WA Working Families Tax Credit

As Lloyd Christmas said in Dumb and Dumber when he found out his chances of being with Mary were one in a million --------------- there’s a chance.  Although I don’t think your chances are quite as high as Lloyd’s.

 I see on the website you can apply for it online for free, cant you send the client there directly and not waste your time on it? or maybe its a quick enough process that you can do it on the cheap for those that qualify.

https://workingfamiliescredit.wa.gov/

Or maybe it’s a community service that you enjoy doing for free. Kinda like pro bono assistance. Some law firms require the staff to do it.

“it feels like an insult to charge the least affluent for this form” I understand what you are saying, but Intuit isn’t charging the least affluent. They are charging the tax professional. If you can do it online for the clients who you think can’t do it themselves, I’d do that.

I used to do the 990 “postcard” online instead of paying the Lacerte per return fee for it, before I had unlimited.

To answer some of the responses, so far, I have been sending those clients to the website so they can prepare it themselves and I offer to help if they get stuck. I recognize that technically Intuit is charging me, not them, but our practice passes on form specific fees to the client. It is actually seen as a positive for most of them because unless the state return requires a lot of extra time, we only charge them the fee we pay. We don’t charge a separate preparation fee for their state forms. I hate form based (or worse, line based) fee systems. Over a decade ago I worked for a chain tax prep service and their billing was done that way. I hated that children were line items that were charged for, even when not claimed that year. The EIC form was another fee, other credits were another fee. Sometimes we would intentionally eliminate a credit because it wasn’t worth the charge of the additional tax form. The preparers had learned to combine expenses within schedules C and E just to minimize the cost to the client. Yes, I charge more for clients with a schedule C or E but that is because it adds a level of complexity and time to the equation. 

I already do several things pro bono -- most often it is the property tax form for our county to get reduced rates for low-income seniors. Those clients simply cannot navigate that form by themselves, and their tax returns are usually pretty simple, so I just take care of it all and get their packet ready for the county. I actually struggle with making sure I charge for certain things, but I digress.