Service pricing calculator: build a quote from your costs
Enter your own time, job costs, quote-based fees, and target margin. The result is a cost-based quote for the scope you entered.
Tax preparation pricing calculator
How much to charge for tax preparation?
Estimate actual document complexity and missing-information follow-up, rather than charging by form count alone.
One return with five forms, document organization, and client communication.
- Editable example assumptions
- Cost-based, not a market rate
- Before tax
Your assumptions
Editable example inputs. Replace them with your own numbers.
Work and time
Forms prepared
Document organization
Client communication
Owner delivery time: 10.00 h
Job costs
Software allocation
Goal, fees, and billing
Your quote result
Based on the assumptions you entered, before tax.
Exact minimum target price$485.72
Suggested rounded quote$490
Operating profit at suggested quote$150
Based on your inputs, not a market rate or after-tax take-home pay.
Cost breakdown
- Owner labor
- $275
- Other labor
- $0
- Direct job costs
- $35
- Travel, equipment, overhead & other fixed costs
- $30
- Total fixed cost
- $340
Show calculation and assumptions
(10.00 delivery + 1 other hours) × $25/h + $0 other labor + $35 direct costs + $30 other fixed costs = $340. $340 ÷ (1 − 0% fees − 30% margin) = $485.72 after rounding up to the cent.
Cost coverage: $340 ÷ (1 − 0% fees) = $340.
Owner pay is included as labor cost. Quote-based percentage fees are subtracted in the denominator.
Suggested equivalent: $490.00 per return across 1 return. Total quote comes first.
Review your assumptions
Compare your own scenarios
Enter and confirm your low and high total owner hours and material costs. These are planning assumptions, not market ranges.
Low scope
Add both values to compare.
Expected: current inputs
$485.72 exact · $490 suggested
High scope
Add both values to compare.
$
Enter a positive quote to see its profit and margin.
How to scope this tax preparation quote
Start with the actual deliverable and billing unit: 1 return in the editable example. If the customer’s scope differs, change task quantities, hours per item, and billable unit count before relying on the result.
Costs to check
- Forms prepared: estimate the quantity and the time each one takes.
- Document organization: estimate the quantity and the time each one takes.
- Client communication: estimate the quantity and the time each one takes.
- Software allocation: enter the amount you expect to pay for this job.
- Include your owner pay, travel, equipment use, overhead, and any helper or subcontractor costs that actually apply.
Worked example
Illustrative inputs, not observed local prices.
10.00 delivery hours + 1 other hours at $25/hour = $275 owner labor. $35 direct job costs, plus $30 other fixed costs, gives $340 fixed cost.
With a 30% target margin and 0% quote-based fees: $340 ÷ 0.70 = $485.72 exact minimum target price.
Where this estimate can change
Pricing math only. Paid federal tax return preparers generally need a current PTIN; verify the IRS rules and any other requirements before offering the service.
The result covers only entered costs and the owner pay target. It is a before-tax operating estimate; it does not establish a local market rate or legal requirements.
Before quoting
Confirm the scope
What documents and forms are in scope, and how much organization and client follow-up is expected?
When work changes
Revise the estimate
Missing documents or added complexity can change preparation and communication time. This page only models your fee.
Billing unit
Price the full task first
The example covers 1 return. Divide the full quote by this count only when it matches what the customer will actually buy.
Source and method
This page uses the QuoteForProfit cost-based formula and explicitly labeled, editable example assumptions. It does not use an external market price table. Method updated 2026-11-06.
A paid preparer of all or substantially all of a federal return generally needs a PTIN. This page does not determine your qualifications or obligations. IRS: paid preparer PTIN FAQ.
Related guides
Job quote calculator: estimate one scoped project
Build one project quote from tasks, helpers, and direct costs. Use a written scope so the quote can be revised when a task changes.
How to quote a job when hours are uncertain
Use separate, explicit scope scenarios when the time required is uncertain. Treat them as your planning assumptions.
Margin vs markup for service pricing
Margin measures profit as a share of the selling price. Markup measures profit as a share of cost.
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