We competitively offer a simple fee range of $150 to $350 for most personal tax returns. Think of it as easy, medium and hard (we're from Colorado, so we think in green circles, blue squares and black diamonds).

Your tax preparation fee is not dependent on the number of forms used to prepare your tax returns. That’s old school. Rather your fee will depend on the amount of time required to accurately and comprehensively prepare your tax returns.

Taxable events that might increase preparation time include-

In addition, not using our online submit forms to summarize your receipts and notes will increase preparation time. You truly are the most intimate with your financial and tax worlds. However, we don’t mind organizing your stuff too- that’s what we do, if asked, so you don’t have to.

Most flight crew taxpayers can expect to pay $150 to $200.

Most rental or small business owners can expect to pay between $175 and $250.

Most expats can expect to pay between $225 and $275.

Clients who have multiple taxable events can expect to pay between $275 and $350.

Additional Fees

We also have a short list of additional fees that might be incurred depending on your tax situation, and quite frankly your level of readiness-

Note: some of these additional fees may be waived depending on the circumstances. For example, extensive research is charged at $90 per hour, however since we are expanding our scope of knowledge in the process we tend to heavily discount this fee. Please keep in mind that we pride ourselves in not being the nickel and dime type of tax preparation firm. At the same time, there is not enough fluff in our tax preparation fees to subsidize additional services.

We offer a narrow fee range for your corporate tax return preparation.

A single-owner (single-member) LLC’s income or loss will flow onto the owner’s Schedule C within their personal tax return.  Therefore, a corporate tax return is not required.  The fee for this situation is incorporated in the fee for your personal tax return (either $150 or $225).  However bookkeeping services in conjunction with the tax preparation is available and might be required.

A multi-owner (multi-member) LLC requires a corporate tax return (Form 1065) and our base fee is $325.  This includes 2 hours of year-end journal entries, generating annual financial statements,creating K-1 statements for each owner / member, and preparing the LLC’s corporate tax return.  Yes, a husband and wife count as two in the eyes of the IRS- sorry.

The base fee for an S-Corp or C-Corp tax return (Form 1120 or 1120S) is $375 which also includes 2 hours of year-end journal entries, generating annual financial statements, etc. An LLC that elects to be treated as an S-Corp for taxation purposes is considered an S-Corp, and therefore the base fee is $375.

Note: If you maintain your own financial records or accounting books, our past experience has suggested that an extra 3-5 hours will be required to properly prepare your corporate tax return.  Specifically most errors center on general balance sheet issues, retained earnings and payroll.  And these areas of your corporation’s financial records are critical in terms of accuracy.

Base Fee / Fee NTE
If we maintain your accounting books (see Bookkeeping Services below) we guarantee that your corporate tax return will be prepared for either $175 (Form 1065) or $250 (Form 1120 or 1120S).  However, if you or a third-party maintains your accounting books, your tax preparation fee will be a not-to-exceed (NTE) fee range.

For example, the fee for an S-Corp requiring a Form 1120S who maintains their own accounting books will be a base fee of $375 not to exceed $775. The actual fee will depend on the time spent reconciling the accounting records with the corporate tax return.

Having said all that, the majority of our corporate tax returns are between $325 and $550.

Prior Year Bookkeeping, Tax Prep
If you need prior year bookkeeping plus a corporate tax return, we typically offer a discount for those combined services. Depending on the number of transactions and the overall complexity of the bookkeeping, we offer a fee range of $950 to $1,450. Additional factors that are considered are number of bank accounts, credit cards, personal versus business use of funds and how quickly we can translate the statements into accounting records.

Additional Fees
We also have a short list of additional fees that might be incurred depending on your situation-

Note: some of these additional fees may be waived depending on the circumstances. For example, extensive research is charged at $90 per hour, however since we are expanding our scope of knowledge in the process we tend to heavily discount this fee. Please keep in mind that we pride ourselves in not being the nickel and dime type of tax preparation firm. At the same time, there is not enough fluff in our tax preparation fees to subsidize additional services.

In other unicorn-type cases, we have also reduced our fee below the base fee for extremely simple corporate tax returns or for 'no activity' filings.  Please contact us if you think this might be your situation.

Knowing that the fee for our tax preparation service is fixed and will not change is a comfort to our clients. If you have any questions about our fees or if you are unsure which tier you qualify for please contact us.

Financial Statements
Many CPAs will prepare a corporate tax return without a balance sheet- for certain situations a balance sheet is not required by the IRS. However, we feel that it is sound tax preparation practice to create this financial document in conjunction with your tax return regardless. A small business can have a funny way of becoming bigger,and replicating poor accounting practices as you grow can create a much larger problem later- we prefer to lay the ground work today for an easier growth transition. This is to your advantage.

Watson CPA Group is not just tax preparers or number crunchers- we are tax consultants, and our firm will take you through the cycles of your personal and business lives. Many accountants are only compliance oriented- and while IRS compliance is critical, being proactive is equally important.

And, we are a resource that is always available throughout the year. Have a question? Need advice? Received a notice from the IRS just before Happy Hour on a Friday? You can contact us anytime, day or night.

Moreover, our goal is to always prepare a comprehensive and accurate tax return but equally important is your understanding of how a tax return “works”- to the extent necessary, we want you to be comfortable with your tax consequences so together we can successfully plan for your future.

Our engagement with you is not just tax preparation- our fees are more of an investment since we offer the continuous peace and mind of knowing that you are not alone in your tax world. Most questions throughout the year are answered free of charge since our relationship with you is viewed as long-term.

In addition, our fees are purposely kept low since 99% of all taxpayers will not require additional assistance or consultation- we don't charge for services you might not ever need or receive. However, if your particular situation requires extensive consultation including writing correspondence on your behalf, our fee is $90 per hour. A firm quote will be provided upfront.

The strongest reason for using a professional bookkeeping service is- you do what you do best with your time; let us do what we do best with our time. QuickBooks is good but it does not prevent you from entering erroneous or incomplete data. Business owners can quickly waste valuable time trying to make it work correctly.

Also, banks, investors and IRS agents prefer a CPA-prepared set of accounting records.  Remember, these groups review financial records every day, and they can quickly spot accidental inconsistencies and errors.  Let us help you avoid the bookkeeping pitfalls so you can focus on growing your business.

Rates
We offer both bookkeeping and payroll services. Depending on your state, we might kindly ask you to contact a third party payroll provider such as SurePayroll (www.surepayroll.com). Here is a summary of our services and fees-

These fees will cover most situations. However, depending on the number of transactions, accounts and employees, these fees might have to be adjusted.

Reduced Tax Preparation Fees
When we prepare your books throughout the year, our tax preparation fees are reduced to one flat rate fee-

How It Works
With our bookkeeping service, we make all the line item entries in QuickBooks, perform bank reconciliations, provide preliminary financial statements and give business consulting as necessary.

Exchanging Documentation
The Watson CPA Group has been assisting clients since 1997, providing nationwide accounting and tax preparation service from our offices in Colorado Springs. By utilizing a secure Client Portal to exchange your financial information, accounting records, tax documents and tax returns, we can save you valuable time and resources. You can scan, fax or mail your documentation, all in your PJs on a lazy morning!

However, most clients give us direct access to their bank accounts (checking and business credit cards) to make the process seamless. We also upload the QuickBooks data file to our Client Portal for your review. Interestingly, several banks now have 'read-only' account logins specifically designed to give accountants direct access yet provide safety and security for the client.  Having said that, if this type of access makes you uncomfortable we will work with you to find a solution that fits for everyone.

The Watson CPA Group are Colorado Springs accountants, and we can also exchange information and discuss your bookkeeping needs through appointments if you are local to the area.

The ability to maintain our competitive fees relies on receiving soft copies (faxes, scans, emails) or hard copies of your originals.  If you send us original documents, and do not want them returned to you we will maintain them in our office indefinitely.  All mailed documents are scanned and electronically available to you via our client portal.

If you want originals or tax returns sent back to you, we must charge a $25 fee for the costs of copying and mailing. Please understand that until mid-April we do not have any extra resources- we can only return originals in May.

Similar to our kind request for copies, we also encourage the use of our online submit forms to detail your medical expenses, charitable contributions, flight crew expenses, rental property expenses, small business, etc. They are available from our website under Tax Forms. You will find our forms very short and concise, and in general they will help ensure that your tax returns are comprehensive.

Our past experience has shown that errors and misunderstandings come from scribbled notes and the like. While you are telling us about your favorite food, we hear green is your favorite color. So, everyone wins if we can efficiently and accurately process your tax information during the preparation of your tax returns.

Having said that, if you want us to tally or summarize notes and receipts into our forms, we must charge $100 per hour for this preparation.