Is it wise to book a CPA appointment one month in advance for tax filing with real estate?

Thanks for the insider perspective! Do you think I should be calling multiple CPAs to compare, or is it better to just find one that seems good and lock them in? I'm not sure how much shopping around I should do since they're booking up so fast.

Calling 2-3 CPAs to compare is reasonable, but don't spend weeks deciding or you'll lose your spots. Ask specific questions about their experience with situations like your in-laws', their fee structure, and how they handle communication throughout the year. Most good CPAs will do a brief phone consultation to determine if they can help with your situation. If you find someone who seems knowledgeable about the specific issues your in-laws face, has reasonable fees, and you communicate well with them, I'd book immediately. You can always cancel if you find someone better, but having at least one appointment secured is smart.

How exactly does it work with real estate documents? My mom has three rental properties and her filing is always a mess. Does it just organize the documents or does it actually give tax advice?

Sounds interesting but I'm skeptical. How much did this end up costing compared to just paying a CPA their hourly rate to sort through everything? Most CPAs I've worked with charge for document organization time.

It doesn't give tax advice like a CPA would, but it analyzes all your documents and creates a complete organized file with everything properly categorized. It recognized all our rental income statements, property tax documents, and even maintenance receipts, then organized them into the proper expense categories for Schedule E. For the cost question, it actually saved us money because our CPA ended up charging us for fewer hours. Instead of paying them to sort through a shoebox of receipts and statements, they got everything pre-organized and could focus just on the actual tax planning and preparation. My parents' CPA appointment went from historically taking 3+ hours to just 1 hour, which was a huge savings.

Wait, this actually works? I thought it was impossible to reach the IRS by phone. Do they really connect you or do you still end up waiting forever?

This sounds like a scam. No way this actually gets you through to the IRS faster than just calling yourself. They have millions of backlogged calls. What's the catch here?

Yes, it actually works! They use technology that keeps your place in line without you having to stay on the phone. When they reach an agent, they call you and connect you. The longest I waited after getting their notification was about 2 minutes. There's no catch or scam - they can't magically create more IRS agents, but they save you from having to personally wait on hold for hours. I used it twice last year during tax season. Once I got connected within 90 minutes, and the second time took about 3 hours total, but I was able to go about my day instead of sitting with a phone to my ear the whole time.

What's the difference between a tax preparer and a CPA? Would a regular tax preparer be able to handle real estate investments from another country or is that something only a CPA should handle?

A CPA has more extensive education, passed the CPA exam, and maintains specific continuing education requirements. Tax preparers like me have various levels of certification (I'm an Enrolled Agent which means I'm licensed by the IRS). For international real estate investments, I would strongly recommend a CPA with specific experience in that area. While some experienced EAs could handle it, CPAs typically have more training with complex international tax issues. Foreign real estate can involve foreign tax credits, FBAR filings, and other complex reporting requirements that go beyond basic tax preparation. This is definitely a situation where expertise matters more than price.

This depends entirely on the complexity. For simple returns, sure. But for real estate investments, especially with foreign ownership, earlier meetings can be crucial for gathering all the required documentation. Sometimes these returns require information that takes weeks to track down.