No fees for the common return types
A simple return, a return with a schedule for self-employment, a return with rental income. These are priceable and publishing them is how you stop competing with the free filing software on nothing but price.
Websites for tax preparation companies
A deadline,and a document list.
Custom websites for tax preparation businesses, built for a season where every enquiry arrives inside eight weeks.
Hale & Roth is a KustomSite design concept for the boutique law firm category. It is not a client project and the business is fictional.
The moment they land
The deadline is close, or a notice has arrived, or their situation changed last year — a house, a side business, shares, a move between states. They want to know whether you handle their kind of return, what it costs, and exactly what to bring.
What costs you jobs
4 things a template gets wrong here.
No document checklist
It is the single most useful page a tax site can have, it gets bookmarked and shared, and it makes the appointment shorter and more accurate for both sides.
Return types not separated
Self-employed, rental income, multi-state, expat, small business, first-year filers. Each is its own search and its own anxiety.
Nothing for somebody with a notice
Somebody holding a letter needs a different path and a stated response time. It is also the highest-value work of the year.
What gets built instead
Mechanics, not features.
Fees by return type
With what adds to them, and whether a review of a prior year is included. It is the answer to "why not use the software".
A document checklist, per situation
Printable, bookmarkable, and specific to the return type. The most linked-to page in the category.
A page per return situation
Written in the language of the change that happened — sold a house, started a side business, moved states.
A separate notice and audit path
With a stated response time, because the person holding a letter cannot wait behind the seasonal queue.
Fair questions
The reasons not to.
“Everyone comes back every year anyway”
Existing clients return; growth comes from the person whose situation changed and who is searching for the first time. They choose on fees, on the checklist, and on whether their situation is named.
“Fees vary by complexity”
By return type with the drivers named is enough, and it is the only way to argue against free software on something other than price.
Asked often
Before you ask.
What single page should we add?
A document checklist, specific per return type and printable. It is the most bookmarked and shared page in this category, and it makes every appointment shorter and more accurate.
Should fees be published?
By return type with what adds to them. It is also the clearest way to answer "why not just use the software", which is the real competitor for a simple return.
Do we need a separate path for notices?
Yes, with a stated response time. Somebody holding a letter cannot queue behind seasonal returns, and that work is usually the most valuable of the year.
Start it.
4 parts, and the trade is already answered when you arrive from here. Nothing is charged and nothing starts until you say so.
Build a brief for tax preparation company