PRICING UPDATE

When we think about tax season, we think of 3 categories of tax prep needs:

  • your personal taxes

  • your small business taxes (single member LLC or sole proprietor/freelancer or rental property business)

  • your corporate business taxes (partnerships or s-corps or nonprofits)

Each of these 3 categories have distinct pricing. Here are some notes for each:

PERSONAL. The new base price for personal taxes includes one state return and a city return, if you have one, and extra charges apply if you move (requires additional work) or have less common credits/situations. Most people will pay the base price for personal taxes. This is more than a small town accountant might charge or TurboTax without their “full service” options - we feel we are providing an elevated level professional care and we do our best to save you time and money. We also have multiple layers of review for every tax return to ensure quality and accuracy.

SMALL BUSINESS. The pricing for your business taxes depends on your business type. Many of you have sole proprietorships or single-member LLCs, both of which require a Schedule C business tax return. Some of you have multiples of these businesses. For each of these returns, we look at every transaction you provide us. We don’t simply enter numbers into boxes - we scrutinize more than your average CPA firm and ask smart questions to help ensure you are getting the best deductions possible, you’re in compliance with the IRS and state, and report each line item to put you in the best light with the IRS for audit defensibility. Essentially, we are doing some bookkeeping along with your tax prep but have never charged for that. So this year, we consider one hour of bookkeeping work (reclassifying transactions, scrutinizing your books for accuracy, for instance) to be included in the Schedule C price then we will track our time and discuss with you additional charges if we need more time to complete the business return.

CORPORATE. Corporate returns (partnership and s-corp) are far more complex and our pricing reflects that. They require specialized knowledge to complete and only team members with professional licenses (CPA or EA) work on them. Each return reports a balance sheet in addition to income and expenses, which is unlike a Schedule C tax return mentioned above. A corporate return reports bank balances, assets and depreciation details, loan balances, and more. Careful tracking of each owner's basis in the company is also a very important part of the process - it impacts the taxability of business income on your personal tax return and the ability to write off losses. All of this requires bookkeeping work, even with the cleanest of Quickbooks accounts, along with reconciliations of every bank and credit card account. It takes a deep level of attention to keep your company in compliance.

Note: We really value our partnership with monthly bookkeeping clients. We are offering a discount on the business tax prep portion for any business we have a monthly relationship with.

Finally, as we have surveyed other CPA firms, it has become clear that our prices have been under-market for some time now. In many cases, even a walk-in service like H&R Block charged more - and we know our services are more valuable. The 2024 prices are still under what many other local CPA or EA tax practitioners charge.

The updated pricing also helps Charitax recruit and retain exceptional team members and invest in their professional growth to keep up with increasingly complex tax laws.