. Paper filing of 5 localities due to rentals. Includes prepping two of theirs kids returns as well - w-2 only and mid 20 year old.

2. Proposal for a full service client - QBO monthly recon- bank account connected, CC not; under 100 total transactions a month. - TR prep for the 1065 (2 partners) and both partners personal - each are MFJ with children. Three one hour meetings with tax planning suggestions; one for the partners for the entity, and one for each spouse + partner. Monthly payroll and all filings - they have 1 employee at the moment.

I'm most curious on three because the proposal I gave him, was 2x what he thought we would charge. He told me we wouldn't get it. I met with the client and identified they needed much more and they have a meeting next week to come in and sign for 1.5x my original quote, as services increased. They've already put several thousand down as a retainer.

Would like some advice! I'm not entirely sure what I want out of my career yet. I like the idea of starting my own tax practice so I can control how much I work and what I work on, but I'm not dead set on it.

I had internships at a top 10 and B4 company and am fortunate enough to receive return offers from both. B4 offer is doing corporate compliance; not any of the specialty service lines.

My B4 offer has a base pay that is $8,500 more and a higher CPA bonus. The top 10 firm has 4k more for the sign-on bonus. 1st year comp difference accounting for the CPA bonus, base pay, and sign-on bonus would be a 7k difference in a L/MCOL area. The comp differences would only increase with each subsequent year.

I recognize that B4 has greater name recognition for future opportunities and has higher compensation. I also recognize that I will deal with more diverse work at the top 10 PA firm, which would be more akin to my own practice.

I enjoyed the office at the top ten much more, as it was a significantly larger office in my area and I had more friends there. The B4 office felt stale.

Do you have any advice moving forward?

Just a heads up for anyone in a similar situation as me, I'm a tax manager of a small family office ~30 individuals, their trusts, and a few entity returns. I had a call with CCH yesterday about wanting to use their Tax Essentials Basic 100 package, which would only be around $2,800 for 100 return (plus more for entity returns). Relative to what I'm currently paying, this was a steal, so I set up a call to ask a few questions.

As it turns out, this Tax Essentials package isn't available to a family office because I'm not traditionally a "firm". I basically operate as an in-house CPA with a PTIN and EFIN, but don't meet her definitions. She assured me that the price would be "much more", but of course, couldn't give me a ballpark price until she revisited her "hundreds of packages". I can only guess how much my ~60 returns will cost. I'm almost tempted to reach out again, tell them I'm a sole practitioner who does ~60 returns and see if her answer will change.

I used Axcess at a prior firm and know it'll suit my needs, but I hate working with salesmen and software companies with their lack of transparency and arbitrary rules!!

Eta: I think my sales rep saw my message. 20 minutes after I posted this, she came back to me with a 150 return package (all inclusive) at around $5k per year. I was expecting MUCH worse.

A local competitor retired, so I’m expecting a surge of new clients this tax season. I’m already at capacity and don't need a year-round employee, so I'm exploring temporary help to minimize risk if the expected volume doesn't fully materialize. I know myself well enough to know that I'll have a hard time saying no to new business, so trying to get ahead of this.

I want to offer competitive pay to attract an experienced preparer who won't need hand-holding - ideally a semi-retired tax pro looking for short-term work.

(Not looking for liability/review or firm management advice just yet - focusing purely on hiring and pay strategies right now)

Looking for feedback on:

• Temporary staff: Do short-term, high pay models worked well to attract talent?
• Pay structure: Have you ever paid a percentage per return? If so, what % did you use? If not, what other pay models have worked for you?
• Sourcing tips: Any red flags or advice for finding reliable temp pros?

I appreciate any insight. Thanks in advance!

Have a handful of clients in PE. In March, they always provide with me an estimation of their K-1 for extension planning.

I usually have them pay extra to avoid interest and penalties. I tend to allow for changes for LTCG to STCG (section 1061), and other adjustments that may appear on the finalized K-1. This has worked last year, and the year before, where the overpayments came out to be like $10k or $15k.

But this year, the K-1's have not changed much from the estimate in March. So now I am calling them saying they are overpaid by $30k. They are happy they do not owe, but they are asking why I had them pay in so much back in April.

I am forthcoming, and saying "hey, many years the K-1's have changed, and I'd rather have you overpay, then underpay and get penalized." I then explain to them that since this is the second year in a row that the K-1's are close to the estimation, next year we will use the estimation as 90% gospel. So far, they seem OK with this. But I think next year I will be taking the K1 estimates as gospel and just advise the client of the possibility of owing interest and penalties.

I am curious what other professionals do. Do you take the estimates as gospel? Or do you factor in some sort of buffer?

I just started using the AI notetaker on my Google Voice calls and it is awesome!

It’s not quite as detailed as other notetakers I’ve used but it gets the job done from a detail perspective.

The notes stay logged in your recent calls and you also get an email summary afterward. Nice and easy to copy/paste into TaxDome/Canopy or whatever you use.

You have to manually engage it and it reads a quick disclosure on the call but it’s super easy.

I set out to take the CPA exam. Completed the first step of verifying that I qualified to sit for the exam. Turns out I don't have enough accounting credit hours. I have a BS in Management and MBA Business Admin so plenty of hours overall. In order to even sit for the exam, I basically have to go back to school for a BS in Accounting.

I have been out of college for 12 years. I worked in a CPA office for 5-6 years, and started my own small practice nearly 2 years ago. I have about 2 dozen clients and keep myself very busy with a side job. I provide bookkeeping, tax prep, and minimal advisory (would like to improve on this).

The plan is supposed to be expand my own client base, and reduce the side job phasing it out eventually. I really don't want to go back to school, but will if it's beneficial.

My question is: would it be worth it to get the BS Accounting and CPA license? Is there a different credential that will make my clients feel more secure (most are fine, really just one has a preference for CPA)? Forget licensing, but continue learning applicable topics (tax changes, tech improvements, retirement plans, etc.)?

Procedural question on handling an IRS adjustment after appeals related to NOL and Depreciation.

Taxpayer's 2023 tax return was audited which had a legit cost seg study. Exam level reclassified $300k in depreciation by moving 5-year property to 27.5-year property. Examiner relied on internal IRS "Subject Matter Expert", wouldn't debate the study, wouldn't discuss with cost seg engineers, and told us to take it up with appeals. Long story short during appeals, we settled on a net $78k depreciation adjustment. Non-specific to the assets, just a depreciation adjustment of $78k on the Form 5278, with $0 reported on the Form 870-AD. Nothing on the appeals settlement indicates the specific assets, just a single line item to that property on Sch E. No tax increase for the 2023 year under audit, but NOL reduction for the $78k.

The NOL reduction absolutely needs to be included on an amended 2024 return which will increase taxable income for that year. No question about that.

What I cannot confirm is whether I can include the additional year 2 depreciation expense from those adjusted assets in 2024. Since we already filed 2023 and 2024 with the original depreciation schedules, this would seem to be a change in accounting method, requiring Form 3115, and a section 481(a) adjustment on the 2025 return. Does that sound accurate? We filed the 2025 return on extension and the plan is to file a superseding tax return opposed to a 2025 amendment.

2023 - Accept Appeals Settlement, reduced depreciation, reduced NOL
2024 - Amend for NOL, cannot change depreciation
2025 - File Form 3115 and record the 481(a) adjustment on a superseded return

The 2024 return is going to result in a tax deficiency as a result of the reduced NOL. If I could take the additional year 2 depreciation it will certainly help offset that. Assuming I cannot take the additional depreciation in 2024, they'll have a larger balance owed, but then a favorable 481(a) adjustment reducing 2025 taxes. The thing that is tripping me up is that the settlement doc is non-specific to the assets. I do not believe we are going from a impermissible method of depreciation to a now permissible. Form 3115 technically requires "IRS approval", even if automatic, so we need automatic IRS approval via Form 3115 for an adjustment made by IRS appeals?

As much as I want to push the depreciation through on year 2, I'm leaning towards no, and push it through via 481(a) adjustment, but that is also much more work. I just want this over with and cannot deal with the depreciation adjustment being contested years after we file these returns and the client lose their mind with another IRS issue.

I'm solo and just looking for a sounding board. mucho gracias in advance for anyone who wishes to comment.

I’ve used Surgent and some other paid services and it’s just like somebody reading a PowerPoint presentation and I hate it.

I’m a visual learner, and I like interactive with real life examples and explanation.

What are the best resources for ACTUALLY learning new topics for CPE? I will gladly pay, I just feel like there are no classes with actual teaching and learning.

I signed a new client who brought me on board as a frac. CFO and tax expert, and I also help the company liason with other CPAs / tax consultants in other jurisdictions (the company has a multi-jurisdictional footprint).

The client and I have hit it off and an addition to company-related work, has also asked me to support him in his personal tax filings in concert with his own CPA. The work is in a way a natural extension to the business as he is a 99% shareholder of the company.

I do want to capture this in a separate or expanded EA, but since we just completed our engagement formalities a few weeks ago, how best do I proceed with the scope update?

Any advice would be great!

New client asks me to help them "finalize their distributions" before we submit the 1120s. Says the prior CPA used to do this elaborate calc to accrue distributions based on the operating agreement. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the hell lil' homie was putting as the distributions in prior years, so we all reach out to the prior CPA.

His answer is absolutely fucking wild. The only cash paid out, ever, is to a 2% shareholder. The other 98% shareholder doesn't take a check and doesn't want one, but 2% shareholder wants x amount of money so that's what they do.

This man was just putting these made up phantom distributions on the return so the amount that actually went to the 2% shareholder was pro rata. 2% owner took 23K? He slaps 1,150,000 of distributions on the return. He says this to me IN FREAKING WRITING. He consumed like 20 years of accumulated basis in this S corp in 2 years with this idiocy. Never gave the client an entry because obviously how the hell do you record that.

The craziest part of all this is, we explain this to the client in detail, about how it has to be pro rata, the way the prior CPA is handling it is insane, and here's a better way (2% shareholder is family, just fucking take it pro rata and gift it), and he comes back to me with "Well, if you are struggling with this then reach out to [prior CPA] and see if he is willing to help you" so now we are burning WIP trying to keep this guy from shooting himself in the foot. Honestly, I would let him do it, but I am legitimately worried about our E&O on this

I’m on Outlook/M365 and trying to figure out if any of these are actually worth paying for.

The ones I keep seeing recommended:

Superhuman Mail

Fyxer AI

SaneBox

Inbox Zero

Copilot came with our plan and it’s okay at summarizing threads, but the drafts are generic enough that I rewrite them anyway.

Looking for feedback and reviews on any of these.

Thanks!

Mostly venting. Client originally said they were just a single member LLC. Now I find out they are a partnership. Business started in 2025. Schedule C was finished. Now I have to go back and prepare a 1065 and two K-1s. I am going to charge them for this extra work too.

They also didn't file an extension for 1065. They have a net loss but will still have failure to file penalties. I can probably abate them but still this client has been a huge pain to work with.

Curious about user experiences with Accordance and especially how it compares to Bizora, Blue J, Marble and others in its reasoning transparency with tax research.

I’m going to submit an offer and compromise ( OIC), doubt as to liability (DATL) for a client.

Does anybody know how long the IRS is currently taking to process this ? Just a rough ballpark ?

Thanks

All, could I ask how much you pay your staff? My partner and I started a practice about 3 years ago. We have a steady practice of outsourced CFO and controller work with a few dozen tax returns. We entertained acquiring a traditional tax practice and discussed with retiring CPAs over the last 2 years. Only 1 went through diligence but in almost all opening conversations, it sounded like they didn’t really pay their staff very much. Some of them had office managers/admin that would do simple returns, almost none had a technical senior person.

We have a senior accountant who helps with our traditional/core practice that we pay fairly. We are looking to hire an experienced tax accountant that had run the admin side of a solo practitioner’s practice (client communications, software updates, calling IRS, preparing returns). The returns they would handle are super simple but she has a pretty decent amount of experience (but no license/credentials) so we can probably give her some of the easier returns of our existing practice. What do you think would be a fair salary? I don’t want to be so short sighted and look to “do better than market.” I’m happy with stability and reliability more than anything else, but of course the economics has to make sense.

I am in a HCOL, maybe on the lower end of HCOL. We offer 401k with 4% match plus profit sharing, 10% bonus cash, and a $12k health reimbursement allowance. What would be a reasonable salary?