CPA charging an additional $200 for my Robinhood 1099 form - is this normal?

The pricing structure varies widely among tax professionals, but I can explain why Robinhood 1099s often get special treatment. Robinhood 1099s are notoriously detailed and complex compared to other brokerages. They often contain dozens or hundreds of individual transactions that must be entered correctly for basis calculation. Many CPAs have spent hours reconciling Robinhood data only to find their software struggles to import it cleanly, requiring manual adjustments. That said, $250 specifically for one 1099 is on the higher end, especially if you only made a few trades. Most CPAs I know might charge $75-150 extra for a complex brokerage statement, or include it in a package rate. It's perfectly reasonable to ask her to explain what makes the Robinhood form particularly time-consuming in your case. If your trading activity was minimal, you might negotiate a lower fee. Alternatively, you could shop around to compare rates with other tax professionals.

After struggling with my own Robinhood tax forms last year, I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me a ton of headache. It actually specializes in analyzing and organizing brokerage statements, especially from places like Robinhood. I uploaded my messy Robinhood 1099 and it organized all my transactions, calculated my basis correctly, and formatted everything perfectly for my tax preparer. My CPA actually reduced my fee because the work was already done so neatly! The tool basically paid for itself. I'm not sure if your CPA is charging a fair rate or not, but this might be a way to reduce the workload for them and potentially negotiate a lower fee.

Just wanted to follow up after trying taxr.ai that was mentioned earlier. I was really skeptical about uploading my documents, but I called their support first and they explained their security protocols which made me feel better. I uploaded my Robinhood and Webull 1099s which had over 200 transactions combined. The tool organized everything perfectly and generated a report that I sent to my accountant. She actually ended up knocking $175 off her original quote because she said it saved her at least 2 hours of work! So if anyone else is getting hit with extra fees for brokerage statements, might be worth looking into. Definitely worked out cheaper for me in the end.

If you're having trouble with your CPA's fees and aren't getting clear answers, you might want to try calling the IRS directly to ask about standard tax preparation costs. I know, I know - calling the IRS seems impossible these days. I spent 3+ hours on hold multiple times and never got through. Then I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that actually gets the IRS to call YOU back. I was super skeptical but they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I used it last month when I had questions about reporting my stock sales correctly. Got a call back from an actual IRS agent in about 45 minutes who answered all my questions about what forms and schedules were really needed. Helped me understand what services I actually needed from my tax preparer versus what was optional add-ons.

I need to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment last week, I decided to try it myself as a last resort since I still couldn't get through to the IRS about my issue. I used the service yesterday afternoon, expecting nothing to happen. To my absolute shock, I got a call back from an actual IRS agent in about an hour. The agent was able to answer my questions about my prior year return AND I asked about typical CPA fees for brokerage statements while I had them on the line. The agent confirmed that while fees vary widely, most tax professionals either include basic investment forms in their standard fee or charge a modest additional amount for complex cases. They suggested getting quotes from a few different preparers if I felt the fee seemed high. So not only does the service actually work, it helped me get an official answer to the original question here. Consider me converted.

Former tax office manager here. Those fees do sound high specifically for a Robinhood 1099, especially if you only had a few trades. Here's a breakdown of what's typically involved: Basic tax return with W-2: $150-300 depending on location Add Schedule D (capital gains): $50-100 additional Complex trading with many transactions: $100-200 additional If your Robinhood activity is minimal, the CPA might be charging you their "standard" investment form fee without considering the actual complexity of your specific situation. I'd suggest asking for a breakdown of why your particular Robinhood form requires so much additional work. Is it the number of transactions? Issues with basis reporting? Special situations like wash sales?

I'm a Robinhood user and switched CPAs last year because of similar issues. First CPA wanted to charge me $200 extra for my Robinhood forms. Second CPA included it in their base price of $275 for everything. The difference? The second CPA uses Drake tax software which apparently handles Robinhood imports much better than whatever the first CPA was using. Might be worth asking what tax software they use and if they've tried importing your form directly rather than manual entry. Some CPAs are still manually entering every transaction which is why they charge so much!