How Much Does a CPA Cost?

"How much does a CPA cost" is really two questions: what does it cost to get your return filed, and what does it cost to stop overpaying tax. The first is a compliance expense, comparable across firms, driven mostly by how many forms your life generates. The second is an engagement with a return on investment, and comparing it on price alone is how high earners end up with a cheap preparer and an expensive tax bill.

Across the market, a simple individual return with a W-2 and the standard deduction runs $400 to $700. Add a rental property or self-employment income and the range moves to $700 to $2,000. Business returns for an S corporation or partnership run $1,500 to $5,000 or more, and a full tax planning engagement, the kind that changes what you owe rather than just reports it, runs $5,000 to $25,000 or more depending on the strategies involved.

If your situation involves rental real estate, equity compensation, or 1099 income in multiple states, expect the upper half of each range. Those returns carry more forms, more elections, and more ways for a generalist to leave money on the table. If your need is specifically outsourced monthly accounting rather than tax preparation, our bookkeeping cost calculator breaks that price down by business size and complexity.

• Complexity you can't avoid: each additional state, entity, rental property, or K-1 adds forms and professional judgment. This is the honest core of the fee.
• Record quality you can control: clean books through the year cost meaningfully less at filing time than a March cleanup project. Firms price shoeboxes accordingly.
• Service model: a once-a-year filer and a year-round advisor are different products at different prices. Paying filer prices and expecting advisor outcomes is the most common mismatch we see.
• Timing: organized records in January beat a drop-off in April, both for the fee and for the quality of the work.

Preparation reports what already happened; the fee buys accuracy and compliance, and the cheapest accurate option is a reasonable choice. Planning changes what happens next: entity elections made before year-end, retirement plans designed around your income, depreciation strategies timed to acquisitions. Those decisions are worth real dollars, which is why planning is priced as an engagement rather than a form fee.

Not sure which category you actually need? Our guide to what a tax strategist does breaks down the difference between filing, advising, and planning in detail, including what a strategist engagement typically costs.

Software is fine for a single W-2 and a standard deduction. The economics flip when any of these show up:

• Self-employment or 1099 income above roughly $75,000 (entity election territory)
• Rental property, especially short-term rentals, where classification decides whether losses offset your W-2 income
• Equity compensation (RSUs, ISOs) or a liquidity event
• Income in more than one state
• A year with a major event: business sale, home sale converted to rental, large capital gain

Once you are in that territory, put every quote through the same four questions before comparing numbers:

• Flat fee or hourly? Ask for a defined scope and a flat fee before work begins. An unscoped hourly engagement is where estimates quietly become invoices twice the size.
• Who actually does the work? A CPA, an EA, or a preparer under review by one? Credentials change what the person is legally allowed to advise on and represent you for.
• What did they proactively recommend last year? The one-question test above. A real answer names elections and strategies, not deadlines.
• Is bookkeeping included or coordinated? Tax positions are only as defensible as the records behind them. A provider who also handles or reviews your books catches problems in real time instead of in April.

We quote flat fees before work begins. As reference points: individual tax preparation engagements typically start in the $1,200 to $2,000 range, preparation combined with a proactive strategy engagement typically runs $5,000 to $12,000 in the first year, and monthly accounting typically starts around $900 to $2,500 per month. Complex, multi-entity, multi-state situations price higher, and we tell you the number on the front end, not on the invoice.

We serve approximately 1,500 clients nationwide, fully remote, with a CPA-led team that specializes in high-income earners, real estate investors, physicians, and business owners. The consultation is free, and it ends with a number, not a range.

Want a business-side breakdown instead? Our bookkeeping cost calculator prices monthly accounting by size and complexity, and our accounting needs assessment gives a nine-question read on whether you need a bookkeeper, a tax planner, or a fractional CFO.

At the higher end of that range, the question shifts from what the fee is to what a high net worth tax advisor should do for the fee, and our guide covers what that level of engagement should actually include.