Tax Guru – Ker$tetter Letter

Not the Cheapest

For my entire 26+ year career in the tax business, H&R Block has always been considered the bargain basement low end provider of tax prep services; always with the proviso that you get what you pay for. They cater to a very different clientele than I have and I have never considered them to be competition, especially in regard to the fees. I have always charged based on time and not on a per schedule basis as Block does.

The other day, I clicked on one of their ad banners to see how their new online prep service functions. Before you start giving them actual data, they provide you with a rough idea of what the fee will be. You click on the types of forms you will have. At $29.95 each, with just a few basic forms, I was up to almost a $600 projected fee in no time. Considering that the software automatically prepares the forms with very little effort for most of them, this is quite a racket. Since the average return I prepare costs costs around $500, I’m not sure how to take this, being less expensive than H&R Block. It’s a little embarrassing and may require a review of my fee structure before next year’s tax season.

KMK