Ask HN: How to Find an Accountant / CPA? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to Find an Accountant / CPA?

18 pointsedot14 comments

I've called around to a few local accountants who all seemed to be lacking in their knowledge of startup / SaaS taxation, or seemed otherwise uninterested in my business. Any advice for finding an accountant / CPA who is both knowledgeable of technology / startups / SaaS, yet can also handle the details about my specific geography (I am not in Silicon Valley, so while I could find a national / SV accountancy who satisfies the "knowledge of tech" requirement, they would likely not know much about taxes in my area).

FWIW, I am operating as a single member LLC for now as I am not going for a huge VC-backed idea at the moment. I understand that this is treated as a disregarded entity for federal purposes, but need advice for state and local taxes / sales taxes.

Then there is the question of "is a CPA or a lawyer the more appropriate person to ask about X?". For example, do I need to register for a county vendor's license if I sell software as a service? Would a CPA know that or is that more of a lawyer question? The county laws written in 90s-tech-inspired-legalese on the topic are unclear to my layman brain.

Bonus points for good questions to ask as tests when determining who to work with. Extra bonus points for how much you pay for your accountant.

A lawyer will advise you on legal and matters that involve liability. Accountants/CPAs make sure your finances are in order and that you do not have any local state or federal tax liabilities.

There is a small intersection but I would highly recommend a tax lawyer if you enter that territory (government sends demand letters about your tax liability).

I went with my personal accountant for my 500k-1m/year startup with contractors. They provided me a rep and they were responsible for ensuring my p&l and irs filings were accurate. I spent maybe 30 minutes a month with them, depending on how much travel I had. I would graduate to a real accounting firm if I needed someone to manage my employee expenses / needed healthcare providers.

Find a good CPA first and if you need Legal help on top, a good CPA always has referrals and recommendations. Some key things to keep in mind:

- You will need a CPA who is licensed to practice in your state. Even for SaaS business unfortunately, the Govt. has not caught up and a lot of it comes down to which state your business is officially registered in. For example, if you are registered in NJ, find a CPA who can practice in NJ. A CPA who can only practice in IL won't be of much help other than general advice.

- Unfortunately, there is no good way to find these CPAs. Trial and error. You can start with a CPA directory for your state and call at least 3-5 and ask your questions. Depending on how they answer your questions and your gut feeling, you can then choose one.

Which state are you in btw ? I can recommend for NY, NJ, PA as our own CPA (who is decent) can do these 3 states.

hey! I would love an intro to your CPA. Have some tax questions as I'm running a C Corp and buying out my co-founder. I'm based in NY.

Couldn't find an email on your end but hit me up on Twitter if you can intro: https://twitter.com/_abi_

If you're "just" a single-member LLC you may have trouble finding a long-term accountant in general, let alone finding one with specific "tech" knowledge outside of the SV area. Accountants want to make money, your tax situation is probably very simple and so you're not worth their time. I have an S Corp, so slightly more complicated than you, but I've been through two accountants so far who ended up simply ghosting me after some amount of time when they realize it's not worth it to have to field an e-mail or two from me over the course of a year. All local accountants have sophisticated tax software now, so they're happy to take you on and charge you a few thousand a year for what amounts to an introductory call + an entry into their system. As soon as you require any amount of upkeep, they walk.

I use Paddle, so they handle all the VAT stuff for my SaaS (can get complicated otherwise because software sales usually mean you need to pay VAT in the customers country).

Then I picked a local accountant and he successfully cleaned up my mess of trying to do it myself. I pay 113€/month (I'm in Germany), but that includes my personal taxes too. But neither my business nor personal tax situation is very complicated.

What specific problems are you hoping a CPA will solve for you?

For professional services, I'll usually try Yelp if I can't find a referral. Go to startup/small business owner meetups in your area to kvetch with founders, and trade contact info with everyone you meet. Great way to vet CPAs, contractors, misc labor/services.

He's probably looking for a CPA who has knowledge of the various locales tax loopholes who can also provide advice on how to best conform business decisions to optimize (minimize) taxes for future business decisions.

bench.co offer everything you need, I’ve been very impressed. Flat fee, listed on website.

1. CPAs are more credentialed than general accountants.

2. You could ask them if they other client similar to your business profile? Outside of the tech metros this is probably unlikely.

you don't need to hire an accountant, just use an online service like tubotax or taxfreeUSA, that is more suitable for small business

It all really depends on which state you live in. If you live in California, for example, you should move and start a business in a different state.

Businesses that can't survive in California usually just die elsewhere, but slower and more painfully.

That kind of over-generalization is flat out false, biased, and shows a lack of understanding about these things.

Even if that is true, it doesn't change the point.

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