CPA in Bluffton, SC: CPAs and Accountants

Self-employed

About 1 in 6 working people inside the town limits runs their own business, and about 1 in 5 in ZIP 29910 (as of 2024).

Business returns

An S corporation (Form 1120-S) or partnership (Form 1065) on a calendar year files by March 15, a month before personal returns are due on April 15.

Posted prices

Colleran Accounting posts monthly packages starting at $500, $900 and $1,400 (as of October 2026). Most firms here do not publish fees.

Old Town

Patel & Company is on Promenade Street, 0.3 mi from Old Town, and Innova is on Godfrey Place, 1.1 mi away.

Near Belfair

Van Grouw Advisors on Plantation Park Drive is 0.6 mi from Belfair Towne Village. Brian Ange CPA and Colleran Accounting share a building on State Road S-7-50, 1.9 mi from Belfair.

Sun City side

DBS & Associates is on Berkeley Hall Boulevard, 2.5 mi from Sun City.

Licenses

CPAs, public accountants and accounting practitioners are licensed by the SC Board of Accountancy, and its Licensee Lookup is open to anyone. A business inside the town limits also needs a Town of Bluffton business license.

Free tax help

Lowcountry VITA and AARP Tax-Aide volunteers prepare returns at the Bluffton branch library each filing season.

Four CPA firms on this page have Bluffton offices: Brian Ange CPA and Colleran Accounting on State Road S-7-50, Patel & Company on Promenade Street and DBS & Associates on Berkeley Hall Boulevard. All four list tax and small business accounting. Patel and DBS add IRS audit representation, Brian Ange adds part-time CFO services, and Colleran sells monthly packages.

The SC Board of Accountancy, part of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, licenses CPAs, public accountants and accounting practitioners, and its Licensee Lookup is open to the public. Its office number is (803) 896-4770. Hilton Head Island has its own CPA firms; see the island business services page. Carey & Company on Main Street there also has a Bluffton office at 181 Bluffton Road.

Accountant is not a single license. The SC Board of Accountancy lists three: certified public accountants, public accountants and accounting practitioners. A CPA firm can prepare returns and do the accounting for a business. A bookkeeper keeps the day-to-day books, and a tax office focuses on returns. Innova Investments and Van Grouw Advisors pair returns with bookkeeping and payroll.

For a tax accountant, call a CPA firm if the return is for a business, or a tax office if it is a personal return. The national tax offices are on the Bluffton financial advisors page, along with advisors and mortgage lenders.

Self-employed people are a big part of the work force here, about 1 in 6 inside the town limits and 1 in 5 in ZIP 29910 (as of 2024). Brian Ange, DBS and Patel all list new business formation, and Innova lists incorporation help. Colleran Accounting prepares S corporation (1120-S) and partnership (1065) returns and the owners’ personal returns, but only for monthly accounting clients, and it is not taking C corporations or nonprofits.

An S corporation or partnership on a calendar year files by March 15, a month ahead of personal returns, so a business owner who uses a CPA hands over records earlier than for a personal return. A business inside the town limits also needs a Town of Bluffton business license; the Town of Bluffton page has the contact details. For an office address, see New Riverside, and for business accounts the banks in Bluffton.

Patel & Company, Van Grouw Advisors and Brian Ange CPA each list QuickBooks setup, training and payroll along with bookkeeping. Innova on Godfrey Place lists bookkeeping, payroll and tax preparation. Colleran’s packages include full bookkeeping from the Quarterly Advisory level up, and its Controller package is for businesses that already keep their own books.

Ask whether the work is monthly or only at tax time, who enters the transactions, who reviews them and how often you meet. For the website, email and phones behind the business, see managed IT services in Bluffton.

Most firms here do not post fees. Colleran Accounting does: its Monthly Controller Package starts at $500 a month for a business with in-house bookkeeping, the Quarterly Advisory Package starts at $900 a month and adds full bookkeeping, sales tax filing and a quarterly meeting, and the Monthly Advisory Package starts at $1,400 a month with a meeting every month (as of October 2026). Tax returns are extra and are open only to monthly clients.

For anyone else, ask for the price of a return or a monthly package in writing, and what the fee covers if the IRS writes you later.

Lowcountry VITA, run with United Way of the Lowcountry, helps people earning about $75,000 or less, people with disabilities, adults 60 and older and people with limited English. Its line is (843) 321-9071 and its schedule is at vitalowcountry.org. AARP Tax-Aide volunteers prepare and e-file returns at the Bluffton and Hilton Head branch libraries; check dates each season, because the county posts new notices every winter.

In ZIP 29909, which takes in Sun City and Okatie, about 7 in 10 households receive Social Security and about 2 in 3 receive retirement income (as of 2024), so returns with Social Security, pensions and withdrawals are common here. DBS lists personal tax and planning, and Brian Ange lists tax planning, for those who want more than a basic return.