Hi- I have an entity set up for my trading business, I qualify for trader tax status, and have been using www.greentradertax.com for my tax needs. However, I have found them to be very expensive, about $1,500 for a simple entity return (Federal+state). Plus I pay about $300 every year for tradelog software to do tax accounting. So, my costs end up about $1,700-$1,800 for doing entity taxes, which I think is pretty high. Do you think that this price is high for tax preparation? So, my question is: do you guys think there is an alternative to Green company? For example, has any one tried turbotax business and written their own footnotes, which Green keeps stressing are important? Does Turbotax business allow adding your own statements, for example, 4797 from tradelog and details of expenses being claimed on blank pages etc? Is Turbotax easy to use to prepare entity returns? I have found Turbotax for personal taxes very easy to use. Has anyone used http://www.tradersaccounting.com or any other firm? I like the knowledge of Green on trader taxation, but find their services very expensive. Green has also done good service for traders by providing insights on trader taxes, that is why I have used them over the past many years, but cost has always been an issue, especially because they don't provide fixed cost pricing at the onset of engagement. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Wow... your post couldn't have been more timely. I just got my bill from Green. Now I know why his name is Green.
Yes, they are expensive. Yes, there are much cheaper alternatives and they are the local guy/gal doing tax work out of their home as a small tax accounting business. I'm not talking about some friend that's not license and doing taxes for some extra money. In contrast, I'm talking about a real business, license with a few employees doing taxes out of their home or small office. How do you know if they're reliable ? I'm sure you've been keeping your Greentradertax records for the past several years (governments usually recommend keeping the past 7 years). Let your local tax person do your taxes and make sure you give the local person access to the prior year tax work by Greentradertax. You can also check the public local business records to see if they have complaints and such.
Thanks wrbtrader. Since Internet has brought all of us a lot closer, do you think using a small accounting firm, which could be anywhere in the U.S., and is already familiar with trader taxes is better than using a local tax accounting firm? If yes, can you recommend any specific small accounting firm that you may have used?
I am planning to have a list of trader tax specialists: http://www.greencompany.com/ http://www.tradersaccounting.com/index.php http://fairmark.com/traders/index.htm http://traderstatus.com/ If anyone has any reviews & cost on these firms (other than Green, which has plenty), please post them.
Either you a player and pays da fees 4 proper work or da use the wrong pro ( local ) for the job. Save yinself the headache and pay fee
Agree with the first two posts - Green Trader Tax is total overpriced. About 3x more expensive than a typical CPA. They made a massive error on my returns too which was really disappointing. Buy their books/materials but stay the heck away from their tax prep services (unless you're trading tens of millions and don't care about cost at all). There are many many other CPAs recommended on these forums which you should try first. Tax prep is totally automated by software these days. No need to pay 3x.
Hey Atem, I am in similar situation and need to find a reasonable Trader's tax specialist or a firm that knows what they are doing and can advise on different scenarios. Did you find any good firm? Would appreciate giving a referral if you did.
%% SOUNDS OVERPRICEd a lot; assume state tax is not overcomplex like IRS forms are.[ I do my own simple state taxes + we have no state income tax , but pay CPAs or Jackson Hewitt for federal taxes] I looked in the yellow pages + got some phone estimates from several+ CPAs\ estimate based on approximate number of IRS pages . [But i would not call f]