"How Much Do You Charge to Do Taxes?"

We believe that we have most affordable prices on tax preparation in the entire industry.

Yes indeed, our Pronto Clients regularly and consistently save $50-$200 on tax preparation, every single year.

We don't just beat the competition's prices, we CRUSH the competition's prices, every single year.

Oh and remember, too, that just because we're relatively cheap doesn't mean we don't have a great staff of experienced tax preparers because we do have an awesome team of tax preparers to handle all your tax prep & consulting needs.

How Pronto Income Tax Prices Are Calculated

Some tax returns are very simple to prepare, some are very complex. Some take 10 minutes, some take 10 hours. Some can be done by a first year tax preparer who has only gone through basic training, some must be done by an experienced tax professional who has studied taxes for many years.

In order to give you an exact price quote, we need to see your paperwork and find out what kind of tax preparation service you need.

That being said, we are happy on this page to give you an idea of what you can expect to pay for tax preparation at Pronto Income Tax.

Best believe that we WILL provide VALUE or else we would not be in business this long and be TRUSTED all over Los Angeles for 48 years, now would we?

Getting to the point of what you can expect to pay:

Our price for a basic "short form" is $80; this would be a 1040 tax return that uses the standard deduction with maybe one or two other small things such as student loan interest or an IRA deduction. To get this price, it does not necessarily have to be a 1040EZ, it just would be a simple and straightforward 1040 tax return that a Pronto preparer can do in 15-20 minutes.

Our price for a basic "long form" with Itemized Deductions on Schedule A, for example if you are a homeowner and use your mortage interest as a deduction, is $140. According to a study by the National Society of Accountants, the average fee for a tax return using Schedule A, Itemized Deductions was $229 last tax season--so as you can see, we are ready to beat the competition's prices by almost $100 every single Schedule A tax return that we prepare.

If you are a business owner or have rental property, stock trades, property sales, or other "expert level" tax preparation, you are looking at a price more in the neighborhood of $175 and up. A simple Schedule C is $80, so if you have standard deduction and a simple Schedule C, it would be around $140 ($80 plus $60 for Schedule C). A more complex tax return you're looking from $250 - $500 typically, if you have some real stuff going on.

Also please note that all of our quoted always include both federal and state tax return preparation, electronic filing, and direct deposit of your tax refunds directly to your bank account.

In this economy, we know that every single dollar counts and that's why we work so hard to keep our prices for tax preparation the most affordable in the industry bar none and that's why we take joy in consistently and mercilessly beating the competition's prices by $50-$200 per tax return.

In addition, please also note  that we are open all year in case you have any questions or problems, and we often charge very little or nothing for our off-season help to existing tax clients, so keep that in mind when you are comparing prices and ask yourself if "the other place" is going to give you that!

Additional Forms Incur Additional Fees

If you have additional forms that need to be filled out, we charge additional fees based on those forms.

Common forms and prices for tax year 2012 include:

• Earned Income Credit: $25
  
• Additional Child Tax Credit: $15
• Schedule C (Business Income): $60
• Schedule D (Capital Gains and Losses): $40
  
• Education Credit: $25
• Child Care Credit: $25
• Amended Return: $60
  

If you want to calculate your price ahead of time and you have one or more of these forms, simply add the form prices onto the regular short form or long form price quoted above.

We do reserve the right to charge more for these forms if they are particularly complex, but in most cases, the standard form charges are what we charge.

Once again, we would encourage you to shop around and CALL US LAST, because we can assure you that these prices are among the lowest in the tax preparation business and that is a fact that is well-known.

Although you may see a lot of talk about "free tax preparation," we can assure you that the vast majority of this talk is complete hot air. Usually they trick you just to get you in the door, then they charge you a lot more than free, believe it. Here at Pronto, we do not participate in these kind of gimmicks, we just give the best prices year after year.

We doubt you will not find someone doing taxes for "free" who is willing to stand behind their work all year round like we do at Pronto.

Discounts Available?

Generally speaking, we cannot give discounts because our prices are already so severely discounted relative to the competition. However, our tax preparers are authorized to give OCCASIONAL discounts based on client needs.

For example, we have been giving some discounts to military families to thank them for their service, also to clients suffering from long-term unemployment, also to senior citizens who are on a fixed income, also for a long-time client who has had a "bad year," and last but not least for those starving students out there.

We know that these are difficult economic times and we want to do everything we can to fit into your budget. We do not believe that people should have to pay hundreds of dollars just to do their taxes if at all possible, it just has never seemed right to our owner Kent Frye to charge the kinds of prices that other tax places charge.

At the same time, we hope you understand that we wouldn't be doing any clients any favors if we are giving out too many discounts when our prices are already so discounted relative to the competition. Our tax preparers work on commission and need to make a living, so please don't ask for discounts, it just makes things uncomfortable and we wouldn't want to insult you by giving you a discount when we are ALREADY giving you the best deal in town guaranteed.

Instead, give yourself a discount by referring a friend to Pronto and being paid $20 for every new client you send us!

Our Prices Are Matched to the Local Areas that We Serve

One other thing to know is that, as part of our dedication to become "Your Neighborhood Tax Pros," our pricing strategy may, in some cases, be adjusted from office to office due to local neighborhood conditions.

In other words, we try to fit our prices into the lives of the people that we serve and the competition that we face in the local marketplace.

Time Is Money and So Is Expertise

We spend all year preparing for tax season, building up the knowledge required to provide you with extraordinary service at tax time.

This is why we ALWAYS reserve the right to charge for our time if your tax situation requires more time or expertise than our standard fees indicate. If you call our office and we say that it costs $40 for a Schedule D form, and then you show up with 100 stock trades that we have to itemize every single one of them on Schedule D, you can expect that you will pay more than somene who has a Schedule D form with only one or two stock trades.

Likewise, if you have a complex Schedule C business form that takes more than one hour to complete and requires extensive expertise and advice, you can expect to pay more than the standard Schedule C fee.

We do not abuse this privilege, but we do ALWAYS reserve the right to charge more based on additional time and/or expertise.

Moreover, our senior tax preparers may choose to charge more than our junior tax preparers, due to their increased experience and expertise. Expertise, after all, is a form of time because it takes much study and experience before a tax preparer can become a true expert.

Affordable Price Tax Prep Is Great, But Service Is What Really Matters

As you can hopefully see by now, we definitely want to give you more than you pay for when you pay for Pronto tax preparation.

However, ultimately we are not looking to compete and earn your business through price. We are looking to compete and earn your business on service.

Yes, getting a good price on tax preparation is great service: personal service, expert tax preparers who study all year to do this job, and all that good stuff--our expertise will increase your refund and/or decrease your tax liability plus we make it easy for you, so the service is really much more important than the price, wouldn't you say?

How Can You Get a Lower Price on Pronto Tax Preparation

Last but not least, we want you to meet the most important person in keeping Pronto prices for tax preparation so notoriously affordable:

YOU.

You can help keep your fee as budget-friendly as possible by being organized when you come to do your taxes and, more importantly, by REFERRING FRIENDS AND FAMILY. We are a "volume business," meaning that the more clients we have, the less we can charge each client--that's our story and we're sticking to it!

Help keep Pronto fees low by telling a friend about the affordable tax preparation fees and more importantly the dependable service at Pronto Income Tax!

Since we are now paying you $20 for every new client that you refer to us, you can give yourself a $40 discount just by telling two friends to go to Pronto, try it today and find out.