--- title: "How much a CPA costs for a small business | Ledgerbrook" source: https://ledgerbrook.com/blog/how-much-does-a-cpa-cost/ description: "How much a CPA costs for a small business: tax return fees by entity, extra-state fees, and what messy books add." --- [Blogs](/blog/) # How much a CPA costs for a small business ![](/_astro/omkar-moraye.BHiWb4KG_xH3b5.webp) [Omkar Moraye](/about/) · October 18, 2026 [](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cpa-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Dlinkedin%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare)[](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cpa-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Dx%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare&text=How%20much%20a%20CPA%20costs%20for%20a%20small%20business)[](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cpa-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare)[](mailto:?subject=How%20much%20a%20CPA%20costs%20for%20a%20small%20business&body=How%20much%20a%20CPA%20costs%20for%20a%20small%20business%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cpa-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Demail%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare) ## How much does a CPA cost for a small business? Most US accounting firms charge $1,000 to $1,499 a year for a business tax return, the most common band in Ignition's 2025 survey of 219 firms. Pilot's published prices start at $1,000 for a single-member LLC and $2,000 for an S corporation or partnership, plus each extra state. Books that arrive unreconciled add hours on top. How much a CPA costs for a small business comes down to three things: the kind of return the business files, the number of states it files in, and the state of the books when they reach the preparer. The first two are fixed by how the business is set up. The third is the one an owner controls, and it is the one most fee guides mention in a single line. Most of the fee ranges that rank for this question are not sourced. The figures below are, each with the date it was read. Ledgerbrook keeps books and does not prepare tax returns, so none of these prices are ours. ## What CPAs charge for a business tax return Few firms bill tax work by the hour any more. In Ignition’s 2025 pricing survey of 219 US accounting firms, only 3% charged hourly for tax preparation; the rest quote a fixed fee per return. The most common fee bands were ([Ignition, August 2025](https://www.ignitionapp.com/news/the-end-of-hourly-billing-ignitions-2025-benchmark-signals-pricing-shift-for-firms)): | Service | Most common fee band | Share of firms in that band | | --- | --- | --- | | Business tax return | $1,000 to $1,499 a year | 29% | | Individual tax return | $400 to $599 a return | 27% | | Tax planning and advisory | Over $2,000 a year | 25% | | Monthly bookkeeping and accounting | $250 to $499 a month | 29% | The same survey found that 80% of firms planned to raise prices by 5 to 10% in 2026, so a quote this filing season is likely to sit at or above these bands. The survey covers firms that use Ignition’s billing software, not the whole profession, which is why it is one source here and not the only one. ## Published prices, by type of return Most CPA firms do not publish prices. The services below do, which makes them the closest thing to a public price list. Read on October 18, 2026: | Service | Single-member LLC (Schedule C) | Partnership or S corporation | C corporation | Each extra state | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Pilot](https://pilot.com/pricing), with its bookkeeping | From $1,000 a year | From $2,000 a year | From $2,450 a year | $250 (LLC) or $500 | | [Bookkeeper360](https://www.bookkeeper360.com/pricing) | From $1,200 (business returns) | From $1,200 | From $1,200 | Not published | | [Xendoo](https://www.xendoo.com/xendoo-pricing/), federal and state with tax guidance | From $1,295 a year | From $1,295 a year | From $1,295 a year | Not published; plan covers federal and state | Two things sit outside these numbers. Pilot sells its tax returns only with its bookkeeping, and prices a newly formed company from $750 in its first year. Pilot’s single-member LLC plan includes the owner’s Form 1040. For a partnership or corporation, the owners’ personal returns are extra: Pilot charges $1,000 per person, and Bookkeeper360’s individual returns start at $550. An S corporation owner should budget for two returns, the company’s and their own. ## What moves the fee Every firm prices on some mix of the same five things. 1. **The return type.** A single-member LLC with no corporate election reports on Schedule C of the owner’s Form 1040. A partnership files Form 1065 and an S corporation Form 1120-S, each with a K-1 for every owner. A C corporation files Form 1120. Each step up adds forms and owner-level schedules. 2. **The number of states.** Every state with a filing requirement is another return. Pilot’s published add-on is $250 to $500 per state, and the same again per city that taxes business income. 3. **Payroll and contractors.** Payroll means the preparer ties wages on the return to the year’s payroll filings. Contractors mean 1099s, which are due a month and a half before an S corporation’s return. 4. **Fixed assets.** Equipment, vehicles and property bought or sold during the year need a depreciation schedule (Form 4562) and, for anything sold, Form 4797. 5. **The books.** A preparer who receives a reconciled trial balance starts on the return. A preparer who receives bank statements and a QuickBooks file nobody reconciled starts on bookkeeping, at tax-season rates. ## What messy books add to the CPA bill The fee on a firm’s price list assumes the books are done. When they are not, the extra work is billed separately, either as an hourly cleanup fee or as a higher fixed fee once the firm has seen the file. The firms above publish their cleanup prices separately from tax: Bookkeeper360’s catch-up starts at $1,000 and Xendoo’s at $295 a month of backlog. What a preparer does with unreconciled books, before the return can start: - **Reconciles each bank and card account** to the December statement, because the return’s income and expenses come from those balances. - **Sorts the uncategorized items**: deposits that may be loans or owner money rather than sales, and payments sitting in an uncategorized expense account. - **Separates personal from business spending**, then books it as owner draws or contributions. - **Ties the loan balances** to the lender’s year-end statements, so interest is the only part that reaches the expenses. - **Builds the contractor list** for 1099s, if nobody did it in January. Each of those is bookkeeping, not tax work. At tax-season rates, it is the most expensive way to get it done, and in March or April it is also what pushes a return onto extension. The list of records a preparer needs is in [what your CPA needs at year end](/blog/what-your-cpa-needs-at-year-end/). ## Is a CPA worth it for a small business? For the return itself, usually yes once the business is a partnership or S corporation, or files in more than one state. The forms, the K-1s and each owner’s basis are the parts most worth paying a professional for. A sole proprietor with one state and clean books has a real choice between a CPA, an enrolled agent and software. What a CPA is not worth paying for is bookkeeping. A bookkeeper keeps the year’s records for a fraction of a CPA’s rate, and the CPA works from them. What a bookkeeper costs, freelance, employed or as a monthly service, is in [how much a bookkeeper costs](/blog/how-much-does-a-bookkeeper-cost/). ## Common questions about CPA fees ### Is a CPA better than a tax preparer? They are allowed to do different things. Anyone with an IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) can be paid to prepare returns. CPAs, enrolled agents and attorneys have unlimited representation rights before the IRS: they can represent any client in an audit, a collection or an appeal. A preparer without one of those credentials can represent only clients whose returns they prepared and signed, only before revenue agents and customer service staff, not in appeals or collection, and only if they took part in the IRS’s Annual Filing Season Program ([IRS: preparer credentials](https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/understanding-tax-return-preparer-credentials-and-qualifications)). For a business return, an enrolled agent has the same representation rights as a CPA. ### What are red flags when hiring a CPA? The IRS lists several for any preparer ([IRS Tax Topic 254](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc254)): a fee based on a percentage of the refund, an offer to deposit the refund into the preparer’s own account, a request to sign a blank form, and a paid preparer who will not sign the return with their PTIN. Add one of your own: a quote given before anyone has looked at the books, with no line about what happens if they are not reconciled. ### What do CPAs charge per hour? For the return itself, few do: in the Ignition survey above, just 3% of firms billed tax preparation by the hour. Hourly rates turn up for advice outside the return. Pilot publishes its tax consulting rate from $250 an hour for a single-member LLC and from $400 an hour for a partnership or corporation ([Pilot pricing](https://pilot.com/pricing), read October 18, 2026). Before agreeing to hourly work, ask for an estimate of the hours. ### Is $400 too much for tax preparation? Not for an individual return with a few schedules: $400 to $599 was the most common band in the 2025 survey above. For a business return, $400 would be well below the market, so check what it includes and whether the books have to be finished first. ### How much should a small business pay for an accountant? Split it in two. The return, from the tables above, is about $1,000 to $2,500 a year for one entity in one state. The year’s bookkeeping is a separate cost, monthly, and is cheaper done by a bookkeeper than by the CPA. Pricing the two together is how a business ends up paying CPA rates for categorizing transactions. ## How an owner lowers the CPA bill The fee for the return is mostly fixed. The cleanup hours on top of it are not. A business that hands its preparer twelve reconciled months, a contractor list and the loan statements pays the price on the firm’s list. Ledgerbrook’s monthly close is $99 per client file, per month, and the illustrative cases on [our results page](/results/) show what a finished month looks like. If the year is already behind, catch-up comes first: $99per month of backlog20% off 6+ months > **When to hand this off:** if your CPA has already asked for reconciled statements you do not have, or the books are more than two months behind as the filing season opens, the cleanup will be billed somewhere. A [free file review](/contact/?from=blog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cpa-cost) counts the months first, and [what catch-up bookkeeping costs](/blog/catch-up-bookkeeping-cost/) compares the market’s prices. Every offer is on [the pricing page](/pricing/). Ledgerbrook Behind on your QuickBooks books? Cleanup or catch-up $99 per month of backlog, 20% off 6+ months Turnaround 5 business days for a typical year Monthly close From $99 a file a month [Get a free file review](/contact/?from=blog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cpa-cost) Free, no card, no obligation. A written answer within about 48 hours. 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