Planning my services for the 2025 tax season
Hi Friendos,
I cannot predict when the federal government shutdown will end, but I can say that you still are required to file your tax return on time! If you got an automatic extension on your 2024 tax return, the October 15th deadline is almost here.
I am doing a little planning for the 2025 tax season. I am not increasing my prices – I will still charge a flat rate of $450 to prepare a return for you, or $375 for a session where I teach you how to self-prepare.
If you are looking for a new tax preparer and are interested in working together, please do send me an indication of your interest. This will help my planning quite a bit, as I will again limit the number of clients I take on. Unfortunately, this year I will still not be able to help file state tax returns for California, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, Ohio, or Oregon due to regulatory requirements in those states that I am not currently prepared to tackle. This coming season I will continue to focus on clients with relatively simple tax returns.
Similarly, if you think next spring will be a great time for you to learn how to do your own taxes, please let me know! This is where we meet over Zoom and I virtually watch over your shoulder as you prepare your return, discussing all your questions along the way. It’s the perfect approach for someone who is generally comfortable navigating software, wants to use a DIY approach for their taxes, but perhaps has never done their own taxes before or is dealing with a new tax situation and would like some guidance.
Lastly, I am considering a new product offering of tax return review for a flat rate of $150. This would be for clients who are comfortable self-preparing their returns and navigating the tax software, but would like someone experienced to review their tax documents and returns and provide feedback such as:
- You told me you got a small refund last year, and wondered why you owe a lot this year. This year, you owe on federal taxes because (1) you had some investment income (dividends received) where no taxes were withheld, and (2) last year you made larger estimated quarterly tax payments than you made this year.
- I noticed that you are using an HSA account, would you like to learn how to use this as a retirement account in disguise?
- I see that you withdrew money from a Roth IRA, but this is showing up as taxable income on your tax return. If this a withdrawal of your original contribution, that is not taxable and you should make the following adjustments to your tax return…
Please give me a shout if something like that might be of interest to you. It would help me out a lot as I plan out my time for the coming months!
-Stephanie
Frequently Taxed Questions 