Unless you have studied law, German tax law remains an unmanageable jungle of regulations and exceptions. To avoid having to dig through all the legal texts yourself when completing your annual tax return, you can hire a tax advisor to prepare the return for you. Of course, you don't want to spend more money on tax advice than you get back later. The search for an affordable tax advisor who will prepare a tax return for little money is therefore a major concern for many people. It is best to ask several tax offices for cost estimates and compare the offers. A tip for private individuals who are not self-employed: wage tax assistance associations often offer their services more cheaply than tax advisors.
How do I find the cheapest tax advisor?
If you need help with your tax return or have questions about tax problems, but don't want to spend a lot of money on a tax advisor, you may have to put in a little more work to find a cheap tax office. First, make a list of all the tax advisors who are suitable in terms of distance and professional focus. If you only need support with your private tax return, the specialization of the tax office is not critical. At most, you have to expect to be rejected because you do not fit the firm's target group. However, if you are an entrepreneur, the tax advisor's industry knowledge can also result in greater tax savings.
The easiest way to find the cheapest tax advisor is to write or call all the tax advisors on your list and ask for their price expectations. Be as specific as possible and describe your request in detail in order to get an honest estimate of the costs. Otherwise, you may be surprised later with a higher bill because the amount of work for the tax advisor significantly exceeded his initial estimates.
Contacting many possible tax offices will take some time. However, this approach has the advantage that the cost estimate for tax advice is tailored to your problem. If you find reviews and cost comparisons from other clients when searching on the Internet, there is always the risk that their concerns are very different from yours and that another tax advisor was cheaper for them than for you.
Where can I find cheap tax advisors?
The number of tax consultants in Germany is unmanageable. According to figures from the Federal Chamber of Tax Consultants, there are more than 90,000 tax consultants working here. [1] It is not possible to write to all of these tax consultants and ask them about their fee expectations. As a rule, you have to meet your tax consultant in person for a personal consultation; you therefore have to take travel time into account. Because travel costs are added to the actual consultation costs, in many cases a shorter journey is associated with lower overall costs.
However, it may be that tax offices in the suburbs are cheaper than those in big cities because lower rents are also reflected in lower fixed costs for the tax advisor. There is no general answer to whether a smaller tax office also means lower costs for the client: although lower fees can be charged economically due to the lower fixed costs for staff and rent, many processes can be implemented more efficiently in larger offices.
Which tax advisor is cheap?
The permissible fees for tax advice are set out in a remuneration regulation. This specifies a range for the amount charged, which varies depending on the activity and the value of the matter. The value of the matter is essentially the sum of your income or turnover: the more you earn, the higher the tax advisor's fee will be. [2]
There is a lot of scope for tax advisor remuneration: in most cases, the maximum amount is four to ten times the minimum fee. This discretion is intended to give the tax advisor the opportunity to take the actual amount of work into account. Most tax advisors base their calculations on the so-called mean, the arithmetic mean between the lowest and highest permissible fee.
So try to calculate the average price for your consultation from the remuneration regulations yourself and then compare the cost estimates from the various tax offices with this average. If the price expectations quoted are significantly higher than the estimated average, the tax office is rather expensive; if, on the other hand, you are quoted a lower price, you have found a cheap tax advisor.
How can you save money on tax advice?
The price range for tax advice laid down in the remuneration regulations is intended to make it possible to take the effort required to process your order into account in the fee. By keeping the actual work required for your tax advisor as small as possible, you can get them to charge you a smaller amount. You can take work off your tax advisor's hands and save money by collecting and sorting all potentially necessary receipts and documents in advance. This also saves time, so you can expect your order to be completed sooner.
The tax advisor is too expensive? Income tax assistance associations as an alternative
Do you just need help with your tax return and would you like someone to prepare your tax return for you for little money? If you only receive income from an employment relationship and are not self-employed as an entrepreneur or freelancer, you can also request support from a tax assistance association. They are also authorized to provide tax advice and prepare your tax return for you. [4] The costs for this are covered by a membership fee, which can be staggered depending on income. Unless you have more complex tax questions, you usually have to pay less for this than for a tax advisor.
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