The new tax laws are bringing many changes, and my job here isn’t going to get any easier! Things are going to shift a bit and we are adjusting our pricing to ensure it reflects the work we do for you.
The biggest change is the “doubling” of the standard deduction. Many people who used to itemize (also known as having a Schedule A or “long form”) will now get the standard deduction. I still want you to bring your mortgage interest statements, charitable deductions, etc. so we can make sure we are capturing everything. If you do move from itemizing to the standard deduction, you can expect your tax prep bill to go down a little.
Another big change is the loss of the 2106, or employee expense deduction. It is just plain gone, and to tell the truth, it was kind of a pain. So if you had a 2106, your fee will decrease.
I review due diligence in another post, because once again my due diligence requirements are increasing. We are now required to ask more questions and get more information for anyone who is filing under a Head of Household status. I am hoping this change will not result in additional time to prepare the return and therefore no pricing change (there is currently no charge for any due diligence).
If you have a small business you will probably see an increase in your bill from me. This is due to the Qualified Business Investors deduction. This deduction is both simple and ridiculously complicated and while the software should be able to do the heavy lifting, I will still need to carefully review every business.
And finally, despite the promises of “filing your return on a postcard,” the new tax forms are really paper intensive. In my conferences the speakers were advising firms to double their paper orders for the season. We’ve been toying with the idea of a “Green Discount” for a while now, so this is the year to do it! I haven’t decided how much to do, but if you want your return to be 100% digital (which also means you can skip the second trip to my office), we will send your tax return to you through our online portal and give you a discount!