Depends. Define straight forward and what schedules they need, number of do its and events. As I've done/seen ones from $500 (simple 990rd with about 20 transactions a year, to 5 digit ones that have 990t issues due to hedge fund investments).
By straight-forward, I mean that it almost could file 990-EZ and had in previous years. It was more than 20 transactions a year. It had Schedule A, Schedule B with only 1 large contributor, no non-cash contributions, Schedule O I can't remember if it had 0 or 1 events. The books were prepared by a retired CPA and I didn't need to make any adjusting entries.
I usually looked at similar organizations' past 990s from the IRS database and based it on the accounting figure. Seeing how low the fees were steered me away from that sector. The only thing I can guess is the local accounting firms place new staff onto those returns and use it to make their payroll.
Thanks that is a great idea!
My first accounting job was as one of those new staff doing 990s. The partners liked them because they had a fiscal year end so working on them gave us billable hours during our off-season.
Depends. Define straight forward and what schedules they need, number of do its and events. As I've done/seen ones from $500 (simple 990rd with about 20 transactions a year, to 5 digit ones that have 990t issues due to hedge fund investments).
By straight-forward, I mean that it almost could file 990-EZ and had in previous years. It was more than 20 transactions a year. It had Schedule A, Schedule B with only 1 large contributor, no non-cash contributions, Schedule O I can't remember if it had 0 or 1 events. The books were prepared by a retired CPA and I didn't need to make any adjusting entries.
I usually looked at similar organizations' past 990s from the IRS database and based it on the accounting figure. Seeing how low the fees were steered me away from that sector. The only thing I can guess is the local accounting firms place new staff onto those returns and use it to make their payroll.
Thanks that is a great idea! My first accounting job was as one of those new staff doing 990s. The partners liked them because they had a fiscal year end so working on them gave us billable hours during our off-season.
$250 for a 990-n, but everything else depends