For many years I used an accountant north of Boston. He charged about $1,800 per year. One year he objected to the way I wanted to report a property sale (Ordinary income VS capital gains) so I moved on.
For the next 5 years I went to an accountant in Boston and he also charged $1,800. That is because when you give the accountant two years of previous tax returns he could see what that last account charged you. Every year in April, I had to go to Boston and go over the numbers and fine tune any deductions. Between the trip and the meeting it usually took most of a day.
Eight years ago a Florida neighbor referred me to his accountant. I gave him the information along with two years of tax returns. He called me a week later said he found some errors from the previous year and could file an amendment that would get me $7.500 back. Sure, that works! Then he completed my current year tax returns for $500. He has been my accountant ever since.
The software the accountants buy is the key. It has all the current laws and rules in it so it is mostly a matter of plugging in new numbers. Unless you have something unusual, if your situation, property, regular deductions Etc. are all set up in his system it doesn't take them long at all. I think many of them bill like a lawyer!
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