Hi All,
I am thinking about getting an accountant for my farm. Does anyone here use an accountant? If so how much do they charge and what do they provide you? I have called a few different local accountants to me and most have no clue about horse’s or the expenses we incur with them 
I appreciate everyone’s help!
I use one in San Diego that does work for many veterinarians. It has worked out well. PM me if you are near and want to inquire.
There are a couple of equine office-type providers that I follow on Facebook.
Equine Office Solutions: https://www.facebook.com/ProgressiveBusinessSolutions/?fref=ts
I will ETA if I find the others.
we used a CPA that was versed in ranch/farm accounting, the cost was always recovered in savings as they knew what was or wasn’t deductible and how to fully utilize the available deprecations … never had a year that we were audited as everything was in complete order… peace of mind was an invaluable benefit
I have been in the horse business pretty much my entire working life. The majority of it self employed.
But I am in the Thoroughbred breeding and racing business. The IRS recognizes this very much as a “legitimate” for profit “horse” business. There has been specific tax law on the books for decades in regards to Thoroughbred breeding and racing. Depreciation schedules for racing stock, breeding stock etc. Most of which, some of which does not apply to other breeds types of horses and the business of.
In this situation it is very important to use an accountant, CPA that is well versed in this specific tax law.
The same can be said for those who own a a farm be if for horses, livestock, crop, poultry, swine, etc.
There are specific depreciation schedules for fencing, farm equipment, building,s infrastructure etc. Tax deductions that can be taken against income for the expenses associated with the business.
But the IRS is very specific in its definition of what is a “business” and what is a “hobby” business. The two are not the same and are not treated the same under current tax law.
It is very important to get/use a CPA well versed and can advise how to go about things so at to take advantage of favorable tax law. Be it a hobby farm or not.
CPA’s, accountants generally charge by the hour. Depending on the person and or firm, $50 to $100s an hour.
The less time they have to spend sorting things out the less their service will cost.
I have been using Quick Books Pro for years. When set up and used properly it saves a ton of money when having my taxes done. Even though I am far from a big business I can not file a 1040EZ form. My taxes look more like a book a lot of the pages may only have one item checked. Lots of different schedules etc.
Record keeping is easy with QB Pro. When tax times comes I print a standard P&L (profit and loss) statement and down load the file onto a flash drive in case they need to look at some stuff in more detail. This saves a TON of time and keeps their billing time down considerably. I know because I have been self employee since the stone age, pre-computer, Quick Books.
As far as how to find a CPA, accountants that specialize in handling farms do a search using key words, CPA, accountants, horse, farm etc and use your zip code or closest big town/city. Local “trade” papers may have some advertisements and or email, call around to your local farm, horse neighbors.
The accountant, CPA will help set up Quick Books and how to use it. Very simple once you get the hang of it. Unless you have, are setting up a large and multifaceted operation I don’t see the need to use an accountant on a regular bases.
We just use a plain excel spreadsheet that I set up myself, and my trainer uses a 15 column ruled pad, but darn right it goes to the accountant after I run the books. I gave up after they changed the depreciation from accelerated cost recovery to modified accelerated cost recovery and paid a good accountant that can spend all year keeping up with that stuff. Worth every penny.
My accountant said it wasn’t worth the money to take it in every month, but it takes discipline to do it yourself and my DH and I have almost come to blows over failure to save receipts at tax time. Every GD year. So if you are able to find a small book keeping service, someone on here talked about starting one up on a thread once, that would be the way to go, lower priced than a CPA, tailored service.
IRS has schedule F for all things farm, and then there are specific rules for horses that separate hobby from the real deal. It is much tighter than it used to be due to the many hobby farmers of the '80’s that used their pretty horse farms as tax shelters. You can obtain forms from the IRS to set up your own programs, you just have to keep your receipts and I don’t advocate using a cc because you need supporting documentation in the form of the actual register receipt and they are so crappy nowadays, the ink fades right off. I don’t care how convenient they are, they are the cause of the biggest fights DH and I have when he has WalMart on the cc and is trying to write it off. Lowe’s I can justify, WalMart is more difficult without a receipt and at least with a check, and a book check too BTW, the spendy kind with the tab ends, or top tab, you can write a nice long notation on there as you write the check.
[QUOTE=KAAP;8786899]
Hi All,
I am thinking about getting an accountant for my farm. Does anyone here use an accountant? If so how much do they charge and what do they provide you? I have called a few different local accountants to me and most have no clue about horse’s or the expenses we incur with them I appreciate everyone’s help![/QUOTE]
Great idea, you can’t manage what you can’t measure and the right kind of book keeping will help you keep track properly.
If you have other good horse business in your area, ask them who they use.
Ours was recommended for us by our contract attorney way back in the 1980’s, when taxes were getting where the rules changed from year to year and it was more involved to keep up properly with all those changes.
You can save if you keep the books current yourself, then send all the information to the accountants, that will go over it carefully, ask questions if any and prepare the necessary forms, 1099’s and others.
Our accountant firm bills by the hour, so if you make their work easier, everything is clearly marked and documented, the bill won’t be as high as if they have to do some of the basic work themselves.
Done right, the cost of Accounting is deductible as a business expense. A good firm will tell you where you can cut costs, have business checking sent to them from the bank monthly. Even point out when some thing you do are costing you money, getting too small of benefit in returns to keep doing it that way. The firm keeps on top of law changes, allowed expenses, which frees you up to do horse things.
My husband is a CPA and has started doing other farm accounting as clearly he is versed in all things farm. People started asking, so he started filling the need. Most of the farms are in different states, so most of the time they mail a packet of info to him monthly. Works out well for everyone.
[QUOTE=goodhors;8790114]
Done right, the cost of Accounting is deductible as a business expense. A good firm will tell you where you can cut costs, have business checking sent to them from the bank monthly. Even point out when some thing you do are costing you money, getting too small of benefit in returns to keep doing it that way. The firm keeps on top of law changes, allowed expenses, which frees you up to do horse things.[/QUOTE]
would add they also can help to plan for future capital improvements (stock and fixed assets)
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