the Cost of Personal Accounting Services

We went to a nationally known tax service provider and had them to do our taxes for us. It was the first year that we had a house and we knew nothing of how to claim our mortgage interest, moving expenses, etc. We called and made an appointment and they told us the fee would be $106.00 for them to do our federal and state taxes and that it would take them about an hour to do them for us. We were thrilled. We got to the appointment a little early and they were already ready for us. Our tax accountant was a woman who said she had worked for this company for over 20 years! We were in and out in about 45 minutes and got a copy of everything that was electronically filed for us through their office.

I would definitely recommend this for first time home owners. We have since done our own taxes without any difficulty, but having a professional do it for us the first year actually helped us out not just that year but in years since, as we can look back on the work she did and compare it to what we are doing now. The accountant was very friendly, efficient, and accurate. We got out tax return directly deposited into our checking account with no difficulty. The fee also surprised me. I thought it would be a lot more expensive. $106.00 for 45 minutes work may seem like a lot to some, but it saved us SO much hassle.

If you are a new home buyer and have never had to itemize your tax returns before, I would definitely go to an accountant the first year. We learned so much and it was a small price to pay to know your taxes were being done correctly and that you were getting every single penny back from the government that was possible. Definitely call around to all the nationally known tax services though, as we did and the prices varied greatly between the brands. We chose a brand that fell in the middle, not wanting to go with the cheapest for safety/paranoia reasons.