Can anyone share how they estimate tax prep fees for new clients? Is there a template or process used in order to accurately estimate?

[IRonMaN · Accepted solution]

How do you bill clients - by the hour, or by the form, or some other method?  I bill by the hour and look at the prior return to see what is there to guess what kind of time commitment we are talking.  If there are some additional gymnastics involved in the current year, I factor that into my estimate.

[George4Tacks]

I ask for a copy of last years return and a list of activities that are new or have gone away. I think estimate what last years fee would have been and factor in a slight increase for set up of a new client, especially with depreciation and carryovers (AMT, NOL, ...) and of course possible new fun activities like QBI.