Flat fees. No hourly meter.
Inside an engagement, you should never have to weigh whether a question is worth what it costs to ask. Nothing here is billed by the hour, and questions within scope are part of the work. The published floors tell you where an engagement starts; what lands above a floor is the work itself, priced on the job rather than the clock.
Three things determine every quote.
Scope
What the engagement covers: a single return, monthly books, payroll, planning, or a combination. Bundled engagements price better than the sum of their parts, because shared context is shared work.
Complexity
Entity count, states filed, transaction volume, and the condition of the records. A clean set of books and a shoebox are different jobs.
Cadence
One-time projects (a clean-up, a migration, a consult) are quoted as projects. Ongoing work (books, payroll, planning) is quoted as a predictable monthly or annual fee you can budget around.
Two floors published. Two priced to scope.
Most firms make you call to learn what a return costs. Where a floor can be published honestly, it is. Where the work cannot be bid until we have seen the volume and the records, we say that instead of inventing a number.
Individual Return
$375The floor
W-2 and 1099 income with the standard deduction. This is the minimum engagement. It is not a typical fee.
What moves it up: itemized deductions, rental property, investment activity, K-1s, multi-state filing, and the condition of the records. A return carrying an active Schedule C is scoped above this floor on its own facts. A separate entity return (1120-S, 1065, or 1120) is quoted as a business return.
Business Return
$1,250The floor
S-corp, partnership, and corporate returns, where the balance sheet has to tie and the books have to support it. This is the minimum engagement. It is not a typical fee. Most owners bundle the personal return with it: one firm reading one ledger, priced together.
What moves it up: states filed, entity count, fixed asset and depreciation detail, partner or shareholder count, and whether the books arrive clean or as a shoebox.
Bookkeeping & Client Accounting
Priced upon request
Monthly books, catch-up cleanups, and standing client accounting engagements. Bookkeeping stands on its own, with no tax return required.
What we scope first: transaction volume, months behind, accounts involved, and where the data comes from. Accrual-basis work, with receivables, payables, payroll, and integrated systems, changes the engagement materially.
Advisory & IRS Representation
Priced to scope
Tax planning, entity and S-corp analysis, analysis and forecasting, business valuation as a calculation engagement yielding a calculated value, and IRS representation. Each is quoted per engagement, against a written scope.
Why it is not a menu item: two engagements wearing the same name are rarely the same work. A notice answered in one letter and an examination worked through Appeals are not one service with one price.
Why a Minimum Engagement Fee?
A simple W-2/1099 return carries less work than a complex one, but it moves through the same secure intake, the same licensed review, and the same signature. The minimum reflects that standard, which does not shrink with the return.
Not sure what a floor covers? Ask a question. Your fee comes from the scope.
How advisory work actually runs.
Advice is only worth the preparation behind it. A paid consult starts with the consult intake: your answers build the document list, you send both through the file exchange, and we review them before anything is scheduled. The session that follows delivers conclusions.
Why there is no “book an hour” button
A paid meeting booked cold means reading your situation for the first time in front of you: the weakest version of this firm, at its highest rate. The intake comes first, then the fee, then the booking link. Start a Consult Intake.
What you’ll never see
Hourly surprise bills. Charges for in-scope questions. Fees buried in fine print. If a simpler or cheaper path fits your situation, including one that involves less of us, we’ll say so.
What owners ask about pricing.
Do I have to pay to become a client?
No. For most tax returns and bookkeeping clean-ups, the first step is sending your documents. No meeting and no account required. Owners with an entity, employees, equipment, or books that are behind usually get more out of fifteen minutes first. That intro is with Kevin Hemingway, CPA. We discuss your needs and whether the firm is a fit, and you leave with a clear scope and next steps. Neither is required to become a client, and there is no paid meeting to book first.
What exactly do the published floors cover?
Each floor is the starting point for the scope printed beside it. The individual floor covers a W-2/1099 return with the standard deduction, prepared and principal-signed; the business floor covers an entity return where the balance sheet has to tie. The drivers listed beside each are what typically move a fee above it: more states, more activities, rougher records. Two ‘S-corp returns’ can be entirely different jobs, which is why we publish where pricing begins rather than pretending every return costs the same.
How do you price bookkeeping and cleanup work?
By volume, condition, and system. Volume is the monthly transaction count, how many months are behind, and how many accounts are involved. Condition is where the history lives, whether a maintained file, raw bank statements, or spreadsheets. System is the basis: accrual work, with receivables, payables, payroll, and integrated systems, changes the engagement materially. A cleanup is quoted as a project; ongoing books are quoted as a recurring fee.
Do you charge for questions?
No. Questions within scope are part of the engagement. Ask before the equipment purchase or the new hire, not after, when it costs more to fix.