Your number
$125
Your rate card
- Day rate$1,050 per day
- Hourlyfor anything that does not fit a day$125 per hour
- A tax return$1,450 per project
- Monthly retainerthe books and the filings, every month$1,750 per month
What to charge for each thing (4)
- Individual return$550 each
- Business return$1,650 each
- Quarterly estimates$400 each
- Financial statements$1,250 each
US rates for accountant / cpas at your level, adjusted for your market. What you last got wins.
For 1 hour at $125, the quote is $125.
To take home $85,000 after $9,000 of costs and 30% tax you need to bill $134,286 a year. At 24 billable hours a week for 47 weeks that is $125 an hour, $950 a day. Anything under that is a pay cut you did not agree to.
Accountants at your level day at about $1,050; you sit inside the range, so quote it without apology.
A tax return runs $400 to $2,500 and takes about 6 hours of your time; at your hourly that is $750. The number is the higher of the two, because the client is buying the outcome, not the hours.
A retainer is the month, not the hours: the books and the filings, every month. It is priced about 20% under the same work bought one at a time, in exchange for the certainty; three months minimum, or it is not a retainer.