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Ask HN: How do YC startups handle company taxes?

5 points by eltonlin ↗ HN
I wasted $5K/year across 2 years on Pilot bookkeeping & tax services (solo founder, very simple books, Delaware C-corp)

Upon realizing my expensive mistake, I do book-keeping myself, but there has to be a standard, more affordable alternative for doing company taxes right?

12 comments

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gregjor
If you have a reason for operating as a C corp you might want to hire an accountant or CPA to do the bookkeeping a taxes for you. Generally you want to focus on your core business and hire out the necessary but extraneous work to companies (often solo entrepreneurs themselves) who have accounting and taxes as their core business.
b20000
most CPAs send your stuff to india and have no clue what they are doing

especially if it involves advanced stuff like startups

i have switched CPAs more often than changing pants

gregjor
So do many software development companies -- outsource and have no idea what they're doing.
ezekg
I've been using Bench for bookkeeping and taxes this year, but I wouldn't recommend them. I feel every time I speak to my team, it's a different person and they all ask the same questions. Their UX and notification system is also very frustrating; I find myself receiving notifications to "review transactions" when there are no transactions to review. I pay $500/mo, and I paid a few $k to "catch up" on my books when onboarding. I will likely go with a local CPA next year.
Mockapapella
Same experience with Bench. I'd describe their onboarding experience as almost "white glove", but there are some serious synchronization issues going on on their backend that is making the experience confusing. Despite that, I've had much worse experiences with CPAs so I'm gonna stick with them for now and see if things go better next year once there isn't any catch up work to do.
alvivanco
would love to speak with you (email or call) to learn about these issues.

From my experience, lots of startups end up with a shitty service because at the end of the day, the provider does not care about keeping the company in check.

alvivanco
$500/mo for having to review transactions yourself? That's sounds like a mess.

What do you wish they did for you, that they're not currently doing?

lulznews
YC companies are drowning in money, they’re probably not looking to save on tax filing.
eltonlin
I thought they're taught to be frugal
alvivanco
have you tried self-filing for taxes using Turbo Tax for business? (by Intuit)

I always recomend this to founders, it's the most straight-forward and costs around $500 (a bit more if you get the package where they have someone assisting you)

Happy to chat more if helpful -- I do finance/accounting for startups.

eltonlin
I read this too late! I already paid for Taxfyle for this year's Form 1120, they cost around $500. Would you recommend me to switch to Intuit next year for 2025, and why?
alvivanco
I've never used Taxfyle, so I can't speak on that -- but given the price, you got a good rate. Intuit Turbo Tax is likely the same product, so there's no "incentive" to switch really -- as long as you are getting what you need.

I recommended TurboTax because that is the one I am familiar with, and the alternative is SMB accountants that sometimes will charge you $2.5K to file corp tax. Depending on the size/complexity of your biz, it's not always worth it.