This is a first year client. He and his wife are very comfortably retired and are friends of my parents through politics. I understand that until two or three years ago he went to a now retired CPA and after that he went for three years to a big box. The first two were satisfactory to him but the third was not. I think something happened in the life of the first preparer so that a second person who was not up to the job tried to do it and he tells me that he ended up keying in half of the return.
I don't know what he paid the CPA and I don't know what he paid the big box store the first two years but he paid them $464 last year for a return hardly different from this year's. He says it has been a long time since anything new happened with his return. This year he has for Federal 1040 / unsuccessful attempt to itemize / Two Schedules F because there is a farm in NC and one in Ark / and Sch E. At least last year the E was not there but it should have been. He leased a portion of the Ark farm to a company that drilled for oil and natural gas (and yes he got lease payments not royalties) and apparently this is how it has always been reported. He has the NC Full Year Resident and Ark Non Resident returns that flow from this Federal return.
He's the most organized client I have EVER had or heard of. He writes everything out neatly in longhand then numbers the supporting documents so that I can see which of his figures comes from which documents. I have been over it with a fine toothed comb and the only error was the one noted above.
Given this fact pattern, what should I charge him? I think I tend to undercharge and before I realized what he paid last year I was thinking of charging around 800 dollars and raising my prices across the board to add up to that. To put things in perspective I currently charge $175 for a long form and 75 each for the major schedules with a discount if A is attempted but failed and a discount if any given form is unusually simple for what it is. An example would be his E which has nothing but the entry for the income as he has no expenses pertaining to the well.
I don't know what he paid the CPA and I don't know what he paid the big box store the first two years but he paid them $464 last year for a return hardly different from this year's. He says it has been a long time since anything new happened with his return. This year he has for Federal 1040 / unsuccessful attempt to itemize / Two Schedules F because there is a farm in NC and one in Ark / and Sch E. At least last year the E was not there but it should have been. He leased a portion of the Ark farm to a company that drilled for oil and natural gas (and yes he got lease payments not royalties) and apparently this is how it has always been reported. He has the NC Full Year Resident and Ark Non Resident returns that flow from this Federal return.
He's the most organized client I have EVER had or heard of. He writes everything out neatly in longhand then numbers the supporting documents so that I can see which of his figures comes from which documents. I have been over it with a fine toothed comb and the only error was the one noted above.
Given this fact pattern, what should I charge him? I think I tend to undercharge and before I realized what he paid last year I was thinking of charging around 800 dollars and raising my prices across the board to add up to that. To put things in perspective I currently charge $175 for a long form and 75 each for the major schedules with a discount if A is attempted but failed and a discount if any given form is unusually simple for what it is. An example would be his E which has nothing but the entry for the income as he has no expenses pertaining to the well.
Comment