Contact UsWe have been using the same tax person for about 10 years. It seems recently that the cost in doing our taxes has gone up significantly in the last few years. We did have to add Qualified dividends and Capital Gain Tax worksheet. I would like to know what the going rate is for doing the federal and state taxes. I would like to know based on information provided below what the industry norm is for this type of Tax preparation.
Here is the break down of work done. Form 1040 Schedule A,B,D, FORM 8949,SCHEDULE E, FORM 6251,8863,W2 LISTING,FORM 8879,8453. OVERFLOW SCHEDULE A 8582 WORKSHEETS,238 SCHEDULE D TRANSACTIONS AND 4 SCHEDULE E PARTNERSHIPS/SCORP AND CA TAXES WITH SCHEDULE D,P,E FORM 8453 AND 540/540NR.
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Tax Professional Answers
Dan Selner
The "going rate" generally depends upon two items: The complexity (size) of your tax return (i.e. the more pages, the higher the cost) and how well organized you are. If you are paying your accountant to add up receipts as opposed to having the totals for them, it will cost you more.
For your return, my rates would be about $280-320, depending upon the length of Sched D and other items.
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576 weeks ago
For your return, my rates would be about $280-320, depending upon the length of Sched D and other items.
Steven Potts JD EA
Quoting a return without actually reviewing your tax situation is a difficult thing. While I will never claim to be the cheapest tax preparer in town I believe that you need to look at not only the number of pages in your return but the overall complexity of your return. Ultimately you should not pay for the number of pages you have but rather for the knowledge the preparer brings to the table. You want to make sure that your preparer has the experience to handle the forms you are dealing with (AMT, Education Credits, Passive Activities, Partnerships, Schedule Cs, non resident returns). These take more than someone entering numbers into software and you should make sure you are getting someone qualified to handle these issues.
From what you have told us in your question that return would probably be done in my office for between $350 and $500. So you can see that there is not an industry norm for return preparation.
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576 weeks ago
From what you have told us in your question that return would probably be done in my office for between $350 and $500. So you can see that there is not an industry norm for return preparation.
Question Owner
Upon looking further at my tax invoice I am being charged $2.00 a page for Schedule D Transactions for Sales and other Dispositions of Capital Assests. This information is provided by my stock broker so why do we have to break it down again?
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576 weeks ago