Biling the little things
I keep track of all my time before, during and after tax season. I only bill once a year for the "tax return and all other discussions". When billing the tax return, I pull up my billable time, last year's invoice and then decide what I feel the whole package is worth. Sometimes I mark-up, sometimes I mark down. I bill what I feel is reasonable for the work completed. I do separate out bookkeeping time as I find that really adds up and may make a client think my fee for the return preparation is unreasonable.
Up until a little while ago, I was having trouble with timekeeping. Then I downloaded an internet timelogger - it tracks all my keystrokes on my computer. So say I get interrupted by the phone while working on a tax return but don't note how long I was on the phone, I can go back to this program and look up when my keystrokes stopped (or when I switched to another program). It's not flawless but it sure helps me track my time. And wasted time too!
Carolyn
I keep track of all my time before, during and after tax season. I only bill once a year for the "tax return and all other discussions". When billing the tax return, I pull up my billable time, last year's invoice and then decide what I feel the whole package is worth. Sometimes I mark-up, sometimes I mark down. I bill what I feel is reasonable for the work completed. I do separate out bookkeeping time as I find that really adds up and may make a client think my fee for the return preparation is unreasonable.
Up until a little while ago, I was having trouble with timekeeping. Then I downloaded an internet timelogger - it tracks all my keystrokes on my computer. So say I get interrupted by the phone while working on a tax return but don't note how long I was on the phone, I can go back to this program and look up when my keystrokes stopped (or when I switched to another program). It's not flawless but it sure helps me track my time. And wasted time too!
Carolyn
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