Questions
What sponsors ask before they switch, and the technical background behind the work. Anything not here, ask me directly — asking is never billable.
How the engagement actually runs.
It's a commitment, as long as your books are closed and your documents are in by January 31. That condition is doing real work, not hedging. Workpapers get done in the autumn, I don't onboard anyone during busy season, and I keep the client count low enough that March isn't oversubscribed. If your documents run late, you'll hear what that moves the same week, not on March 14.
$2,000 to $4,000 for a typical file, with every K-1 included. Complicated ones run up to about $10,000. The full list of what pushes a file higher, and why each one costs more, is on the pricing page.
A short recorded walkthrough that goes out alongside your investors' K-1s, explaining what they're looking at box by box. It's made for your deal, so it covers your structure and your allocations rather than a generic example. Your LPs get a proper answer without picking up the phone. You get a second video walking through your own return before you sign it.
Onboarding produces four things: a recorded walkthrough of your prior-year returns, those returns organized and handed over, a plan of action, and an entity map. Your workpapers get started at the same time. There's no separate onboarding fee. It's part of the engagement, priced into the quote you get on the call. What you do pay at signing is a $500-per-return deposit, which covers onboarding and the autumn workpaper work.
Twice per return. A $500 deposit at signing, then the remainder at completion, due before your K-1s are released to investors. Both are in the engagement letter against a fixed quote, so nothing about the number moves in March.
You send one email introducing me and I take it from there: prior returns, depreciation schedules, capital account rollforwards, elections, and every follow-up they don't answer. The awkwardness of leaving is the single biggest reason sponsors stay somewhere they've outgrown, so I'd rather just handle it.
No. I don't onboard anyone between January 1 and March 15. The whole thing depends on those first thirty days landing outside busy season, and any firm that takes you on in February is going to miss your K-1 date. Get in touch in January, we'll book the call, and we start in April.
You sign, pay the $500-per-return deposit, and we start. April to August is the quiet stretch, and the only window for onboarding new clients. Workpapers get prepared in the autumn rather than during busy season. Books close and documents come in by January 31. February and early March are preparation only, with nobody new coming in. Returns are filed, K-1s released, and both videos delivered by March 15.
No, it's optional, at roughly $500 per entity per month. If you keep your own books I'll give you a written standard for what they need to look like by January 31. Books that are behind or messy are the most common reason a fixed fee stops holding, and the most common reason a March 15 date slips.
Audit representation and appeals, legal drafting or opinion letters, cost segregation studies, and investment advice. I can point you to someone good for most of that, and I'll tell you when a cost seg study is worth doing on your asset. I just don't run the study myself.
No. Advisory isn't a separate product with its own fee here. Because I already hold the compliance context, I'm not starting from scratch when a sale, a new partner, or a restructuring comes up. If you're weighing whether to call because of the invoice, call.
Background on the mechanics behind the work. Not a sales pitch, just the answers.
A CPA specializing in real estate syndications handles the full tax lifecycle of a deal: structuring the partnership agreement from a tax perspective, preparing the annual Form 1065 partnership return, allocating income and losses to each partner according to the operating agreement, and issuing K-1s to investors at year-end. On the advisory side, they advise GPs on how to structure deals so that tax benefits (depreciation, cost segregation) flow to the partners who can actually use them, and how to time dispositions to minimize gain recognition. Most generalist CPAs know enough to prepare a basic return but don't have the Subchapter K depth to advise on structure before the deal closes.
Subchapter K is the section of the Internal Revenue Code (Sections 701–777) that governs the taxation of partnerships, the legal structure used by virtually every real estate syndication. It determines how income, loss, deduction, and credit are allocated among partners; how a partner's outside basis is calculated; and what happens at liquidation. It matters for syndicators because the rules are complex and unintuitive: special allocations require substantial economic effect to be respected by the IRS, and mistakes in the operating agreement or on the return can result in allocations being recast, underpayment penalties, and unexpected tax bills for investors. Getting Subchapter K right is the foundational technical requirement for any CPA advising on syndications.
Substantial economic effect is the IRS standard under Treasury Regulation §1.704-1(b) that a special allocation in a partnership operating agreement must meet to be respected for tax purposes. Allocations that don't have substantial economic effect are reallocated according to the partners' interest in the partnership, which can negate the tax planning the deal was structured around. Meeting the standard requires that allocations have actual economic substance (not just tax benefit), that capital accounts are properly maintained, and that liquidation proceeds are distributed in accordance with positive capital account balances. For real estate syndications where depreciation is being specially allocated to LPs or the GP, this analysis is critical before the operating agreement is signed.
The most powerful tools for real estate fund managers are cost segregation (accelerating depreciation by reclassifying components of a property into 5-, 7-, and 15-year asset classes), bonus depreciation (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act restored 100% first-year bonus depreciation permanently under Section 168(k) for qualified property acquired after January 19, 2025, with the acquisition date turning on the binding-contract date, see 100% bonus depreciation is back), and tax-efficient exit structuring (timing dispositions to utilize loss carryforwards, structuring 1031 exchanges, or using installment sales to spread gain recognition). On the structural side, ensuring that depreciation allocations in the operating agreement meet the substantial economic effect standard means investors can actually deduct the losses passed through to them. The right CPA can quantify the after-tax return impact of these decisions before they're made, not after.
Cost segregation is an engineering-based tax analysis that reclassifies components of a commercial property from 39-year (or 27.5-year residential) straight-line depreciation into shorter-lived asset classes, typically 5, 7, or 15 years, that qualify for accelerated or bonus depreciation. The result is a front-loaded depreciation deduction in the early years of ownership that reduces taxable income for the year. For real estate operators with passive income or real estate professional status, this can generate significant tax savings in the acquisition year. The analysis needs to be coordinated with your overall tax position to ensure the losses can be utilized, which is why having a CPA who already knows your full entity structure and tax position matters.
A tax-efficient exit for a syndicator starts well before the sale: reviewing the depreciation recapture exposure (Section 1250 unrecaptured gain is taxed at 25%), identifying whether a 1031 exchange makes sense given investor preferences and deal timing, and checking whether any tax losses in other entities can offset the gain. At the partnership level, the exit also triggers basis adjustments under Section 754 if an election is in place. For deals with significant appreciation, an installment sale can spread gain recognition across multiple tax years. The right time to plan the exit is 12 to 24 months before execution rather than at closing, which is why having a CPA who already holds your books and knows your entity structure is the difference between planning and scrambling.
A generalist CPA can prepare a basic tax return, but real estate syndication and fund management involve a level of technical complexity, Subchapter K, special allocations, substantial economic effect, passive activity rules, at-risk limitations, cost segregation, and Section 754 elections, that most generalists don't work with regularly. The risk isn't just a missed deduction; it's allocations that get recast on audit, K-1s that don't reflect the operating agreement, or a deal structure that was never viable from a tax perspective. For operators with multiple entities and active deal flow, the cost of working with a specialist who can advise on structure before deals close is almost always less than the cost of fixing problems after the fact.
Still Have One?
Thirty minutes. Your structure, your investor count, how last tax season went, and roughly what your file costs. If it isn't a fit, you'll hear that on the call.
Book a 30‑Min CallOr email directly: matt@surefiretaxco.com