TRADERS
SERVICES: TAX PREPARATION: COSTS

We are very competitive.

Fees are based on time charges. Click here.
Why we don’t use fixed fees. Click here.
Expenses are minimal. Click here.
Fee quotes – how much can you expect to pay? Click here.
Our retainer payment and engagement letter. Click here.
Invoices – interim and final are payable before delivery. Click here.
Refund policy. Click here.

Fees are based on time charges.
We charge clients based on the actual billable time spent on their jobs. Billable time includes all preparation work, consultations, research, phone calls, e-mails and a review of the tax preparer’s work by another CPA (all work must be reviewed by another CPA in our firm). Consulting time includes time with the client directly as well as between our professionals within the firm.

Other CPA firms will probably charge you for the time spent researching trader tax laws. You save that cost with our firm. We know this for a fact, since many CPA firms buy our trader tax guides and also engage our firm for consultations. With our firm, you can expect to receive excellent tax return results for as little time spent as possible. That’s because our professionals already know the trader tax laws inside and out. Our firm works on tax matters and prepares tax returns for thousands of traders every year all around the country (since 1983), so we already have this process down to a science. You're not paying for any wasted or unnecessary time; all our time is invested in your file to produce the results you need. Our entire focus is excellent results for a fair and low fee.

We assign different standard hourly billing rates to each of our professionals based on their level of experience and value added. You may work with several CPAs and professionals with different hourly billing rates. Our standard hourly billing rates are priced for the national marketplace. We could charge much higher rates for many of our professionals, but we don’t. Our clients expect low pricing and that's what they receive.

Why we don’t use fixed fees.
Every taxpayer is different and one size (price) doesn't fit all when it comes to tax planning and preparation. Some lower-end market firms use fixed fees or pricing based on forms or schedules filled out, but that usually does traders a great disservice.

If you have thousands of complex securities trades, do you really think firms offering a fixed price for a Form 8949 and Schedule D are the way to go? Firms offering these deals usually hire non-CPAs who are insufficiently trained in taxes, let alone trader taxes. You may save a few hundred dollars in preparation fees but don’t be surprised if you receive a bill for thousands from the IRS or an IRS exam. You may also wind up with huge non-deductible trading losses, expenses and penalties. Plus these firms report their preparation fees on Schedule A as miscellaneous itemized deductions, along with most of a trader's expenses. That costs you thousands more in taxes. Most of our traders qualify as business traders and receive full business tax deductions (including our fees) on Schedule C (sole proprietors) or on pass-through entity tax returns like Form 1065 (partnerships) and Form 1120-S (S-corporations).

Almost all credible CPA and attorney professionals charge for their services based on time spent. It's against CPA ethical standards to charge based on tax savings — which is too bad because we would make a fortune since we deliver tax fortunes to many traders. Our time-based fees are the most fair and honest, and we know better than almost every other firm how to legally save every dollar possible for traders — a highly specialized niche market.

We compete against the big-four CPA firms and large national firms, but our fees are far less. Some big firms have hidden minimum fee thresholds of several thousands of dollars. Plus, we think we do a better job because their preparers are often part-timers and not experienced with trader tax law. While individual tax compliance may not be their priority, it is for us.

The bottom line: We are a great deal for most traders. Keep your eye on the big picture: your tax savings, peace of mind, after-tax-cost of our fees, and time, energy and aggravation you save by working with our dedicated professionals.

Expenses are minimal.
The expenses for our trader files are nominal – usually between $50 and $75. They include a tax return software process or license fee. We e-file most tax returns, so we save money on shipping (unless you prefer to paper file; in that case the cost is charged to your account).

Fee Quotes – how much can you expect to pay?

Simple and organized: If you are very organized with your tax records and have a standard trader tax file with proper trade accounting (on one or two trading accounts only), then you can expect our fees to total around $900 to $1,200. Many traders have multiple accounts and more complications, so they can expect to pay $1,100 to $1,400.

Suppose our final invoice is $1,000. Your $625 retainer is applied first, so the balance due would be $375. We remind new clients that the retainer is not the total cost and to expect to pay more.

Many of our long-term clients have lower invoice amounts. After working with us for one tax season, we show clients how to be more organized, which helps lower our annual fees. Our compliance files carryover and we know you better, too.

• Proprietary traders who receive K-1s from a proprietary trading firm usually have easier tax returns to prepare, since we don't need to be concerned with trade accounting — it's all reported on the Form K-1 and handled by the prop trading firm. Therefore, fees tend to run lower for prop traders. We focus on unreimbursed expense deductions, including home office.
  
• Same goes for futures traders who have one line item reporting on Form 1099s for aggregate profit and loss and forex traders with an online summary report. Only securities traders need to report their line-by-line trades on Form 8949. Of course if the futures or forex trader has other complex tax matters it can cost more.

Complex and organized: If you're organized with your tax records but have more complex trader tax files with questions on your trade accounting (for multiple accounts), then you can expect our fees to be around $1,200 to $1,800.

Complex and unorganized: If your tax records aren't organized or you have a more complex trader tax file and need our firm to figure out your trade accounting (for multiple accounts), you can expect our fees to be around $1,500 to $2,500. While our tax preparation fee component is similar to above, we also factor in fees for our TradeLog accounting services.

Certain clients have challenging tax files and they require much more time on our part. They may be high net worth individuals with a large number of tax matters and transactions requiring our attention and planning throughout the year. They may need us to figure out all their trade accounting on several trading and investment accounts. They may use complex entities. They may have IRS notices and follow up exam matters. They may need us to consult with our tax attorneys. They may have complex matters with their retirement plans. They may have complex questions with investment funds, trading treatment, international aspects and compliance, and otherwise. These clients often pay us between $1,000 and $3,000 per year.

U.S. residents abroad: Many U.S. traders have moved outside the U.S. for various reasons. We have an excellent foreign tax compliance team of CPAs and a tax attorney. We focus on foreign earned income exclusions and housing allowances (Section 911 on Form 2555), trading entities for unlocking those additional AGI deductions, foreign entities, FBAR, Form 8938 reporting foreign assets and tax treaties and regulatory issues (like foreign forex brokers). These types of clients generally fall into the complex category and pay the higher range of fees, but it's very worthwhile when you consider the added tax benefits. Foreign tax compliance and trader tax is a highly nuanced area of tax law but we have the goods here. Our tax attorney knows many of the U.S. tax treaties very well. We also have many non-resident alien trader clients, with trading accounts in the U.S. We cover these topics in our Trader Tax Center.

These quotes are based on each individual or entity tax return. If we prepare both an individual and entity return, then the quote will vary, since the trader tax matters may all be included on the entity return. For a simple and very organized client using a pass-through trading entity, our total fees may be as low as $1,500 per year for both entity and individual federal and state tax returns.

If we prepare your children’s tax returns, they usually cost under $300 per return, since most are fairly simple.

You're welcome to e-mail us a description of your tax file and we will give you a custom quote. That process is not always accurate because we find that many traders may understate their needs in the quote process and they need more help when we dig into their files during the preparation process.

Our retainer payment and engagement letter
We require a retainer payment when you sign up for our tax preparation services. Your retainer is a prepayment that we apply against your time-based invoice(s); it's not an extra charge of any kind. Our retainer represents our minimum price.

Before we commence our tax compliance services, we will email you our standard engagement letter. Generally, it's a downloadable file with purchase of our retainers, so please be on the lookout for it. Our engagement letter spells out the scope of our engagement, the work to be done, our retainer, refund and pricing terms and conditions and our limited responsibilities as "tax preparers" (we're not auditing your tax file or providing any level of assurance).

Invoices – interim and final are payable before delivery
Upon the completion of your tax return, we present you with a summary of our results (tax refunds and/or tax payments due) with our final invoice for fees and expenses. We require credit card payment before we deliver your completed tax returns. If we were to deliver work before invoice payment, we might have to chase many clients for payment and incur many costs in this regard. Avoiding these costs and possible bad debts helps us keep our fees lower, and that benefits our clients. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding on this matter.

When appropriate, we send clients interim invoices before our final work is complete; usually when their unbilled time materially exceeds their retainers. For bigger jobs, we ask clients to purchase additional retainer amounts. So, expect interim invoices as our work progresses if your total fees are running higher. Interim invoices are due on receipt and your work may be put on hold until payment is made. Again, we appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

Refund policy
The engagement letter also specifies our refund policy, terms and conditions. If you ask us to stop working on your file, you're responsible to pay for all our time and expenses incurred until the termination date. You're required to pay any charges in excess of your retainer. If the charges are less than your retainer, we will refund your unused retainer portion.

If you have any questions, please contact us at info@greencompany.com or call us.

Ready to sign up?

Thank you for placing your trust in us,
Robert A. Green, CPA and Managing Member of Green NFH, LLC
Darren L. Neuschwander, CPA and Managing Member of Green NFH, LLC