Charge for CGT calculation

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Quote "This applies whether you are talking about accountants, solicitors, brain surgeons or software engineers" does this ring a bell?

Quote "without knowing the circumstances of the case and the needs/wants of the client, ie if there is one meeting with the client on the issue, ....If the client wants returns or computations to be filed this will also cost extra .... If there are particular difficulties or complexities this will also cost more." The question was "what is a reasonable charge for an accountant to do a CGT calculation?"

Quote "Remember that no two companies or individuals have exactly the same requirements, especially where advisory services are concerned." Just like no two haircuts are the same?

Quote "BTW, in industries where professional scale fees do apply and are publicly advertised (solicitors and hairdressers, to name two) there does not appear to be much benefit to the consumer in the form of lower costs. " This is questionable to say the least, I wouldn't agree with either of these examples.

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"and...?? " this was in response to your question "where did I say that" - remember?

"I thought I have already answered this by pointing out how the amt of a "reasonable charge" may vary between situations." - wooly to say the least Tommy, why don't you provide a straightforward answer as to how long it takes to compute the calculation as per Occassionals posts - then we can work out the hourly rate ourselves?

Professional jibe deleted

Re: ...

HOAS

Please dont ask me to answer questions that I cannot answer. How on earth can I know the particulars of Occasional's case?

Re: ................

Quote "This applies whether you are talking about accountants, solicitors, brain surgeons or software engineers" does this ring a bell?

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and...??

The question was "what is a reasonable charge for an accountant to do a CGT calculation?"

Click to expand...

I thought I have already answered this by pointing out how the amt of a "reasonable charge" may vary between situations.

Quote "BTW, in industries where professional scale fees do apply and are publicly advertised (solicitors and hairdressers, to name two) there does not appear to be much benefit to the consumer in the form of lower costs. " This is questionable to say the least, I wouldn't agree with either of these examples

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Okay, can you then explain how and why the old scale systems of fixed-percentage legal fees have benefitted consumers? Remember conveyancing fees have reduced in recent years because certain discount solicitors have ignored these scale fees and offered their own pricing packages to "cherrypicked" clients. These services are being priced at probably the same level that applied several years ago before property prices went through the roof. However anyone who is paying a fixed-percentage scale fee is probably paying too much. The point is that just because a standard price is stated at the outset (set at the same level or rate to cover both complex and straightforward work) doesn't mean that the consumer is getting value for money.

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This is not the first time I have seen Tommy barraged into giving a fee for a particular job that someone else has charged

He has not charged this fee, he has merely stated that it is in the ballpark of what could be expected

How anyone could go to a professional anything and expect to be charged €50-100 is stupid, especially if forms had to be completed

HOAS, you suggest what hourly rate a qualified accountant should charge for what you believe is fair and then I will show how long it could take to do a CGT calculation, and I will not fudge the answer

Stu

Time?

But there is an initial meeting, 1/2 to 1 hour

To do the comp and make sure that there has been no change by the government, since they seem to want to change their mind every budget on development land (which the land may be) should possibly be around 1/2 to 1 hour
*There may have been a Form 11/12 completed as part of the CGT comp, more info requried
**It may be junior cert maths but get it wrong and you will know about it (Hands up those who got 100% in the Junior Cert)

As with all new clients there is a need to obtain proof of identification, proof of address, copy these and complete a record/form (Anti monet laundering procedure), admin time

For most billing systems there is a need to perform some form of admin function also, admin time

Final meeting, up to one hour, 1/2 to 1 hour

When Revenue assessment comes back to check it to the original return and comp, 1/2 hour

Final contact with client, whether phone call or meeting

You may say that the admin time should be the burden of the accountant and it will for existing or new continous clients
But once off work will have to be billed it fully, they received the time

Therefore that is a minimum of 2 hours partner time or a maximum of 3, plus admin time
At €100 per hour, that is €200-€300 plus $50-$100 before Vat

To be honest I have not seen a practice were you will get partner time at that rate

But as you can see from the above

quickly calculating a CGT liability

and doing it as a profession are very different

Stu

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Rainyday - apologies for the professional jibe, perhaps Tommy might consider a similar gesture for taking the mick at Occassionals alleged niavity.

Oilean, the question was about calculating the CGT liability. It was Tommy who introduced all the other stuff about forms and returns.

To me it seems that Unregistered User seemed to make a good fist of the calculation and that did not appear to be rocket science (or brain surgery as the case may be!).

So to your question, I would say €100 an hour would be quite fair, that's a run rate of 200k per year. So how long would it take to do the math?

HOAS

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I'm not sure what you mean by a "run rate" but the 200k figure per year seems a little misleading to me. If you mean what the accountant earns per year I think it's way off.

If they bill €100 per hour for 39 hours a week for 48 weeks a year that's €187,200 gross. (and I don't think it's true that they manage to bill every hour of every week!) Then they pay a secretary, say €30,000 all in for salary, PRSI, etc. Then they rent and run an office, phones, heat, light, etc etc and pay professional liability insurance. Even running this sort of business on a shoe string, it's not looking like they are making a massive fortune at the end of the year (especially after the tax man takes his share!).

I don't think I'd want to be getting advice from an accountant selling himself for €100 per hour, because if they can't look after their own business, I'm not sure I'd want them looking after mine!