About the firm
Run the numbers first. Often the answer is no.
Hiltzik CPA is a boutique US tax and accounting practice. We work on the year, not just the filing.
Who leads the firm
Daniel Hiltzik, CPA, is the founder of Hiltzik CPA, based in New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico. His practice focuses on real estate taxation, cross-border tax matters, and business advisory, serving real estate investors, business owners, and individuals with U.S. and international tax obligations.
His areas of expertise include depreciation and cost segregation; short-term rentals; passive activity losses and real estate professional status; partnership and S corporation taxation; foreign-owned U.S. LLCs; Americans living abroad; and Puerto Rico Act 60.
Before founding Hiltzik CPA in 2024, Daniel served as controller at two New York real estate investment firms, overseeing accounting for more than 100 partnerships. His responsibilities included financial reporting, partnership and S corporation tax compliance, K-1s, capital calls, and investor distributions.
Daniel also serves as fractional CFO to companies across a range of industries, advising on financial reporting, cash flow management, and financial operations.
He holds a B.S. in Finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. He is a licensed CPA and is authorized to file Puerto Rico tax returns.
What a CPA is actually for
The most valuable sentence in most engagements is “you should not do that.”
People usually arrive having already been told what to do. Form an S corporation. Buy the property before year end. Do a cost segregation study. Sometimes that advice is right. Often it was given by someone who never looked at the numbers.
So we look. On an S corporation, the comparison is not the self-employment tax saving in isolation. It is that saving net of payroll processing, a second tax return, a reasonable salary you now have to justify, and, if the profit is sourced to New York City, the city’s 8.85% general corporation tax on top. Below a certain level of profit the whole exercise nets out to a few thousand dollars a year, and the right answer is to wait. Occasionally the right answer is to close the entity you already have.
The same discipline applies to everything else we do. A cost segregation study is worth doing when the property and the participation support it, and is an expensive mistake when they do not. A late election can usually be fixed, but it is cheaper not to need fixing. An amended return sometimes recovers real money and sometimes just buys attention.
Where we go deep
General practice for most of what a client needs, and genuine depth in the areas where general practice gets it wrong.
Short-term rentals
The material participation tests, the seven-day average stay, cost segregation and bonus depreciation, and the excess business loss limitation that catches people in the year it finally matters.
Foreign-owned US LLCs
Form 5472 and pro-forma 1120 filings, including delinquent years. Fixed published pricing, because the work is standard and the penalty for ignoring it is not.
Puerto Rico
Act 60 decrees, the bona fide residence tests, source rules on pre-move appreciation, and the US return that has to agree with all of it.
Equity compensation
RSUs withheld at 22% against a 37% marginal rate, ISOs and AMT, ESPP, and broker cost basis that is wrong more often than it is right.
Americans abroad
Treaty positions, foreign tax credits, FBAR and FATCA reporting, and coordination with a local advisor where the other country needs one.
State taxes
New York City and New York State, California, multistate income sourcing, and the residency questions that come with a move.
How we charge
A fixed fee, quoted in writing before any work starts. No hourly billing, and no invoice you did not see coming.
What moves the number is complexity, not time: how many states, whether there is a business return, whether there is rental or equity or cross-border activity, and how much of the prior year needs untangling before the current one can be prepared. We quote after a short call, once we know which of those apply.
Where the work is standard, the price is published rather than quoted. Form 5472 filings are the clearest example, and the fee is on that page. Everything else is quoted, because pretending otherwise would mean padding the standard case to cover the hard one.
Common questions
What people usually ask before a first call.
Do I need to be in New York to work with you?
No. We can prepare federal and state returns in any state, and most of our clients have never been to the office. New York matters because the city’s own rules, the 8.85% general corporation tax on S corporation profits sourced to the city and the unincorporated business tax, surprise people who move here or run a business from here. If that is your situation, it is worth raising on a call.
Do you prepare foreign tax returns?
No. We prepare the US return with your foreign position properly reflected, including treaty positions, foreign tax credits and foreign reporting, and we coordinate with your local advisor where one is needed. If you do not have one, we can usually point you to someone.
What happens on a first call?
You describe the situation, we give you our read on it, and we both decide whether it makes sense to work together. If there is work to do, you get a fixed fee in writing afterwards. There is no charge for the call and no obligation.
Will you clean up prior years?
Often, yes: delinquent filings, missed depreciation, a misclassified entity, returns prepared by software that skipped something. We will tell you whether amending is worth it. Frequently it is not, and the better answer is to fix the treatment going forward.
Is the firm large enough to handle my work?
Boutique, on purpose. The work is prepared in house, and every return is reviewed and signed by a licensed CPA. We would rather turn work away than hand you to someone who has not read your file.
Start with a conversation
Thirty minutes, no charge, and no obligation. We talk through your situation, give you our read on it, and see whether it makes sense to work together.