Every now and then someone will come to the office to see about me doing their taxes. When we get to my price sometimes they complain that they did not pay that much last year. Sadly I can not say what I want to say so I just asked him “then why are you looking for a new tax person?” I tried to explain why I charge what I do. Today I am going to share with you a true story:

A client this past tax season was complaining that our $300 tax preparation fee was too high.  He said “I can get the same thing across the street for $60.”  He stated that his information had not changed, same income and everything. I explained that I was sorry but you get what you pay for and I am a professional and the person across the street is working out of their home. Please feel free to go back to her or find someone else.

I asked did the person across the street ask you any of the questions I have asked you today? He replied “no”. Did they spend any time with you at all trying to figure out additional deductions you could take? Once again the answer was no.

He asked if I really thought I could get him a better refund and I explained that with the questions I just asked you, I know you are going to be getting about $4000 more then you did last year.

Here is how the numbers break down. Last year he paid $60 to have his returns done. He owed $900 in taxes. That is a cost of $960. This year I charged him $300 and got him $5225 back so he received $4,925. I will say that he received a raise this year so he also made more money.

If you would like to know what deductions and credits I was able to help him with take a look at my blog.

Another client asked me to review her returns that she did on Turbo Tax. (Sorry Turbo Tax but this is a true story.) I am not sure how much she paid for the service but I hear it is quite low. Anyway, she had missed the child tax credit and she had one child so that gave her another $1000 off her income. She went from getting almost nothing back to getting around $500 back.

It is not how much you pay it is how much you get to keep.