Discussion:Price for kiddy tax return.
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Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Price for kiddy tax return.
Kerryfreeman@sbcglobal.net (talk|edits) said: | February 8, 2007 |
| How much should I charge for a kiddy return. child has $1300 in div. income $12 interest income.this takes me all of 20 minutes from start to finish. how much do I charge? | |
| 9 February 2007 | |
| depends on how much you like the parents. Don't do it for free, or they will expect it that cheap every year (I learned the hard way). | |
Rgtaxservice (talk|edits) said: | 9 February 2007 |
| Keep in mind that you get paid for you KNOW, not what you DO.
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Death&Taxes (talk|edits) said: | 9 February 2007 |
| One thing I note: if the parents are in AMT hell, check out the 8814, especially in states like New Jersey where there is a high threshhold for filing for kids. I have found it cheaper for the total situation to pickup the income many times. | |
| February 9, 2007 | |
| This is a 5 or 10-minute return. If I've done the parents' returns for several years, I'd probably charge $50 when the child has investment income without a state return, but sometimes, I'll charge zero for the first return for a child when they have a small amount of wages (but I tell them it's for the first year only). If I haven't done the parents returns for several years, I'd charge $70 for the Federal and $80 for Federal and State. | |
| February 9, 2007 | |
| I'm 75-100 depending on how good a deal the parents are getting... | |
| February 9, 2007 | |
| Yea, I take that into consideration, too. A lot depends on the parents.. | |
| February 9, 2007 | |
| How much do you charge your best friend and his or her family members? How much do you charge your own family members? | |
Death&Taxes (talk|edits) said: | 9 February 2007 |
| I don't do friends or relatives or neighbors' taxes; I will answer questions but that is it. I do not want to know their finances. Pam does her youngest son's return for no charge on my software and that is it. | |
| February 9, 2007 | |
| Family is tough. I never charged my mom. I have charged some in-law's, but it was business and extensive, and fair. My best buds I don't usually. My give-aways are in ministry. For me, if someone's in FT ministry and not earning much, no charge. For single mom's, big discounts..big. For the guys we minister to that come to me...nada. We've all got our personal categories. The other day someone was writing that they don't charge military guys and another doesn't charge fire/policeman...I never thought about this in the early days, and kind of chuckled about the idea of pro bono when watching LA Law...wondering, what's pro bono? Never met someone I didn't want money from. As time goes on, you realize that you need to give something back, that you're making a nice living, and helping the unfortunate however you define that is one of the privileges we have. | |
| February 9, 2007 | |
| I have three nephews (my ex's brother's kids) who I did for free for years, then I charged them $20, and this year, I went up to $40 on one and $50 on the other (due to a Sch C on one and Sch E on the other). The third hasn't been here yet. These kids tell me they still consider me their aunt when they're here to get their tax returns done (I only see them once each year).
I have several returns I don't charge for: parents (when they were alive), brother, niece, best friend (a couple of those), and son, and I tend to charge less for my daughter-in-law's aunt and two cousins and several family members of one of my best friends. These all bring down my average fees, but I don't have the heart to charge them more. | |
| 9 February 2007 | |
| I do tax returns for about a dozen friends and relatives for no charge. They're all fairly straightforward and I really don't mind doing them for free. Most are cooperative and send me their information by the middle of February when I'm not incredibly busy. But some are bad. I've thought about telling them that if I get their information after February 15th then I'll charge them 1/2 my minimum fee of $350. But instead of keeping the money I'll send it to my (not their) favorite charity. | |
Will "the tax guy" (talk|edits) said: | 9 February 2007 |
| I usually charge the kiddy, crumb snatchers, whatever you want to call them half price of my standard fees.
In regards to the police, firefighters, ect. At least one of the big three retail tax services offers what they call Appreciation weeks where they choose a group such as police, firefighters, teachers, ect and during that week these people get their return done for free. This is only for new clients, the second year the fee is full price. | |
Chautauqua (talk|edits) said: | 9 February 2007 |
| Depends on the complexity of the kid's return. A few years ago I had a 12-year old boy who grossed about $39,000 on 8 or 10 W-2s. Doing voice-overs for major Hollywood studios. | |
| 9 February 2007 | |
| I do my mum's, my sister's, my sister-in-law, my husband's, and a buddy from high school for free. Otherwise, I'd never get enough e-file returns.
I do a couple clients at substantially reduced prices because I like them and they're not rich. I figure if I charged full price, they'd have to go someplace else cheaper and maybe get a crappy job; and I like them too much to wish that upon them. I charge my clients a nominal fee to do their kids' returns, about 12.5% of my average charge. I charge full price if they've got a full-price income tax situation. I give a 10% - 15% discount to clients who send me a new client that signs on the dotted line. Some clients can end up getting a free return if they send me enough clients. | |
Bottom Line (talk|edits) said: | 10 February 2007 |
| I generally charge less for my bookkeeping clients than I do for people that I see only once a year. Since I'm doing the bookkeeping during the year, it's usually quick and easy to do the taxes and I've done any necessary research outside of busy season. My parents, in-laws, husband's nephew, husband's nephew's trust and husband's cousin (cop) are all free but they're at the bottom of the priority list. Firefighters (husband's a fireman for the next 15 months and 11 days!-not that we're counting), police and military get a discount. Have a few charity cases that get discounts but they give lots of referrals (they've been trained not to give prices) so it's similar to a referral discount. | |
