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You price is more than fair, and actually undervalued IMO. I would have charged more, but I am an EA and now a USTCP. Lynn

I would have charged what you charged *only* if some of the schedules were close to empty - otherwise it would have easily been $50 more and heading north from there. For anything that involves Sch D, I charge per item on the 8949's, so that varies wildly. Some folks with five or six account might have three trades; someone with a single account might have three hundred - guess who pays me more? (Yup; you were right.)

Hey, Lynn, Congratulations!

Tell him something to the effect that you are a professional being held to standards by the IRS and your years of training and experience well justify the price of his return. If he continues to complain, strip out all his original documents, hand them to him and tell him the location of the nearest H&R office. Wish him a good day. You are NOT overcharging him.

..... Or..Vicious Attack.???

This is all good to know and adds to my knowledge base. I have not before heard of this but most likely because none of my clients received one of these - or didn't tell me! Does this count for CPE?

Only for the purpose of hysterical laughter...

I am in VA, and not a CPA, and I think your price is very fair. When I am questioned about prices, I tell the client that I don't aspire to be the cheapest, I aspire to be the best. I don't sell numbers and forms, I sell service. Your price is good. And go up every year. Every. Year.

At first blush, your fee sounds reasonable. It is hard to tell though. I have clients with that laundry list of forms that I charge nearly $1,000 because of the complexity. And to the other extreme, with that same laundry list of forms, I can see $300 to $325. So I think you are probably good.

Impressive, Lynn!

I guessed the one with three trades pays you more because the single account's three hundred trades were all clean A's and D's with no adjustments so you just needed to put four numbers on Schedule D. Was I right?

I wouldn't charge for 8948, because I'm supposed to e-file. It really depends on what work was involved on Schedule C and how much trading to enter on the various Forms 8949. I would not be lower than $325. Just completed a similar return with three 8949s and AMT that was $545. And a recent return in which I could import his Gain/Loss statement (broker uploaded Excel spreadsheet to FileShare) that was $500.

I got a copy of the letter, and my client was actually savvy enough to go to the IRS website and check it out. It is a 4883c letter, and apparently legit.

Think about it, if this was an efiled return, what information could she give them that they don't already have ? This is a variation of a scam that is currently being used against social security and medicare recipients.

The prior preparer was probably charging less and figures his/her return is the same and it's not that complex and expects to pay the same fees, your fees are reasonable and I would probably charge the same or more. This year I had a client ask if I was going to charge them more since last year I had increased my fees, I told them absolutely, my fee is going to be higher this year. When someone tells you "oh it's easy" or "it's similar to last year", it's best to let them know it's going to cost more this year.

I have had a few clients receive that letter. Since they did not have their 2015 return they went to the IRS office with a copy of the 2016 return. I had not done the prior year return.

OTOH, I have had a client who has been required by the IRS - for two years in a row! - to confirm her identity before they released refunds. However, I got copies of the letters each time, confirmed that they were legit (by calling *after* checking the phone number listed, getting ID numbers, etc), then set up conference calls with the client. Did this client have any refundable credits? It was the case with my client; someone who had not been to college but went back to school mid-20's, long after being self-supporting, and was claiming education credits.

In pretty much every profession - the highly successful people are salesmen / women. If you want to be successful, learn how to sell your product and do it. Most accountants abhor the idea of selling themselves - they need to get over it. Just realize, mailings and seminars are essentially supporting activities - you are in for a long (expensive) battle if those are your primary focus.

I will, I have to go take a picture... This is my other office. Maybe Abby can snap a picture, I wont be there till Tuesday. This is my sign for my main office. Rich

Sigh. It no longer surprises me, but it still always dismays me when heirs fight and bicker and get recalcitrant, obstreperous, and uncooperative. It makes me want to sit them down and read them the riot act about being grateful for getting *anything* rather than greedy and unhappy that they didn't get more. It also underscores for all of us the need to let everyone know what the general plan of distribution is, and to have copies in multiple places of any document so one jackass can't mess up the lives of many people just by being a jerk.

Definitely read the trust doc. The trust likely became irrevocable at death and should have filed 1041 each year, but since there was no income or expenses all those years one wasn't necessary. (Expect IRS to come back when the current 1041 is filed and demand the past ones--a simple letter should clear it up.) What you are finding on the tax return makes no sense. If you brought the gain to zero, then line 9 (total income) should be zero. The tax on nothing is nothing. Further, if you marked the box for final return, all income and expenses get passed through to the beneficiaries and the trust pays no tax. Perhaps you haven't added the beneficiary info yet so the program doesn't know what to do with the income distribution deduction? Realtor fees and closing costs get added to basis. (They can't be treated as administrative expenses because a "related party" was living in the home.) Fix up costs are also added to basis. Your fee, by the way, is deductible on line 14, even if it hasn't been paid yet or goes into the next fiscal year. I don't have the cite with me, but politicians (many of whom are attorneys) decided unpaid attorney fees could be deducted and for some reason included accountants in on the perk. Property taxes usually go on line 11. However, if they were paid on behalf of a beneficiary who was using the home, you can't deduct them. They instead get taken from that person's share of the distribution. You really need to read the trust doc to determine what to do. Don't be afraid of this. It's a very straightforward 1041--one transaction and some expenses. The 1041 instructions are all you need to read.