But My Return Isn't That Complicated

[BHoffman]

If your program has a five year tax history...% the total tax liability against the gross income. Do this for at lease three years to see how much it of a difference there is each year. Then average out the % multiply the current gross income by that amount and tell them to send a check to the IRS with the extension you are going to file to give you time to do the return unstressed.
The best advice I can give you is don't let the client's problem become yours...you don't own this issue they do....so you don't stress that is their job.

Can't do that this year because they had unusually high profits for 2009. I'm going to have to prepare 1120S forms M-3 and 8697 (look-back for completed contracts) and have never prepared either of these forms before, so there will be that learning curve. I don't think the M-3 will be a problem, but the 8697 is almost certain to have some impact on their tax due and it isn't easy to calculate because this contract was in progress for a few years before it completed in 2009.

[MAJ]

But My Return Isn't that Complicated

Yea... I think it's time for the Tax Preparation industry to adapt the thoughts of the Entertainment industry (they are similar, aren't they). Our clients need to be entertained.

Disney World, Great Adventure all charge a premium for expedited access to the rides. Rides being the Tax Return in this case. So, if they need the expedited service and DO NOT want to file an extension it's simple. There's a line item charge for Expedited Service (usually due to late filing efforts or being totally unprepared). Add an extra $100 or more to the return. Watch how fast they tend to fix things in years to come. Each year they fail to comply - $25 more. Did this with one client in particular. He used to bring a bag of receipts for ME to get totals. In addition to the time I added a line item for Annual Bookkeeping and charged him for it. He thought it unfair. After 2 years of rapidly increasing preparation fees he quickly did an about face and just gave me the totals that I needed.

Usually if clients come to me after April 1st they know that this is prime time for tax preparation and that these times pay an additional premium. That's the way it is. My time is more valuable during these times!!