This is such an interesting and time consuming add on to tax season. Many clients, I didn’t expect have bare trust requirements.
What are you charging to prepare Bare trust returns and S 15
thank you
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Totalling between $150 to $250 for trust setup and the first year T3 and S15 filing for the trust, depending on complexity. Future years would be $25 to $50 (if no changes) or $50 to $100 if there’s changes, again depending on complexity of the filings 
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wow that seems low?
i did research fees and see firms charging minimum $1000
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That would seem more reasonable $750 - $1000. Even non-CPA’s would charge more than the low fees quoted.
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For $25 to $50 per return, let me know where you are and I’ll have you do all mine.
You’re not doing yourself (or your competition) any favour by charging such a low fee. There is a fair amount of work involved in doing the background and prep work every year. I’m not sure what the fee will be for these yet as I really have to go through the exercise first but I’d start around $500 for simple ones.
There is a lot of hand-holding when doing T3’s; even if you’ve done them in prior years.
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i agree explanation and hand-holding is quite a bit of time.
To purchase the T3 program in TaxCycle is $495; someone has to pay for that. I have already spent close to a day with a client looking at setting up a trust - I will have to charge for that regardless if she goes with a trust or not, but I am thinking I will need to spend the $495 and seek to recover that from any T3 clients. The financial advisor told our mutual client that his CPA friend told him the charge would be $1,500 - I suggested I would be considerably less but still significantly more than for her T1.
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We filed 5 of them for one client today. No way we are going to charge her 5k for that and still keep clients willing to file lol. We have thousands of returns we file, we aren’t worried about money as we aren’t accepting new clients.
CPA is definitely going to be charging more than someone without a designation. That pricing doesn’t surprise me much.
These are only for current clients, not people walking in off the street so we have most of the info already since we do generations of filers as they age in and out of taxes. Hope that helps.
Now I’m curious what everyone charges as a base prices across T1, T2, and T3, T2062 etc.
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You can search that in the forum. I know it’s been discussed here before.
I expect to charge everyone a small amount to determine if they have a trust or not, and then tell them to file their own of they can.
For those who need help there are three services:
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Support with (not advice on!) writing the trust document. May be referred to a lawyer if complicated.
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Application for the trust number.
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Preparation of the T3/S15 (potentially for 1 year only, or ongoing).
Each will need to be priced separately.
I have one client where I’m already hours into supporting the lawyer getting the trust document written, so that invoice will be in the thousands all by itself.
For the T3APP and T3 itself, we could look to what was charged last year for UHT returns. Baker Tilly charged $750, and I think nationally the spread was $400 to over a thousand.
Wow looks most are divided on this. I would charge $750 to $1000 for a trust return that has income. But a Bare trust return is just the s15…no income, no assets. If a trust document already exists (ie a purchase and sale agreement of property), all I have to do is fill out the SIN name and address of the applicable parties on the s15. There is a bit of work the first year but in future it’s just a roll forward. I am thinking $350 for first year and $100 going forward but I would have to paper file as that won’t cover the cost of the T3 software.
Our expected pricing will be close to @Versa’s. We already pay for the T3 module because we do a few testamentary trusts every year.
I appreciate this discussion. I currently do no have the T3 module and have yet to have 5 returns to file (max paper filed). Once I get to 5, I will be purchasing a subscription. The annual fees after first year will obviously need to cover the cost of the module.
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I’ve always had the T3 Module. I figure my time is too valuable to be messing around with preparing and mailing paper returns, the ability to c/f is also valuable. I do between 3 and 8 T3’s each year. It’s a service to my clients, I’ve been charging $350 but have upped my price to $500 this year.
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I agree with @gaywise. The cost of the T3 program is easily recouped just in terms of the ease of preparation, carryforward, and not having to do calculations in the PDF fillable forms. Plus, based on the new rules, the trend is doing MORE T3’s, not fewer.
Interesting article today from the Globe says that HR block will be doing T3 returns for $150!
That’s just as bogus as their advertising for T1 prep at $49. I had a client just today complaining about that. He went to HR Block last year because of that ad, and when they had finished, they gave him a bill of $170 (he had only a few slips; very basic; no complications). He said, “What? You advertise $49 right there in the window!” They told him to look at the fine print - that $49 is just for doing an “assessment”.
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I also though that was bogus, I’m guessing that’s for a trust that already has the Trust number in place. Getting the trust set up with a trust document and number is what will cause the major headaches.