Real Estate Agent and CPA? On the surface, these are not two professions one would automatically associate as working together but trust me when I say; there is no more substantial and necessary duo for business success. Believe it or not, a great CPA is the sidekick to a great Real Estate Agent, similar to how Robin is to Batman.
Always there when you’re in a jam, offering you solutions and ideas to fix your problems and giving you sound financial advice. Everyone in business needs a Robin. If you are a real estate professional, find yourself a real estate CPA near you or virtually and let and let them work their magic. It will be one of the most appreciated relationships you will ever be a part of.
So I know what you’re thinking, “What exactly is a CPA”? Well, my friends, a CPA is a certified public accountant, but not just any accountant. Anyone who does any accounting task, could in fact technically call themselves an accountant. Even without having to get a degree in the field, they can still be called accountants.
Now that is perfectly fine and I am sure there are some truly competent individuals who know what they are doing as an accountant, but that is not the type of person we are talking about here today. This type of accountant is the highest qualified financial person in the fiscal field.
The CPA is the expert in all things financial. Being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), means that the individual has achieved a professional accreditation through a combination of education, real world experience and is licensed to practice. They also must have tested and passed the CPA exam.
When you have a licensed CPA, they can truly be a lifesaver. CPAs can work in a variety of fields lending their expertise and knowledge to clients from individuals to businesses at any stage. They can do everything from preparing your taxes, preparing your business’s financial statements, to income taxes, as well as performing audits to uncover shady business practices like embezzlement and theft. Literally, the list goes on and on in the ways a certified public accountant can assist you.
I guarantee you, a CPA is someone that you want on your team, at all times. Because being a real estate tax accountant is something that I specialize in, as well as being a qualified CPA, I truly enjoy working with ally types of real estate professionals. Having someone with the financial knowledge and experience to help guide your financial decisions, really can be a great asset. Like I mentioned earlier, get you a Robin because your life will be less stressful when you don’t have to second guess your every financial decision.
As if you didn’t need any additional reasons to find you a qualified CPA for your real estate business, but for those who are skeptical, I will break it down for you. Here are the top 5 reasons you should work with a CPA who is an experienced real estate tax accountant if you are in the real estate field.
As with any type of business, you will need to know what the financial health of your business is. What is on your balance sheet? How is your profit and loss statement looking? What about the statement of retained earnings? All of these types of financial documents are able to give a snapshot of any business at any point in time and they can all be created by a CPA. Additionally, the CPA can provide you with disclosures and other pertinent information related to your business because they can focus on the tax aspects.
Taxes, ugh. Am I right? No one likes to do them, except CPAs and we love it! Certified Public Accountants take all your transactions that you have completed over the course of the year and they file the appropriate IRS forms in order to keep your business compliant with the law. Any type of financial activity that you conduct will need to be properly documented so that the proper state and federal taxes can be paid and you will not receive any penalties. A CPA who has trained in the tax accounting specialty, will literally save you time and money, year after year.
As a real estate professional, there are numerous ways to lower your tax liability. Elements such as any type of professional fees for being the great real estate professional that you are or any educational materials you may have used for the pursuit of your real estate business, to name a few, are some items that can be deducted. Certain types of business travel expenses, advertising or even business entertainment are things that could potentially help to lower what you have to pay and who doesn’t want to keep more of their money in their pockets?
Have you ever needed to know without any uncertainty that you were making the best decisions for your real estate business, instead of making decisions based on hunches or whims? While that gut feeling may pay off every now and then, wouldn’t you want to go with something that was a sure thing? That is the type of certainty and confidence that you get when you work with a great CPA who has tax accounting expertise. They can crunch the numbers and give you sound financial advice based on the analytics and they know the tax laws and how they will be applied. Knowing how much you can afford to spend or how much you stand to gain in any transaction is critical and something that a CPA will easily be able to help you with.
As a real estate professional, you will want to be in touch with other professionals that can assist you as you go about conducting your real estate business. Professionals such as lawyers, insurance agents, notaries and other professionals can make your business that much more streamlined and efficient. CPAs have great relationships with a variety of professionals and can point you in the right direction to help build up your business network. Because they know about the different types of business structures, tax laws and can identify certain legal protections you may need, this is the best asset you could have on your team. Even as you grow your business, you may need to hire people and who better to help you cut down on costs, than a CPA? They can work with you to develop financial strategies to ensure you stay on budget and get the most bang for your buck.
Now that you have read about some very important reasons as to why you need a CPA if you are a real estate professional, go ahead and head on over to the Accolade Accounting website and schedule a consultation to discuss your real estate business needs. The real estate process does not get any easier, only more complex especially when you add in multiple entities and more transactions.
Take the hassle out of what you enjoy doing which is being the best real estate professional and let a CPA who focuses on real estate tax accounting do the hard work for you, so that you can get back to doing what you do best! Go ahead and contact one of the premier CPA firms in Atlanta today!
Until next time my friends,
Cheers!
JD Longino, CPA
