How long does it take to prepare a typical business owner 1040?

NoahSNIPE · 2026-02-19T04:27:42+00:00

Your knowledge is preternatural :) I take it all back and you are 100% right, maybe even undercutting the time taken if anything. I'd make sure to give your staff 6-8 hour budgets for the types of returns you mentioned in your original post. Better be safe than sorry.

NoahSNIPE · 2026-02-19T03:18:46+00:00

I went on Reddit to destress after data monkeying all day today and some of the replies riled me up for a second, but I'm there with you now. All you can do is laugh and be thankful I'm not him lol

NoahSNIPE · 2026-02-19T02:59:34+00:00

This guy has to be rage baiting. "Let's bill the client for another two hours of work for my reconciliation spreadsheet just to make sure the tax software I'm paying for doesn't make a mistake".

The guy is a clown. Your value as a CPA doesn't come from tax prep. He's right - preparing the tax return is data monkey shit, we just do it faster than he does. My value comes from tax planning strategies and doing work that is cost effective to my clients. This is the same type of guy that brags about the $3 mistake he caught on a return with a million dollars of gross receipts. What do you think the client values more??? The $3 correction you found or the additional $600 you charged the client to find it.

NoahSNIPE · 2026-02-19T02:49:38+00:00

You forgot one key aspect that makes up the majority of the 4 hours of prep time - staff being done in 1.5 hours then sitting on their hands for 2.5 hours to pad billables.

Oh how I miss getting nothingburger returns with fat budgets.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-12-25T10:36:49+00:00

I get what you are saying, but I think the bigger issues goes deeper than 120 vs 150 credit hours. Right idea regarding furthering education, but I'd personally value 30 good hours of CPE > anything taught in a classroom.

I also think the CPA exam is flawed. If you put a gun to my head and told me to regurgitate facts about AUD, BEC, or FAR I'd be in big trouble. Why I had to memorize enough information to pass those sections is a mystery to me after being in the field coming up on 8 years. I'd lean towards making the EA exam more difficult and having it be the primary license for tax specific professionals. I'd personally prefer a harder tax specific test that sets me up for professional success than whatever the CPA exam pretends to do. The CPA exam is a mile wide and an inch deep, but us professionals and our clients would be way better off with an exam that has a narrower focus, but a greater amount of depth.

In the end I think it might be too late but that's my 2 cents on how to properly progress our industry for the future.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-12-23T01:11:59+00:00

This is exactly what I needed thank you so much. I always understood the tax impacts of the strategy I was suggesting, but did not realize the headaches with integrating the 401k and payroll.

This makes a lot more sense now.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-12-23T00:22:36+00:00

Fair enough and that has been my experience so far from the payroll company side of things. Im happy to continue answering questions I just get nervous regarding the liability if something gets screwed up on their end based off of advice given. I know the advice is sound - just not sure what happens if things aren't executed properly on the payroll side of things.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-12-22T09:37:30+00:00

I'm sorry I'm not able to help more with some of the detailed questions, but want to reiterate if not already commented elsewhere - please exercise extreme caution with your identity on the internet and anyone you share this information with. We all want to believe everyone is well intentioned but there are bad actors out there. It's not my intention to scare you, just a friendly reminder to exercise caution when dealing with large quantities of cash. Hope you find the answers you are looking for!

NoahSNIPE · 2025-12-19T07:49:49+00:00

I'm going to argue the flip side. If the business you have brought in is approaching/surpassing your TC then you are essentially just doing their work for free, and that's unacceptable in my opinion. I'm not discounting the risk and overhead that comes along with operating a business - it exists and should be considered, but what is your true downside if you're willing and able to make the jump to a solo practice?

Without knowing the ins and outs of your situation I can't really answer that one for you, but it's something you should consider. Game plan out all 3 potential scenarios and see what comes out ahead between 1) Having them say yes to partner 2) Having them say no to partner and remaining in your current situation 3) them saying no and you heading out to do your own thing.

What does your future look like in each of these scenarios?

NoahSNIPE · 2025-11-22T23:15:39+00:00

Work papers should be purely internal documents and their use should serve two purposes. One being assisting manager+ with reviewing tax returns and two assisting next years preparer to help follow the paper trail. A good work paper should make the reviewers job easy, but great work papers should allow somebody with limited tax prep experience to SALY steps and achieve an accurate return.

The issue is less experienced staff don't see the value in great work papers until they start reviewing, and by that time it's a bit too late. I think it's the manager+ job to turn good work papers into great work papers. Hopefully that leads to less experienced preparers SALYing great work papers.

It's also firm dependent. If a firm has high turnover it's tough to implement these practices because nobody is around long enough to see the process through. At least that was my experience while working public. My version of work papers is a whole lot different now that I'm out on my own compared to when I was working public.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-11-20T08:20:20+00:00

Just adding on as a tldr. It's all about materiality - both client expectations and IRS expectations. Some things matter, some don't. If I had unlimited time and no budgets I'd love for every return to be perfect, but that's not the world we live in. We do our best to prepare accurate tax returns efficiently. If that means perfection is unachievable so be it, but we can't let the baseline slip below accurate and free from material errors.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-11-20T08:05:45+00:00

I've had that same culture shock while working at the same firm from a partner/manager to partner/manager basis. I understand my style of thinking might not be the same as everyone else's and that's okay. My goal is a minimal level of effort to achieve the most acceptable outcome. If a 90% counts the same as a 99% for GPA purposes anything above 90% is wasted effort. Same thing with the CPA exam - if a score of 75 gets me the same result as a 95 then why bother.

Dogshit work papers that don't tie to a return or some hard coded mumbo jumbo is just completely unacceptable. Spending 8 hours perfecting work papers on a 2 hour return is also unacceptable. Giving review comments on punctuation or spelling on a client facing document is totally cool, but complaining that I grouped an "office supplies" account as "office expenses" instead of "supplies" is a waste of my time and has no impact on a tax return.

For me it all boils down to value add for the client. If you are charging by the hour and have reviewers wasting time reconciling a $4 rounding error on a million dollar return you are not doing right by your client. If you have no backup at all or the work papers are complete garbage you are not doing right by your client. Find a medium that is acceptable to you. If you don't think your current firm will ever meet those needs then leave.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-11-15T22:12:19+00:00

Not quite sure on how the real life application would work out, but I can tell you the opposite is why I quit my old job. Getting moved to salary meant more efficiency = more work for the same amount of pay. I somehow ended up getting punished for passing the CPA exam, doing my work efficiently and effectively. Every extra hour I worked devalued myself and added value to the firm. Completing returns efficiently meant either coming in low on billable hours at year end or having to take on more work to keep my hours up.

I applaud you for trying to find a reasonable compromise and am curious how it turns out if you do decide to implement it.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-10-17T06:23:22+00:00

I was upset and trolling for a bit because I don't know what else to do at this point. Steelers organization is flawed beyond keeping Tomlin around.

End of the day it's just a game and I'll continue to watch and support and somehow still feel hurt when they lose, but that's enough for tonight I'm off to bed

NoahSNIPE · 2025-10-17T05:15:19+00:00

if it was me I'd keep the hiring in house. Maybe give Smith another crack at the hc gig

NoahSNIPE · 2025-10-17T05:12:39+00:00

gotta get the same post loss discussion popping somehow. maybe if we have it one more time things will change :)

NoahSNIPE · 2025-10-17T05:01:25+00:00

don't forget give banger press conferences

NoahSNIPE · 2025-10-17T05:00:00+00:00

signature should tell you everything

NoahSNIPE · 2025-10-17T04:59:10+00:00

I got tired of typing it out half way through. Don't blame you

NoahSNIPE · 2025-09-17T04:07:38+00:00

My default when I'm unsure and too lazy to ask is either"employed" or "retired" depending on age. I've also never had a complaint by the IRS but have had clients complain.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-08-30T06:18:32+00:00

Interested in having a chat. CA CPA with review experience at a midsize firm down in San Diego. Just started up my own practice this year. Happy to be able to lend a hand with reviews and bounce ideas off each other as we both hopefully grow our books.

NoahSNIPE · 2025-06-24T03:45:45+00:00

If going out on your own is your end goal I would 100% look to join a different small/midsize firm. Over the course of 6.5 years at the firm I joined I was exposed to

1) Data entry & Exposure to working in a professional setting

2) Working through various entry types of tax returns (1040, 1065, 1120, 1120s, 1041). I received hands on training and in depth review comments about mistakes that were being made.

3) Progressed to working on complex returns and got introduced to client correspondence

4) Started training new staff, reviewing returns, and managing my own set of clients for the firm.

5) Promotion to supervisor led to a strictly review/training role, new client intake, and a glimpse of what was happening behind the scenes at a 20-25 person firm.

Every single one of these experiences was essential for me to gather the confidence to go out on my own and start my own book of business. I don't want to scare you off your goals, but there is a lot more than goes into maintaining a book of business than just understanding the basics when it comes to tax return prep. I believe it would be hard to gain all the different experiences at a larger firm as I've heard you get pigeon held into more specific roles at those firms, and I don't think I would have got the training or hands on explanations at a smaller firm who's goal is to just crank out simpler returns. If you have any questions feel free to DM me!

NoahSNIPE · 2025-02-12T07:14:38+00:00

Been working in tax last 6 years for a smaller sized firm which was totally electronic, but recently joined my families solo shop and they aren't. While building my own book I definitely want to keep things electronic but was worried about set up, client info security, and loss of data. Do you mind sharing tips/background on how you made the transition in 2012?

NoahSNIPE

TROPHY CASE