Discussion:How to over come "I am charging too much?"

This season two clients in fact told me that my fees are "much lower than HRB and other they checked out." One client paid me $25.00 more than I had invoiced him!

Generaly I charge starting $75. (for basic 1040A) and up to $350 (1040 with Sch A and D). I do not do Business tax returns. I am in Fremont, CA area. There are few Tax Preparers in this area who charges between $25. and $100 for the same services! I am not sure if they are registered with CTEC or sign the return. I have only seen their posting on Craigs List.

Any suggestion(s) greatly appreciated. I just do not want to loose clints.

Thxs IshaqInagpurwala 17:51, 19 May 2008 (CDT)

Stick to your guns. Confidence will get you farther then an apologetic shamefaced display. Have a ready answer as to why you are worth that much. If you do returns in front of clients, remember that you are getting paid for your skill and knowledge and not your time. You might want to try ways of bringing the money issue upfront so that clients aren't getting hit by sticker shock. Remember, if you discount too much or too often, then you are bound to get abused.

This last season I inherited a client who had $150 taken off last year's bill. She pitched a fit when she didn't get the same thing this year. I was ready to let her walk rather then apply any discount, especially since she took up several hours of my time for a simple return. She ended up with $25 off and a spot on CTOBET.

Most of those price shoppers are a waste of your time, so don't feel bad about losing them. However, I'll take a price shopper over a refund shopper anytime.

Tax Preparation Fees

Working on eliminating this fear is your most important goal, not setting the proper fee. Two preparers are not like the gas stations of the 60s, where you will be having price wars. It is the value you incorporate into your services that you must collect. You can't show your clients these studies and tell them 'so and so says this is an average fee' because the good clients won't care while the bad clients will dispute it.

This past month a client called to tell me that I and his dentist were the last great bargains of this world. Now I am not sure how to take such a comment.

Also, it's the price-shoppers who will cost you the most to serve because they will call you more, withhold information and then "magically" find it requiring you to re-print, etc. To those, I say, See ya!

But as TheTinCook pointed out, I'll take a pricer shopper over someone willing to pay a more than average fee for a 'fraudulent' return (I refuse to take an average of two clients per year because of this).

Let me know where you live, I want to move there and start a business.

Seriously, if you aren't raising your fees each year, you are cheating yourself. Now, there may be those that you charge the same fee...maybe they referred 2-3 new clients to you...maybe you are related or they are good friends or business relationships who provide you services of value.

I can guarantee that your clients are paying more for bread, milk, lawncare, etc. If you are good, they won't even bat an eye. They enjoy having someone they know, that they can count on, that provides good service, etc.

Clients don't like to change. Those who do, you don't want.

If people are using you because of your price...you are underpriced. Period.

You deserve a pay raise...I would recommend at least 10-15%.

I live in expensive San Francisco Bay Area (in California). My expenses have gone up and my clients are very happy. Like Inagpurwala, some clients have given me $25 more than billed, others tell me that I am undercharging... In addition to that I don't charge some clients because they didn't have much income for the year :(

OK, you win, next tax season I will start with 5-10% increase and see how it goes...

When I worked for HR Block, some clients complained every year about the fees and said they will find another tax preparation firm, and guess what? They always went back, so you have a point!

Lexus dealer is $ 122.00 per hour-and I was charged for 1/2 hour to instal the battery-Labor charge for the 1/2 hour blue book was $ 65.00--Not only over charged but can't even figure that it should have be 61.00-but was rounded to neares $ 5.00 So you figure ..

Unless your clients are driving around in 15 year old Dodge Omnis, they are not looking for price, they are looking for value. Sell it to them just that way.

By the way, my average fee is around $700, and I can't keep people from referring.

94nole, clients to be terminated. A term some of us have used since people got wise to PITA.

C(lients) TO BE T(erminated)  = CTOBET

We kept it as a word file on the desktop of the main computer and updated during tax season as various & sundry clients were obnoxious and/or irritating. It was discussed in one thread severeal times, I just can't remember which one. Something to do with how/when to fire clients.

I like it because I don't think ANY client could figure it out, even if they happened to see it.

Not that I want to be a plumber...but jeez. Do any of 'us' on this forum charge $ 720 an hour?

I vow, right now, to raise my rates AND stick to the increases even if there's whining.

I have had good luck with "add ons", $25.00 document storage fee, but I don't Efile. I'll probably Efile for 08, and then it will become some other storage fee. "3 Year Hard Disk Storage" lol. No one has batted an eye at this storage fee.

From the legal side, I don't charge for copies. I get it some other way. The reason is that I have tried to charge, and got everything from sarcastic jokes, to outrage!

He definately took advantage of this lady; it's a second home for her, she's in assisted living 4 hours away, her husband died last year and (of course) he always deealt sith these things. It just chaps my hide, my husband & I live across the street and have somewhat adopted her in the sense of trying to help with this type of stuff. The rental management company hired the plumber, before we could intercede. And I'm not even sure the repair was done properly. Such a bummer.

Not to defend this gouger, but I have owned 3 houses in my life and two were built pre-Codes.....even 'simple' jobs in those money pits (like where we live now) are grief to some tradesmen. Putting in new outlets on the second floor of my first 1930 built house caused an electrician to walk away after he realized the price he quoted did not take into account snaking wires down stone and stucco walls. Or here, plumbers dealing with the heater must crawl into the space under the house, which usually has to be pumped out first if there has been rain.

The repair was an outside the house job to cap off a 'stand pipe' that was broken by sliding snow from the roof. We (my husband) had already shut off the water. The repair was done while my husband was out of town; so he wasn't around to monitor it...and I don't do plumbing. He didn't repair the break and put the outside bib back to functional status; he just capped it off.

Unfortunately, the bill's been paid. I am going to discuss with her daughter when she visits from the 'other' coast next weekend. The situation just irritates me (can you tell) and I tend to tilt at windmills from time to time; some battles just have to fought even if the amounts aren't material.

think I will use the CPT method plus the CPB method,, that is, the 'cost per tank' of gas when I fill my truck plus the cost per (grocery buggy) when I fill my grocery cart should be equal to my average client charge, using this method I'll definitely have some rate increases in the next couple of years, LOL,,, or maybe on a 1040A, when the gas station client says' "How much do ya'll charge?" I can answer, "A tank of gas" , I wonder if he thinks that will be too high!