Folks:

I am an attorney who prepares a small number of returns for clients, for trusts that I administer, for gift taxes, and so on.  I spend a great deal of money on the program plus REP fees each year.  My fees are reasonable--neither much higher nor much lower than other tax preparers charge.  But REP fees along generally consume between 15 and 30% of the total fee that I charge.

I imagine that the metrics work for folks who do a ton of returns, but I'm just wondering how folks think about these fees in the context of the smaller preparer.  When REP fees of $90 or $150 for a single client exceed the cost of buying an off-the-shelf software program, I am having trouble wrapping my mind around why it costs what it does and whether I am doing something wrong!

M.