Guide · Changing Accountants
Your accountant stopped answering. Here is what to do.
The most common complaint small business owners have is not price, it is silence. What to do about an unresponsive accountant, what records to get before you leave, how to switch without missing a deadline, and when the problem is fixable.
- Prices published
- A named CPA on every engagement
- Reply within one business day
- Month to month
- Remote, nationwide
The short answer
You do not need anyone’s permission to change accountants, and there is no notification requirement to the IRS. What you do need is your records, and the time to get them before a deadline lands.
Before you fire anyone, send one written message with a specific deadline. Something like: “Please confirm by Friday whether the 1120-S will be filed by the deadline, and send me the current trial balance.” That message does two things. It sometimes produces the work. And if it does not, you have a dated record of having asked, which matters if penalties follow.
If the answer is silence, start the move. The handover is easier before a deadline than during one.
Context
Why this happens
Knowing the cause tells you whether to push or to leave.
Seasonal overload
From late January to mid-April, and again around the September and October extension deadlines, a small practice can be carrying several hundred returns. Communication degrades first. This is the most common cause and the most forgivable, though it does not make your deadline move.
You are a small account
If the firm’s work has shifted upmarket, a $900 return is now a distraction. Nobody says this out loud; it shows up as slow replies.
Capacity loss
Someone left, retired or got sick, and the work did not get reassigned. Often the practice is genuinely trying.
The work is outside what they do
Multi-state, an S corp election, inventory, a federal contract. A firm that cannot do the work sometimes goes quiet rather than saying so.
Only the first two are about you. The others are about them, and no amount of patience changes them.
Judgment
When it is fixable, and when it is not
Worth one more try
- It is March and they have always delivered before
- Returns were filed on time every prior year
- You have never set a clear deadline in writing
- The relationship is years old and otherwise good
- They answer eventually, just slowly
Start moving now
- A deadline has already been missed
- You received a penalty notice you did not know was coming
- They will not give you a straight answer about where things stand
- You have asked twice in writing with no reply
- They cannot do the work and will not say so
- You cannot get your own records
Before you give notice
What to get, in one written request
Ask for everything at once, in writing, before you end the relationship. Cooperation drops afterwards and some of this is painful to reconstruct.
- Access to the accounting file itself, in its native form. For QuickBooks Online, administrator access transferred to you
- Copies of every filed return for at least the last three years, federal and state
- The workpapers behind the book-to-tax adjustments, so next year’s return starts from the right numbers
- Depreciation schedules and fixed asset detail. This one is genuinely expensive to rebuild
- Basis schedules for each owner, and prior year K-1s
- Payroll filings: 941s, W-2s, 1099s and state filings
- Any IRS or state correspondence, including notices you may not have seen
- Carryforwards: net operating losses, credits, passive losses, charitable carryovers
- Estimated tax payments made to date this year, with dates and amounts
Your own records belong to you. A CPA’s internal workpapers are generally the firm’s property, but your books, the documents you provided and the data in your accounting system are yours, and professional standards do not permit withholding client records over a fee dispute. If something is held back, request your records in writing and ask for the firm’s position in writing. Pay anything genuinely owed so the question stays simple.
Timing
When to switch
Best: right after a filing
The year is closed, the records are complete, and the next deadline is months away. April 16 and the week after October 15 are the easiest handovers of the year.
Fine: any time outside busy season
May through December is straightforward. A new firm has time to review prior returns properly, which is often where money is found.
Workable: mid-season, with an extension
If March is here and nothing is happening, an extension is not a failure. It moves the filing deadline and gives a new firm room to do the work properly. It does not extend the time to pay, so estimate and pay what you owe with the extension.
Hardest: after a missed deadline
Still doable, and the priority changes. File first to stop penalties growing, then sort out the relationship. Penalty abatement for a first offence is often available, so do not assume the penalty is final.
Next time
Choosing the next one so this does not repeat
Responsiveness is the thing people complain about, and it is the hardest thing to assess before hiring. Three questions get closer than reviews do.
“What is your response time, and does it change in March?” Any honest firm gets slower in busy season. The ones worth hiring will tell you by how much. Ours is one business day, year round.
“Who will I actually deal with, and do they sign?” At many services you get a bookkeeper or a rotating team. Ask for a name, and ask whether that person signs the return.
“What does it cost, and what is not included?” A firm that will not price its work before a sales call is also a firm whose availability you cannot predict. Our prices are published, including what is excluded.
Published prices and a named CPA are both on the pricing page. If you are comparing services, the cost comparison guide lays the main ones out side by side.
How we help
Switching to us
Monthly plans are $159, $299 and $599 plus QuickBooks at Intuit’s price, with a $199 one-time setup, month to month, cancel online. The Company plan includes your 1120-S or 1065 and one owner’s 1040, so the bookkeeping and the return are one conversation rather than two firms blaming each other.
If you only need a return filed, that is priced separately on the tax return pricing page, and half the return fee comes back if you move to a monthly plan within 60 days.
To quote, we need the last filed return, access to your accounting file, and a note on anything already overdue. We reply within one business day, and if a deadline is inside two weeks we tell you the same day whether we can meet it.
Questions
Frequently asked
My accountant is not responding. What should I do first?
Send one written message with a specific question and a specific deadline, such as confirming whether the return will be filed on time and asking for the current trial balance. That sometimes produces the work, and if it does not you have a dated record of having asked, which matters if penalties follow.
Do I need to tell the IRS I changed accountants?
No. There is no notification requirement for changing who prepares your return. If your prior accountant held a power of attorney or third-party authorization, that can be revoked, and your new accountant can file their own.
Can my accountant hold my records over an unpaid bill?
Your own records belong to you. The firm’s internal workpapers are generally theirs, but your books, the documents you provided and the data in your accounting system are yours, and professional standards do not permit withholding client records over a fee dispute. Put the request in writing and pay anything genuinely owed.
Is it a bad idea to switch accountants in the middle of tax season?
It is harder, not impossible. If nothing is happening at your current firm, an extension gives a new firm room to do the work properly. An extension moves the filing deadline but not the payment deadline, so estimate and pay what you owe when you file it.
What records should I collect before leaving?
Access to the accounting file, three years of filed returns, book-to-tax workpapers, depreciation and fixed asset schedules, owner basis schedules and prior K-1s, payroll filings, any IRS correspondence, carryforwards, and estimated payments made this year. Depreciation schedules and basis are the expensive ones to rebuild.
We already missed a deadline. What now?
File first so penalties stop accruing, then deal with the relationship. Penalty relief for a first offence is often available, so do not treat the notice as final. Get the return done before you spend energy on the argument.
How fast do you respond?
Within one business day, year round, including March. A named CPA reviews and signs every close and every return, and you deal with that person rather than a rotating team.
More
Related pages
Can AI replace your accountant?
What automation genuinely does well, where it fails, and why balanced books are not the same as correct books.
Reasonable compensation for an S corp owner
No safe harbor, no 60/40 rule. What the IRS weighs, what reclassification costs, and how to set a number you can defend.
Small business pricing
Solo, Company and Company Plus, with add-ons and Intuit’s software prices listed separately.
Tax return pricing
Fixed prices if you keep your own books and only need the return filed.
Guide: what online bookkeeping costs
Pilot, Bookkeeper360 and 1-800Accountant compared on published prices.
Guide: is an S corp worth it?
Break-even math, what it costs to run, and the Form 2553 deadline.
Alexander Mungov, CPA
Founder and principal, M2 CPA
Alexander Mungov is a Certified Public Accountant and the founder of M2 CPA, which serves small businesses and federal contractors remotely, nationwide, with published prices and a named CPA on every engagement.
He spent twelve years at the Defense Contract Audit Agency before founding the firm. More about Alex.
General information about changing accounting firms, not advice on a specific dispute with a prior accountant or on a specific penalty matter. Rules on client records follow the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and state board requirements, which vary. If a significant amount is at stake, take advice on your particular facts.
Deadline coming and nobody is answering?
Tell us your entity type, what is due, and whether anything has already been missed. We reply within one business day and will tell you straight what is achievable.