Starting at $400 (and Why Some Quotes Aren’t)
Updated: 16 hours ago
We’ve been getting more questions about our pricing model lately, especially from our financial advisor partners, so I’m going to do something some might call crazy… talk about our current pricing transparently! I say current pricing not because we have future plans to skyrocket the price, but because, like every other business, things change.
Claire and I have the same intentions today as when we started Vivify in 2023. We want to provide accessible, judgment-free tax prep for the everyday taxpayer. We want to be a safe landing spot for the taxpayers the large firms are turning away, but still provide the professional experience, reliability, and expertise that can’t be found at the big-box tax prep chains. We also want to be compensated for our time and efforts, fairly pay our workers, keep up with the ever-changing tax laws, invest in ourselves, our technology, and our processes, and have a sustainable business.
Our Tax Prep Pricing Starts at $400
We started our firm in 2023 and advertised all returns would be prepared for $399. When we imagined the clients that would come to us, we felt good with this number. While prices for everything under the sun have increased since 2023, our base price has increased by only $1, and only because we felt the “99” at the end made us sound like we were selling something cheap... and we do NOT view ourselves as a cheap option. We offer incredible value. So $400 is still what we promote as our starting fee, and there are absolutely clients in that bucket.
Why Some Tax Prep Quotes Are Higher
Our client profile is strict (you already know that). However, we found a lot of prospects coming to us who did technically fit into our niche, but had a lot more going on than what we envisioned at the $400 price point. So why are some of your clients now getting a higher quote? Let Me Count The Ways…
Someone with multiple brokerage accounts requires more tax prep time than someone with a single 1099-INT from their high-yield savings account.
Taxpayers performing backdoor Roth conversions have extra reporting requirements on their tax return. Due to the complexity and logistics of the transactions, our team has to spend extra time confirming it all gets reported appropriately. Moreover, we frequently find prior-year reporting errors we need to discuss and potentially fix. Incorrectly reporting backdoor Roth conversions has easily become the #1 reason we are helping clients amend previous returns.
A client’s income may all come from a W-2, but if it includes equity compensation, there are additional tax implications. Our team must check to make sure the return isn’t overstating income. Additionally, many taxpayers need extra communication on the how/why/what of taxing equity compensation.
Sometimes a year is extra crazy. When people move, change jobs, retire, end up with double the number of accounts after transitioning advisors, accidentally over-contribute to a retirement account, or face any of the other endless possibilities, we take the time, attention, and care to make sure nothing is missed. Those one-off items can have big impacts if not reviewed closely and reported correctly, and our team does that.
As fellow service providers can attest, some clients are just better at following a defined process and responding promptly to requests, and they’re more comfortable with the technology we use. The clients who don’t fit that profile may still be great people, but if we are spending more time on their engagements, we simply have to charge them more to compensate for our additional work.
In short, a higher quote reflects more time and care, not a change in who we are or who we serve.
Why We Share Our Pricing Openly
We understand there are people who see no value in paying for a tax professional when they can do it themselves. Or people who don’t understand why their “simple” situation should ever merit a price higher than what one CPA quoted them ten years ago. And let us be clear - we are not here trying to convince those people to work with us. But we also understand taxes and money are personal, emotional, and not always an area of comfort for people. Hence our push for transparent pricing. We simply want to be helpful to anyone interested, and to support financial advisors like you who are curious about our pricing, so you know what your clients can expect.
Living out one of our core values, Always Evolving, we added a calculator to our website to provide more transparency behind our pricing. It is not a final quote, and, as much as it pains me to admit, it’s not perfect. But it is WAY better than our website only saying “pricing starts at $400!”
Since I mentioned one core value, I’ll mention another: Open Hearts, Open Ears. We listen to clients, prospects, and our financial advisor partners because it matters to us. Your questions and feedback help us understand those we are trying to serve more deeply, and they’re exactly how the website calculator and this post came to be!
So please keep the questions and feedback coming, and know that we’re always listening (and evolving).
