Do you need a CPA firm?

Well, you've found us!.  Welcome!  Standing behind this web site is a real brick & mortar CPA tax firm.  When you become a client you will talk with myself, Colin M. Cody, CPA, CMA, and your work will be personally handled (and not merely "reviewed") by me.

As I've always said, tax preparers who are nothing more than form fillers do [in fact] need to worry about competition from do-it-yourself software. [But] those of us who use our knowledge and experience to massage the info have nothing to fear from those programs.
Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA , January 18, 2006

Taxpayers requiring more assistance in their PLANNING, design and set-up of their trading business and with the PREPARATION or the REVIEW of their tax filings are encouraged to contact us for personally tailored tax advice at our normal rates.  [ Our fees ]    [ What's needed to get started ]

How can a CPA help you? 

Why work with a CPA? 

When it is not appropriate to necessarily use a local tax advisor (you get what you pay for) 

Tax Mama's "I  can do it myself, thank you!" 

Smart Money's Finding a Tax Pro 

Questions and Answers about going on Extension (pdf file)

The Blade's Complicated Returns send filers to the Pros 

What's needed to get started right away?

CPA services fee schedule

• A CPA compared to doing it yourself. In many matters, you simply cannot do it yourself. It would take too long to acquire the necessary level of knowledge and skills. Iin some areas, you might be able to do it alone - whether it is accounting and recordkeeping, or preparing income tax returns or a thousand other money-related matters. But operating on your own, without guidance, is like putting an addition on your house without the help of an architect, or carpenter, or electrician, or plumber. Sure, you could learn to do the tasks, but probably not with as much skill as the experts, and the years necessary to acquire the knowledge and experience would make anticlimactic the completion of the task. Even if you could finish the house addition within enough time to enjoy it, it might not be built well enough to stand up over time. Also, two heads are always, well almost always, better than one. If you are a smart independent self-starter, try this approach - do all the research, lay the plans, assemble the team if others could be involved, and then call in the CPA to be quarterback, or at least be your guide
  
  When you retain us as a full service client you are not just hiring a tax forms assembler.  If all you needed was forms assembly, purchase our step-by-step instructions and forms examples or our do-it-yourself software site #1 or site #2.  
  
  When you become a full-service client you are getting our ideas and insights for your particular circumstances, each year.  A Trader's situation often changes from time-to-time and the tax law and court cases also change - constantly!   As an example - right in the middle of the 1998 tax filing season and again right in the middle of the 2001 tax filing season serious new laws that retroactively effected trader status filers were issued.
  
  When you become a client via TraderStatus.com you will speak and email directly with Colin M. Cody, CPA about your concerns.  Your important work is not delegated to support staff and then merely given a cursory 30 minute review and "sign-off" by the CPA in charge.  Rather, your tax work is given the proper attention it deserves and frankly, the attention that you are paying for!
  
  Many Investors all across the country from California to Florida to Rhode Island make us their first choice for their tax planning and compliance reporting, including having their State tax returns and Federal 1040 tax returns reviewed or prepared at annual fees starting at $400 per year.   Full Trader Status tax planning, compliance reporting, and tax return review or preparation generally start at $600 per year.   Mark-to-Market accounting entails more work and is accordingly priced a little higher.  Click here for an estimate on how much it costs  to have a Federal 1040 (not including State returns, tax planning or consulting) prepared at other CPA firms, not including trader status tax planning and consultations.
  
  TraderStatus.com provides you with the services of a personalized, boutique-style CPA firm to work with you on the most expensive expense item you will likely ever have while being a trader: Your Federal Income Taxes! 
  
  A personalized boutique-style CPA firm means that you are getting more direct "hands-on" attention.  Personalized means Trader Status taxation is our expertise.  We consulted by Traders, CPAs, Tax Attorneys and Government Employees from all across the USA on Trader Status matters.  We consult with the IRS on cutting edge concepts - our direct input and proposals have been incorporated into today's Internal Revenue Code.  Colin is qualified to interpret the law on your behalf - he helped write it!
  
  For those taxpayers who have significant money involved in the stock market, more sophisticated tax minimization techniques, asset protection and retirement planning strategies and a choice of entities utilizing Corporations (forms 1120 and 1120S), Family Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, General Investment Partnerships and LLCs (form 1065), Estates and Trusts (form 1041) and Estate planning, Gifting and Generation skipping transfers (form 709) are handled and billed based on their complexity. MINIMIZE THOSE TAXES!  Fees for a multi-member LLC, General Partnership or S-Corp generally start from $750 per year.
  
  IRS controversy issues, tax return audits and even routine IRS and State inquiries are best handled by a professional CPA firm, rather than going it alone and risking "putting your foot in your mouth". Taxpayers signing a special IRS limited Power-of-Attorney may retain us to represent them with many of these issues. Contact us before you contact the IRS in response to an imposing inquiry.
  
  A REVIEW of your self-prepared returns may be arranged.  If desired, the preparation of the tax forms that comprise the bulk of your tax return can be done with software available for only $12.50.  Reviewed returns do not usually carry a "Paid Preparer's Signature" for the IRS to rely on.  It is possible that a tax filing containing sophisticated or complex positions that does not bear the signature of a qualified CPA, Tax Attorney or other professional preparer may invite further review at the Internal Revenue Service Center.  A REVIEW might not cause your return to be less likely to be chosen for audit, but it could mean that your return is more likely to be free from any obvious errors that would cause problems during an audit.  90% of the annual tax procedure is consulting, planning and over all designing what to do on the tax return and 10% is the actual preparation and assembly of the IRS forms.  Because of the necessity to work with and to understand the complex issues involved; the cost for a review, analysis and consultation generally will range about the same as the full tax planning & compliance services discussed above. What a review service does is puts you in the middle where you get a "hands-on" approach that with our guidance may remind you of extra deductible expenses that you paid during the year.
   

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  CPA services fee guidelines
  Professional services are billed on a one-on-one basis, though the majority of traders do seem to fall within certain ranges as listed below.  If your work requires more than the usual amount of attention, the fees with raise accordingly.
   

• Consultation and preparation of form 1040 for a Schedule D trader with all trades reconciled and listed by you with software such as Excel or listed in a report provided by the Broker has usually been in the range of $600 to $1,200.
   
• Consultation and preparation of form 1040 for a Form 4797 mark-to-market  trader with all trades reconciled and listed by you with software such as Excel or listed in a report provided by the Broker  and most M2M computations listed by you in Excel has usually been in the range of $650 to $1,500.
   
• Consultation and preparation of separate entity forms 1065, 1120S or 1120 usually range about $200 to $400 higher than would the same activity reported on a form 1040.
   
• Preparation of a simple form 1040 for each of the owners of the entity reflecting the flow-through from schedule K-1 is usually $150 to $300 additional for each form 1040.
   
• Review of tax returns previously filed, usually is no charge (but see form 1040X amended returns further down).
   
• Review and interactive consulting with you regarding your self-prepared current year tax return before filing with the IRS, ranges at about $450 to $550.
  
  
• Extra copies of tax returns or schedule K-1s are usually available upon request.  One copy of your tax return or K-1 is always included with tax compliance work.  If you require additional copies of current year or prior year returns, or of your Schedule K-1s these can usually be provided for a reasonable archival research fee starting at approximately $50 per tax return or schedule.  Delivery of copies is usually done via an emailed PDF file, although mailed paper copies, mailed PDF on CD-R , fax, or FedEx can often be arranged when desired
   
• Consultation and preparation of a mark-to-market election for a new client, or a non-client is a flat fee of $125.
   
• Consultation and preparation of a mark-to-market election for an existing client is built into the annual fee that is charged.
   
• Form 3115, usually required only once, one year after filing the election for M2M, is usually a flat fee of $250 for most taxpayers. but more complicated situations may be charged accordingly perhaps up to $350 or $400.
   
• Net Operating Loss (NOL) carryback on an amended return,  form 1040X, is usually a flat fee of $350 per year that is "touched."  e.g. a $100,000 NOL from 2007 carried back to 2005 where it is all used up would be a $700 flat fee.   Another example would be - same as the above but after 2006 there still remains some unused NOL that is carried forward to 2006 - this would be a $1,050 flat fee.
   
• Form 1045 when prepared for the NOL is usually up to $200 additional over the 1040X fee schedule above.
   
• IRS audits of returns prepared here that are closed and settled before the need for an appeal, range $800 to $2,000.
   
• IRS audits of returns prepared elsewhere that are closed and settled before the need for appeal, range $1,000 to $2,500.
   
• Election to go through an appeal of an unsettled audit usually falls within the range of $2,000 to $7,500 (or more) additional, with most situations running a minimum of $5,000 additional.
   
• Entity formation consulting is flat fee of $400 plus costs which are charged directly to your credit card, without a markup.

National averages for tax year 2006 for tax return preparation excluding any tax planning throughout the year:

• $115 for a Form 1040 and one State return (individual)
• $205 for a Form 1040, Schedule A and one State return (individual)
• $n/a for a Form 1040, Schedule C, Home Office, and other trader schedules and one State return (individual)
• $518 for a Form 1065 (partnership)
• $685 for a Form 1120 (corporation)
• $656 for a Form 1120S (S corporation)
• $430 for preparing a Form 1041 (fiduciary)
• $1,729 for Form 706 (estates)
• $521 for a Form 990 (tax exempt)

What's a Reasonable Price to Pay for Having My Basic Tax Return Prepared Elsewhere? 

In November 2005 the IRS issued national averages for professional tax return preparation fees for individual taxpayer form 1040 work.  Based on these averages for the tax return preparation only, and considering our fees are more inclusive and include all tax planning throughout the year, we have been undercharging our clients for years.

See page #79 at:  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040--2005.pdf

Estimated Average Preparation Times and Out-of-Pocket Expenses by Return Preparation Method

What's needed to get started for tax planning ...review ...tax prep and your M2M election:

• A prepaid nonrefundable retainer fee of $600.00
• If you have a LLC, corporation or partnership there may be an additional retainer needed.
• A photocopy or PDF file of your complete prior year's Federal Form 1040, schedules & attachments (excluding any lengthy attachments/listings of "Sch. D trades" or "Form 4797 trades").
• A photocopy or PDF file of your complete prior year's State & Local income tax returns.
• A photocopy or PDF file of your complete prior year's Federal & State entity tax returns, schedules & attachments (excluding any lengthy attachments/listings of "Sch. D trades" or "Form 4797 trades").
• An e-mailed listing of your current year's trading activity (preferably a downloaded listing from your broker or in an Excel spreadsheet format) or a mailed hardcopy of broker supplied trading activity. Click here for Schedule D / Form 4797 software that may be helpful in analyzing and summarizing your trades.
• Your brokers' form 1099-Bs, which you've reconciled to the current year's trading activity.
• If mark-to-market has been elected, your December 2006 and December 2007  M2M calculations.

All your other year 2007 tax paperwork, such as:

• 1099's (dividends, interest, sales, miscellaneous income)
• W2's
• K-1's (from partnerships, s-corporations, trusts)
• Rental income activity (including depreciation schedule)
• Itemized deduction listings (medical, taxes, interest, charity, miscellaneous)
• Trader Status business expenses
• Notation of any family changes for 2007/2008: births, deaths, marriage, divorce etc.
  Please verify spouse's and children's SS#'s - the IRS is cracking down on these.
  Please provide the date of birth of each person / dependent listed on the tax return.
• Details of any automobile donations made. (note that new rules are in effect starting with 2005)
• Verify qualifying charities here.
• Do not write an Individual's Capital Gains from sale of securities (stocks, bonds, options) on blank paper.  if you write your trades by hand, please use this newly required  IRS Schedule D-1.  Large numbers of transactions should be submitted in an Excel file, which can then be electronically ported by us onto the proper IRS form.
  
  Data via email or CD-R is preferred.  FYI here's a list of "FTP" file transfer sites:
• AOL's Xdrive offers 5GB storage for uploading files that can be accessed.
• pmStation.com and 4shared.com offers 5GB storage for uploading files that can be accessed.
• Microsoft's Windows Live SkyDrive offers storage for uploading files that can be accessed.

Click here for our mailing address

Optional - A Little Client Tax Organizer fill in the PDF file.  When done, do a FILE  SAVE and then email the saved PDF file to us.

2007 Client Tax Organizer Print this PDF file if you'd like to use it as a pencil and paper aid.


IRS now allows CPA's to send tax returns to you via email PDF files with no manually signed CPA signature required: http://www.irs.gov/irb/2004-33_IRB/ar10.html (see IRS notification reproduced at bottom of this page)  Payroll tax returns notice: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=141058,00.html

Note, effective with the 2005 form 1040, the IRS said that they no longer accept program print-outs on blank paper, rather they must be properly formatted and printed on IRS Schedule D-1. (This requirement was retracted in January 2006). These are some of the automated "Trade Matching" or "Schedule D" programs available from other web sites  (some of these may also offer free demo or lower priced versions for a restricted number of transactions):

• FREE gain/loss tracking service
  Now available to Ameritrade Apex clients, this free service powered by GainsKeeper® provides cost basis and capital gains calculations for transactions in Ameritrade Apex accounts. Realized gain/loss reporting can help you complete your Schedule D or Form 4797. Apex accounts will be able to access this service from the Balance and Positions page. Reports can be run with or without Wash Sales.  A separate open positions Mark-to-Market report can be run for any applicable date. Positions and market values are updated nightly.  Also download the report as a spreadsheet *.xls.
  
  Optional:  Send us a "link accounts" invite via your Ameritrade account to access your records directly (then unlink a few days later once the data has been reviewed). Go to [Portfolio & Accounts] then [My Profile] then [Link Accounts] then [Send A Link Request] then input the user ID which we will give to you upon request.  Once we are completed, you go through the same procedure again, except select the user ID and click [Unlink Accounts].
   
• FREE gain/loss tracking service
  Now available to Interactive Brokers clients, this free service provides cost basis and capital gains calculations. Realized gain/loss reporting can help you complete your Schedule D or Form 4797.  Select Report Management (Account Management), then select Tax Forms and go to Schedule D Gain/Loss Summary Worksheet.  Open, View and then Save both a PDF file and an MS Excel file.  Note: do not save the Excel as the default HTML/Web, but save it as a spreadsheet *.xls.   Then (2) view and print (or save) the Form 1099;  (3) view and save the IRC Section 1256 Gain/Loss Summary Worksheet as both a PDF file and an MS Excel file, and (4) view and save Dividend Report (Schedule B) as an MS Excel file.  (5) Then go back and Select Report Management, then select Activity Statements and view and save the Yearly report.
   
• FREE gain/loss reporting service
  Now available to Penson Worldwide clients, this free service provides cost basis and capital gains calculations.  Many retail brokerages use Penson for their back office support. Simply request their "P & L Statement" from "01/01/200X To 12/31/200X."  This is provided as a PDF file of matched trades and any unmatched trades are gatherer in the last pages of the report.  This report works out best for active traders who end every year with no open positions, flat, all cash.
   
• FREE gain/loss reporting service
  Now available to Charles Schwab clients, this free service provides cost basis and capital gains calculations. Realized gain/loss reporting can help you complete your Schedule D or Form 4797.  Select Account, then select Gain/Loss and go to to the realized Gain/Loss report (Schedule D).  Select the appropriate dates, then select Expand All Accounts and then select Export.  Also select Account, then select History select (Beyond 24 months).  Select Statements  select Tax Forms  then Search for Documents and select Year End Gain Loss Reporting 200x and save the PDF file.  Also select 12/31/0x Brokerage Statement and save the PDF file.
   
• Transaction downloading
  Now available to TradeStation Securities clients, in three month blocks of data, this service provides details on transactions cost basis. Select Account Services, Balances, Positions & Activity and click Tax Activity.  Separately download long transactions into Excel or into one of the optional trade matching programs. Then separately download short transactions.  Note: do not forget to go back and download all data, three months at a time, then combine the four long transaction downloads into one spreadsheet *.xls.  Similarly combine the four short transition downloads into one spreadsheet *.xls   Separately download year-end statements and 1099's under Account Services, Confirmations, Statements & 1099s.
   
• FREE gain/loss reporting service
  Now available to certain other TradeStation Securities clients, this free service provides cost basis and capital gains calculations. Realized gain/loss reporting can help you complete your Schedule D or Form 4797.  Select Download Manager, then under Download Criteria select Holdings - Realized Gain/Loss for Prior Year and export to Excel Format. Then to get year-end open positions download the report again for YTD and then select Holdings - Unrealized Gain/Loss (Expanded).  Note: verify that all data was downloaded, since the "claimed" maximum download is 1,000 records at a time.  Separately download year-end statements and 1099's under Documents, then Statements / Tax Docs.
   
• Transaction downloading
  Now available to Think or Swim clients, Select My Accounts, My Other Info, Tax Worksheet and then Generate Tax Report.  Save the report as a spreadsheet *.xls.  Also go to the Penson reporting and email a P & L Statement, as follows:  Select My Accounts, My Other Info, Penson Resources, Reports, profit and loss, Email Report.   Separately download year-end statements and 1099's under My Accounts or Pension "Account Statements."
   
• Transaction downloading
  Now available to Fidelity.com clients, for only the most recent 90 days and only as a download into Quicken or MS Money.  Some people believe that this data is filled with errors due to Fidelity's continual, retro-active changes made for wash sales adjustments.
  
  From the Fidelity website:
  Q. Are there any instances in which Fidelity data varies from the manner in which it is displayed by Fidelity?
  A. Yes. Some transaction types do not appear in the information displayed once you download your account. You can always refer to your account on Fidelity.com or your regular account statements for an accurate representation of your account history.
  
  Alternatively, selecting History allows screen views of the last 18 months of transactions which are displayed no more than 90 days at a time. This would require 5 screen shots for a full calendar year and this would need to be done no later than June of the following year.
  
  
  
  
   
• MYcapitalGAIN - online usage
  "Detect and eliminate wash sells before tax year ends" $0.00 (free)
   
• inginet's TradePair  - download program
  "Converts transactions from Interactive Brokers stmts to Sch D" $0.00 (free)
   
• AmericanWare's TradeKeeper  - download program
  "Create IRS Schedule D with or without Wash Sale computations" $0.00 (free) to $50
   
• KBH Applications - download shareware program
  "Mark-to-market profit/loss accounting"  $12
   
• Sapphire Bay's TradeMatcher - download program
  "Helps you prepare the set of matched trades for Schedule D"  $34.95
   
• Sapphire Bay's TradeMatcher service
  "They will do as a service on your data - price per account:"  $34.95
   
• Track Your Trades - download program
  "Generate your own Schedule D!"  $39.95
   
• Sync Essentials™ Trade AccountanT™ - download program
  "Capture, organize and report transactions"  $49.95
   
• Simply Track - download program
  "Schedule D-1 Generation"  $49.99
   
• Simply Track service
  "They will do as a service on your data - price per account:"  $49.99
   
• NEST TMT - Schedule D Generator
  "NESTTM TMT: Match your trades and generate a schedule D"  $85
   
• StockTax - online usage,
  "StockTax does not process Wash Sales"  $30 to $165
   
• Wash Sale Schedule D Generator - downloaded program,
  "Generate your own Schedule D using this software"  $45 & $55
   
• Wash Sale Schedule D Generator - downloaded program,
  "Generate your own Schedule D using this software"  $45 & $55
   
• Portfolio Gains and Option Money - download program but needs online verification
  "Imports data direct from many brokers"  $145 & $345
   
• Schedule D Tools - download program
  "Manually enter trades throughout the year or import QIF file"  $189
   
• CCH's GainsKeeper GainsTracker - online usage by subscription
  "Sells within the last 31 days view - to avoid trading into wash sales" $49 and up
  20% discount offer
   
• TradeLog - downloaded program,
  "Including a current IRS schedule D" $95 to $345
   
• Gain and Loss.com - full in-house service,
  "Including a current IRS schedule D" $34.95 to $499.95
   
• CCH's BasisPro - online usage by subscription
  "BasisPro helps you quickly track and calculate cost basis" $1,000
   
• Captools portfolio management,
  "Allows customized reporting" $1999.00 to $5000.00