Monthly CPA Advisory vs. Annual Tax Preparation: What's Included?

Choose the Support You Need During the Year

Annual tax preparation organizes and reports a tax year's information in the returns you engage a preparer to file. Monthly CPA advisory adds scheduled access to planning throughout the year, within an agreed scope. Some subscriptions, including ours, also include specified annual personal returns.

The useful question is what decisions you need help with, how often, and which returns are covered. A monthly fee does not automatically include every filing or unlimited professional time.

How Annual Preparation and Ongoing Planning Fit Together

Annual preparation is often a fit when your records are ready and you need help completing particular returns. Confirm whether planning consultations, estimates, notices, or amendments are included in that engagement.

Ongoing planning can help when business or personal circumstances change during the year: variable income, a new income source, a major purchase, or questions about withholding and estimated payments. Some decisions need attention before year-end.

The IRS explains estimated taxes as a way to pay taxes during the year on income that is not sufficiently covered by withholding. Whether payments are needed, and in what amounts, depends on your situation. A planning conversation should use current information rather than assume last year's numbers still fit.

What Our Monthly Tax Advisory Subscription Includes

The I&S subscription has three parts:

1. Annual personal returns: preparation and electronic filing of one federal Form 1040 and preparation and filing of one state individual return.
2. Planning: up to one hour of CPA planning and consultation per calendar month, quarterly estimated tax calculations and reminders where applicable, and an annual year-end projection.
3. Routine support: email correspondence about routine tax matters, routine IRS and state notice review and response preparation within scope, secure portal access and document storage, and priority scheduling and support.

Before enrollment, confirm the covered client, tax year, forms, complexity, and start date in your written agreement. A subscription does not automatically cover prior years or work outside its stated scope.

Read the complete subscription scope and terms.

What Is Separately Quoted?

Business income tax returns, including Forms 1120-S and 1065, are separate. So are amended or prior-year returns, additional state returns, payroll, bookkeeping, sales-tax filings, foreign reporting, and other excluded work.

Example: an S corporation owner's personal Form 1040 may be covered by the subscription, but the corporation's Form 1120-S and its K-1 preparation require a separate engagement. Providing the completed K-1 to the personal preparer does not replace preparing the business return.

Routine notice support also does not include IRS or state examinations, audits, appeals, collections, or litigation. See the full exclusion list before choosing a plan.

Starting Prices and the Bookkeeping Bundle

Standalone CPA advisory starts at $250/month for standard situations. The CPA component starts at $350 with Growth and $450 with Advanced; company size, revenue, tax complexity, and agreed scope determine the final fee.

Here is how the starting monthly bundle totals are calculated:

All figures are starting monthly prices. Each bundle total already includes the $100/month saving against separate prices. Both services must remain active; the saving cannot be combined with other promotions. Business return preparation and other separately scoped fees are not included in those monthly totals.

The CPA subscription includes up to one planning hour each calendar month. Unused time does not roll forward. Additional consultation is $165/hour, agreed before work begins. Billing is monthly in advance; the agreement includes 30-day written notice terms for termination and fee adjustments.

Bookkeeping Review and Tax Advisory Have Different Scopes

Monthly bookkeeping includes CPA review of bookkeeping transactions. That does not enroll you in the tax advisory subscription or include financial-statement sign-off or assurance services.

A bundle combines your selected bookkeeping scope with the separate tax subscription. I&S Accounting Services, LLC is an accounting and bookkeeping firm, not a CPA firm; individual CPA services are provided within the agreed engagement.

Questions to Settle Before Starting

• Which individual, entity, tax year, and returns does the agreement cover?
• Are my books ready, or is separate cleanup needed?
• Who prepares the business return and supplies any K-1s?
• Which planning matters fit the included hour, and what needs extra approval?
• What documents and deadlines do I need to meet?
• Which notice or special-filing work is excluded?

If you already pay for personal return preparation elsewhere, confirm where that work will be handled before enrolling so the same return is not commissioned twice.

Build your quote to compare bookkeeping alone with a books-and-CPA bundle. For a one-time filing, review the tax preparation fee schedule. Your scope and fee are confirmed before enrollment.