Individual packages and pricing

Your package is based on your situation. Every package starts with a standard return. Then count the items on your return: rentals (including a primary home that was or is a rental), K-1s, states beyond your home state, and brokerage or crypto statements beyond the first per taxpayer. None is Essential, up to two is Elevated, and up to three is Advanced. Any equity compensation or foreign reporting is also Advanced. You do not choose a package. Two clients in the same situation are in the same package at the same price.

Every package starts with a standard return. None of these count as items: W-2, retirement, unemployment and HSA forms; itemized deductions; dependent care and education credits; marketplace health coverage; the sale of a primary home (unless it was or is a rental, in which case it counts as a rental); your home state; and one brokerage or crypto statement per taxpayer. There is no limit on income forms. For example, two W-2s, dependent care and marketplace coverage add up to no items.

The first brokerage or crypto statement per taxpayer is included at every tier and never counts as an item. Each statement beyond the first counts as an item. Crypto and digital asset statements count the same as brokerage statements.

Any foreign reporting puts you in the Advanced package. Foreign reporting includes:

• Foreign bank or financial account reporting (FBAR)
• Form 8938, the statement of specified foreign financial assets
• Foreign tax credits
• Foreign rental properties
• Foreign trusts

Foreign taxes paid that show up on a 1099 from your brokerage account do not count as foreign reporting.

If you are not sure whether something you have counts, ask us. We are happy to help you figure out which package fits.

Each item beyond three is $275 per year, on top of the Advanced package. Extra items are billed on one final invoice, with any other add-ons, after we prepare your return and before we file.

Any Schedule C or Schedule F, however small, moves you to the business packages. See Business packages and pricing. If that does not fit what you need, we are glad to recommend other CPA practices.

If you add a rental, take on a new K-1, or otherwise move into a higher tier, we move you to the package that fits and prorate your remaining payments.

No. Every client works with us through a package, and we are not able to make exceptions. If your situation goes beyond our top package, we can explore customized strategy and advisory solutions. If a package does not fit what you need, we are happy to refer you to another accountant.

Either works. Quarterly adds 10% to the annual price, so paying in full is always the lower total. You save $95 with Essential, $200 with Elevated and $360 with Advanced by paying in full.

You make four payments if you sign by December 31, three if you sign January 1 to April 30, and two if you sign May 1 to July 30. If you sign later in the year, you still pay the full total, so your remaining payments cover the ones you missed. If you end the engagement early, see "What if I decide not to continue with Lay & Company?"

You move to the extension track, and we file your extension automatically. Signing January 1 to April 30 adds a 10% late enrollment fee to the package price. Signing May 1 to July 30 adds 20% (a 10% late enrollment fee and 10% for rush handling). The fee depends on when you sign and pay, not on when your documents arrive, and it applies to the package price only.

We begin once your signed engagement letter is in and your first payment has processed. If you have already sent us documents, we still cannot start until both of those steps are done.

No. We do not file an extension for anyone without a signed engagement letter. If you have not signed by your deadline, please make other arrangements so you do not miss it.

No. Signing and paying secures your package price and your place in the queue. We also need your documents on time. Documents that arrive after the on-time date move your return to the extended timeline.

No. Bookkeeping is not part of any package, including Premier. It is priced and billed on its own. See Bookkeeping packages and pricing.

Reach out to our team and we will review it with you. Before we file, your final invoice covers any add-ons, such as extra items, extra projections or a higher personal return.

We take on prior-year returns through August 15. Catch-up work costs two full package fees, one for the catch-up year and one for the current year.

Amended returns are not included in your package. If we made the error, there is no charge. If we prepared the original return and the amendment is not our error, it is $275 per item amended, with a $275 minimum, separate from what you already paid. If we did not prepare the original return, the package price for that return applies on top of your current package. We can amend a return within three years of the original filing date.

For on-time filing, your documents are due March 15. If you are on extension, they are due August 15. Individual returns are due April 15 and extended to October 15.

Late documents move your return to the extended timeline. We cannot promise on-time filing without complete documents.

Essential does not include one. Elevated includes one and Advanced includes two. We suggest June to August for Elevated, and June to August and November to December for Advanced, but you can use them any time in the calendar year. Unused projections are forfeited at the end of the year and do not roll over. Extra projections are $500 each.

No individual package includes IRS notice support. If a notice results from our own error, we handle it at any tier.

Because packages are paid in installments, your engagement letter provides that the remaining balance of your package is due in full if you end the engagement early. Alternatively, you can finish the package year and continue your remaining payments on the installment schedule.