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I cannot give out information about the client's return without signed permission from the client. And if they are going to get the client to give me permission, why not just ask the client what he paid me last year? There are legitimate reasons to ask - as Rich said, they might be deducting it on schedule A. Or maybe applying a portion of the fee to a schedule C, E or F as a deduction. But why don't they just ask the client if they need to know?

Yes, I see this as the biggest problem I have in business. It's frustrating. I got 15 new clients this year, newcomers to the area, all with errors on their 2015 returns. Yes, all. Only one has received a letter, and her problem was a 1099-R that was left off the return. The 1099-R was missing from her paperwork, however, she did include a brokerage statement that showed it. I might have missed that one, too. The other errors were from carelessness or intentional fudging or lack of expertise. And you know what? They will never get a letter. It's easier to be careless, or fudge, or be inept. They can charge less because they "work" faster. And if they're REALLY into fudging, they can charge more. The honor system is tough on honorable people sometimes.

$25

I don't have a house... but my fiancee does... plus a beach condo and their both paid for. Married poor the first time, won't make that mistake again.

Yesterday I emailed an attorney with my fees for a trust 1041, since he is doing the estate return and can deduct them. The trust was a grantor trust in 2015 with not much on it that all went over to the individual return, which I was doing anyway so I charged $250. This year it was a complex trust, final return, with four K-1s. There were literally three stock dividends to put on it, nothing to weed out that belonged to the deceased. It took a little over an hour, most of that time spent assembling, and I charged $500. Attorney got back to me that my fees are low! Maybe he's used to making $500 an hour, but that's glorious to me.

Even more so when it's competition with ZERO repercussions for the bad/unfair competitors.

^^^ Good points from all, FYI I am on good terms with the ex-client, have their permission to answer any questions and provide any information necessarily for a smooth transition and I have been cooperating. I didn't give them a direct answer, I said it's hard to give an exact amount because it's been a while I haven't done work for them, and I also provided other services besides the preparation of the business tax return, but yes if they look at the accounting fees they can get an exact idea of what I billed that client for the year.

Check the Schedule A. Rich

Oh, I never said I was satisfied with what I make. I know I'm worth more. But you can only make what people will pay. If you can't get the client, you don't get any money. I'll take decent money over no money. And I make very decent money. No, I don't take every job. I turned away a bookkeeping client last week because I figured it would be a hassle every time I turned around and they would be in business about twelve long, miserable months. Six if I was lucky. There are too many preparers (here anyway), and the risk of getting caught preparing crappy returns is, well, about zero. You can charge what people will pay you to solve a problem. If crappy returns are not a problem, and If a great number of people actually prefer a crappy return, well, it's crappy for your bottom line. Plus, it doesn't take a genius to do taxes anymore, they say, so there's that. You know what would happen if there were twice as many doctors, and twice as many lawyers? Yep. Medical care and legal work would cost less. It's just what happens with competition.

I'm confused by this, are you saying you'll just continue doing the work for those 20 clients only and sell the rest? My "retirement" plan is to drop down to about 20 clients at the age of 60 and just handle those and only them. As they die or move - I don't replace them. Those 20 would pay for the healthcare costs for my wife and I until we hit Medicare. My top 3 clients would pay for our health insurance.

$24. But my house cost $99.13 a foot and yours cost $426.83, so I get that you have to charge more.

Yes, and even messier. Because the father's interest in the LLC is a trust (grantor). I didn't want them to do the 1031 (because of the father's age) but they said the current tenant wanted to buy the old property and they needed to do it. The children want to sell the properties but are willing to wait out the two years on the 1031 property received. I was trying to determine if they could sell it now and the death of the father and his LLC interest passing to the children would qualify to have step up basis, sell at lower gain and not have the two year look back.

1. Good For You 2. Great for you I paid 525K for a 1230 square foot fixer in the bay area and got a steal, but that is not paid for yet. I wish I was Rita. Tom Newark, CA

I have a new answer to give clients when the price of their return goes up..... Dear Jack, Thank you for being a valued accountant partner. To support you in your work, I am reaching out to provide you with advance notification of two upcoming price changes that may affect you or your clients. 1. QuickBooks Online Plus 2. QuickBooks Desktop Payroll These price changes will enable us to invest in the further development of QuickBooks to meet the needs of accounting professionals and the business clients you serve.

Stop it. Just spending an hour with you would be worth $225. If he is too cheap to pay what you are worth, let him go. You offer more than just filling in the amounts, you offer your expertise, your time in the off season, a reliable professional to give good advice all year and planning for future years. If this guy can't see that, it is his loss. Tom Newark, CA