CPA Did my taxes today.?

She charged me $120 for my tax preparation. I never hired someone to do my taxes before, but It seems like $120 is alot (compared online $60+)... Did she just rip me off or what... Also, I only made $12k last year on my part time job, and $1k on my contracting business. I'm single, and I don't own anything else.. Why would she charge me $120? I live in San Diego, CA. My parents go to her for taxes and stuff, so I figured, she'd hook it up... =P

Public Comments

CPA's in my area (connecticut) charge anywhere from 150 - 400 depending on the complexity of your return. You had a schedule C (profit or loss from business) on top of a 1040. You got a deal. Commerical tax preparers (HR Block for example) would have charged you more. If you think you can do it online you could have gone to www.irs.gov and clicked the free efile link. People with incomes under 54000 get to file for free.
That may be her rate and so be it if you paid it. Turbo tax dude...$20.00
CPA's will always charge more. Its not so bad. But you should have asked what they charge in advance if you feel you have been ripped off. You should always ask in advance what people charge for their services so you can compare if you choose to.
She may have been an enrolled agent. Enrolled Agents are professional tax practitioners who have technical expertise in the field of taxation and are licensed to represent taxpayers at all administrative levels before the Internal Revenue Service. Moreover, Enrolled Agents are the only tax professionals who are required by the IRS to maintain their expertise through continuing professional education. That means it was too hard for CPA's and tax attorneys. They lobbied. It's no longer required for them! Whether you're talking about the run of the mill CPA's who do not specialize in income taxes, or H&R ripoff, jackson-dimwit, they often charge by the number of forms they have to fill out. Block is charging between 110-150, depending where you go. Of course, we are talking about a simple situation like yours was. EA's frequently look at your situation and tell you what it will cost for their expertise. There's a lot of riff raff coming out now telling the public to bring their last W-2 and they can do their taxes. That's nonsense. No confirmation with the W-2 when it comes; no questions; no digging and digging for deductions; no tax planning; no asking what receipts you have; did you start a business; do you own any real estate: did you go to school; have a child; how old are your children: get a divorce; get a new job; sell stock; buy a house; donate to charity; join a partnership; did you receive any 1099's; no telling you what you need to do to lower your tax bite in subsequent years; and, to make it infinitely worse, pressure on you to get a refund anticipation loan {RAL}. The usury is frequently over 100% if you take in consideration the fees and annualize the interest. Now, there's this "emerald" stuff. It's as bad as universal life. The insurance companies waxed worse and worse with whole life. In '79, they came out with this thing that they called universal life. It was even worse. Now H&ripoff had refund anticipation loans and now they've gotten worse with these "emerald advance lines". They are giving the early anticipation loans now on a debit card. If your taxes were done by an enrolled agent, it was worth it. I'm teaching now, but I did taxes until a year ago {some are still asking me to do}. A couple years ago, I charged $120 for simple situations, unless it could be done on a 1040A or 1040EZ. If you can't do your taxes by yourself, or are not completely comfortable, 120 is well worth it so long as she goes with you for no additional fee if you get audited. That's what I explained to my clients, because some groaned at my fee. If she wasn't an EA, get on the naea.org site, type in your town, zip, or State you reside and find one you can go to. That is, until you can do the taxes yourself.
She did hook you up, it sounds to me like she didn't charge you anything extra for that self-employed contracting work, as the extra form or forms involved there would have cost you more out in town about anywhere to get it done. and yes you could have done it yourself either by paper for the cost of some stamps or do it yourself software for somewhat cheaper. But you didn't do it yourself.
I don't think that you were overcharged. However, I believe that you did pay too much. Your taxes do not seem to be that complicated. It would have been easier to do them yourself. I'm betting that she completed your taxes in about 30 minutes.
That actually sounds very reasonable. With a schedule C or C-EZ, it would most likely have cost you more, for less expertise, at someplace like H&R Block.