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One of the best beers I ever had was a loganberry beer and they put some dehydrated berries in the glass, which rode the bubbles up and fell back down to the bottom, until they rehydrated. I'm easily amused!

My answer: "As much as I possibly can!". Really, that has been my go to line. And if they balk at that, then I don't want them as clients. A blank 1040 starts at $200 and goes from there. My average fee past year for all 1040's was about $420. I want to move it to $500. I got golf to pay for. Rich

My fees are almost identical to Black Bart's, which surprised me. Basic 1040, one W2, no CTC or EITC, and one state is $75 unless dependent child and I do parents' return, in which case $40. Extra forms, extra fees. Piss me off and you get your papers back at no charge. Make me nervous about your ethics and you get a referral to to elsewhere. Life is too short to put up with nonsense.

Doctor told me to drink plenty of fluids..........Is the lemon deductible too?

First Return - but it is a paper return. So many hooks and snags preventing e-filing, plus insurance company told taxpayer they were NOT going to issue a 1095 before March. The exchange policies require a policy number under the exchange, so no way ANYONE (Drake or anyone else) was going to allow e-filing. The customer, totally disgusted, and I agreed to file a paper return. They owe $$ so no refund is held up.

I swear.....most of my time is spent explaining to clients why their tax results are not as good as their friend/hairdresser/neighbor's "but my friend does not have any kids and she filed head of household...so that's how I want to file" "Cindy got earned income credit and got a return of almost $3,000...why didn't I get that much?" "I'm sell Thirty-One, so I can claim all of my bags, clothes, and household expenses, so make sure you include that in my return". I could go on.....

Lime........ Lemon....... It still should be deductible....Yup!...........................

Sorry Yardley, I miss quoted the second one, would also be about $250. The last one would be 100-150. Be kind to yourself, one thing I've learned is better to charge a little more, because you're going to earn it anyway. Good luck. Bill

I didn't want to say anything because my preference is not to have fruit with my beer. The orange slice on a Blue Moon freaks me out. And when in a Micro Brewery and the person next to me has an IPA with a watermelon slice or blueberries on the bottom I loose my appetite.

I'm in a similar area (30mins north of Boston), I would quote $250, but mention it could be a little more or less. For your second return I would quote 100-150 depending on how I read the new client as to potential surprises. Thankfully I don't take on any more clients unless it is someone's kid or grandmother. I've turned down a few recently, were referrals but since I've reached what some would call full retirement age, not taking on the extra work felt pretty good.

The first one would run about $230 including the state return. Schedule A will add $55 to that. Basic tax planning I'll toss in for free (assuming it takes me ~15 min or less), else it's a separate later appointment at $75 an hour. Most basic return $160-ish. Discounted to $50 or $30 (or even free) for the child of a current client. Depends on the client and the circumstances. I'd rather do a dependent return for free rather than have a college kid muck up their parents' return e-filing by claiming themselves. Nor do I feel it's appropriate to charge $50 to get some high school kid's $38 refund back. Any un-cooperation from parent or kid and the price spikes, though. Like Roberts (great puppy picture) there are folks whom I charge FAR less than the return is worth. That is my charity and my decision. I do a free, reasonably complex, return for the widow of my husband's best friend from college; I promised him that before he died. I have an elderly couple who have a return I should charge over $700 for, whom I charge about $200 - I see what they are living on, and it's not their fault their return is a complex mess (and let's not get started on financial advisors who get older folks into complex investments). But another elderly client with a similar return pays me the full $700-ish; I see that she has the income to pay that without suffering or flinching. Facts and circumstances...

*cough*Paper*cough*

My general quote would be a disclosure riddled $175 that is adjusted up and down according to factors some of you might not agree with. Ability to pay, where they live, how they came to me, what they paid the previous person and how nice they are all factor into the fee. The same return can be charged anywhere from $75-$250. I have some ghetto living clients who are awesome and I charge $75. Disabled vet client gets his rather complex return for $125 plus a free house call. On the same switch I have very wealthy 30ish year old clients living in nice homes their grand parents gave them and I charge $450. All they have are a single investment account 1099 and a K-1 from a trust with 3 numbers (div, int and capital gain).

Maybe you should bypass ATX altogether and create and file the W-2 directly on the SSA site for free. Or, you could use one of the other online filing sites for a nominal fee.

I don't do an image. Just use computer printed name. The date is automatically on the preparer signature line. Just link that date to the EF form and the state EF form. Always mark returns complete when done. That makes the 1040 date freeze as long as it's checked.

Several years ago we did something similar to what the other preparer is doing. We had a number of clients that were not paying their keep. We sent out a letter mid summer to that group and told them that our minimum fee going forward would be "$X" and that they were welcome to stay if they were willing to pay that. Otherwise we wished them luck. It worked out very well. We were able to get rid of the high maintenance low pay clients and keep some that were willing to come to the party. It worked out very well for us and we did not see any dip in revenue for it. To answer your question directly (almost) we have a minimum fee that we charge for the basic return and it goes up from there. The basic fee works well in my corner of the world, but probably not any where else. So to tell you what my fees are would be meaningless to you in your corner of the world.

It's FIve O'Clock somewhere......

I think the IRS is limited in the collection methods it can use to collect the penalty, but not in their ability to enforce the penalty. Therefore, if he is ever due a federal tax refund, I believe that they can keep the refund as payment on the ACA tax. I have not had this situation, and I did not research, so this is just from my not necessarily reliable memory. And I also agree with ILLMAS, you should tell them they owe the money in a way that lets you keep a record, and if they choose not to obey the law, they are responsible for the consequences.

I'm absolutely convinced that poorly written sentences are intentional in these email scams. The scammer is looking for people who don't pay close attention or even those whose understanding of grammar is not the best. They make the best victims.

quick answer: call Paychex.

The second trick is to know when to let them go. For me, it is the first instance of unprofessional behavior (such as a nasty-gram message), threats to leave, threats to sue, etc. As long as the person remains civil, I will not give up. The one I wrote about earlier involved more than 60 messages back and forth, but the last one was not civil, so it will be the last one, other than stock replies or excerpts from the program documentation.

The trick to keep from getting aggravated (at fixing the same bleeping problem time and again) is not to think of them as problem clients, but rather as walking annuities... lol.

People like this are not willing to pay either you or me. It was just a quick question yanno.

This happened to my wife, when she was Girl Scout Leader, calling mothers for help with the troop. My Wife, " Can you help with . . . . . . . Mother, " Gotta Go, Dog Fight" and she hangs up.

Raise your rates 20%. Your business will be better, you will have less stress, and you will make more money. I did that in 2014. It works.

Thank God this went to Voicemail: Hey, Rita, this is (cheerful high school guidance counselor) helping a student (who you don't know) fill out his FAFSA...

You should have heard the blue streak on Tuesday night....