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Published Pricing

What This Costs

Partnership return, every K‑1, and both videos. Fixed quote before any work starts.

The Range

Partnership Return & K-1s

Where a file lands, and what a standard file looks like.

A standard file has one class of LPs, fewer than 25 investors, one or two states, and books already closed. No add‑ons, bottom of the range. Everything above that has a reason attached, and they're all listed below.

Scope

What the Fee Covers

The right column matters as much as the left.

Included

  • Partnership return (Form 1065) and every K‑1
  • The investor K‑1 explainer video
  • Your own return walkthrough video
  • Onboarding: prior‑return walkthrough, plan of action, entity map
  • The handover from your current CPA
  • Questions. Asking is never billable

Not Included

  • Audit representation or appeals
  • Legal drafting or opinion letters
  • Cost segregation studies
  • Investment advice

I'll point you to someone good for most of these, and tell you when a cost seg is worth doing. I just don't run the study.

The Reasons

What Drives the Cost of a Syndication Tax Return?

Complexity, not paperwork. Every file starts from the same return; the price moves with the work each deal adds: more investors and classes, investors admitted mid-year, non-US investors, contributed property, entities that own entities, more states, books that need rebuilding, and a sale or exchange in the year. The quote is fixed before work starts.

Typical files run $2,000 to $4,000, with every K-1 included. Genuinely complex ones run to roughly $10,000. There's no per-K-1 price, because a K-1 isn't a unit of work on its own: it's one partner's slice of a return that has to be right as a whole. Here's why each factor moves the number.

  • More investors (26 to 50, 51 to 100, more than 100). Each investor is a capital account, an allocation and a K-1 that all have to tie. The work scales with the count, which is why the range moves in bands.
  • Investors admitted mid-year. Each partner's share has to be computed for the part of the year they actually held the interest, by date.
  • Any non-US investor, even one. A single foreign partner can bring withholding on the partnership's income and international reporting on Schedules K-2 and K-3.
  • Property contributed instead of cash. Contributed property carries built-in gain that's tracked and allocated separately for as long as the partnership holds it.
  • Entities that own entities. Every tier is another return, another set of K-1s, and another document the top-tier return waits on.
  • More than three investor classes. Each class is its own layer in the waterfall and in the tax allocations.
  • More than two states. Each state can mean nonresident returns, composite filings or withholding.
  • Books behind, messy, or missing. The return can only be as good as the ledger, so rebuilding it comes first. That's what entity-level bookkeeping is for.
  • Construction or a draw schedule. Capitalized costs, draws and placed-in-service dates have to be traced before depreciation can start.
  • Known prior-year problems. Last year's errors carry into this year's opening balances, so they get fixed first.
  • A sale, exit, or 1031 in the year. The gain has to be split by character, run through the waterfall, and reported on the K-1s, which are final K-1s if it's an exit. The exit structuring guide shows what's inside that number.

What doesn't move it: asking questions. Asking is never billable.

Not sure who does what on your deal today? See who prepares the K-1 for a syndication.

The Honest Part

What Moves Your Number

Recognise your deal in several of these and you're above the typical range. Better to know now than after the call.

Investors

26–50 investors
51–100 investors
More than 100 investors
Investors admitted mid‑year
Any non‑US investor, even one

Structure

Property contributed instead of cash
Entities that own entities
More than three investor classes
More than two states

The File

Books behind, messy, or missing
Construction or a draw schedule
Known prior‑year problems
A sale, exit, or 1031 in the year

adds adds meaningfully roughly doubles the work

Books are the big one. Behind or messy books are the most common reason a fixed fee stops holding, and the most common reason a March 15 date slips. Want the detail on why each factor costs more? Ask on the call — that's never billable.

Billing

How and When You Pay

Two bills per return, and no onboarding fee: $500 at signing, the remainder at completion.

1

The Call

Scoped and quoted

Your structure walked against the list above, then one fixed number in writing.

$

At Signing

$500 per return

Deposit. Covers onboarding and the autumn workpaper work.

2

First 30 Days

Onboarding

Included in the quote. No separate invoice.

$

At Completion

The remainder

Due before K‑1s go out. In the engagement letter, so never a March surprise.

Optional & Separate

Everything Else

None of this is required to work together.

Bookkeeping

$500 / entity / month
  • The only line that recurs
  • Scales with transaction volume
  • Reconciling happens monthly, not in a January scramble
  • Keep your own books instead? You get the January 31 standard in writing
Full scope →

Owner Personal Return

From $1,000 / return
  • Priced to what lands on your 1040
  • K‑1 count, properties, Schedule Cs
  • States, estimates, 1031s and dispositions
  • Ask on the call if you want one scoped

Lazy 1031 Analysis

$2,500 flat, one disposition
  • Gain computation split by character
  • A redeployment model you keep
  • Which tax year to close in
  • Two calls, ten business days. State add‑on +$750
See the analysis →

Get Started

Get Your Number

Thirty minutes. We walk the list above against your actual deal, and you come off the call knowing what your engagement costs.

Book a 30‑Min Call

Three onboarding slots a month, and none between January 1 and March 15.

Or email directly: matt@surefiretaxco.com

Ranges reflect typical engagements. Final pricing is scoped to each client's specific facts and circumstances and is confirmed in writing before any work begins.