Go Beyond Tax

Pricing

Retirement tax planning with a CPA, at a fixed fee.

We will tell you what you actually need. Sometimes that is nothing. Every service is a flat fee, quoted in writing before any work begins. We do not bill by the hour.

Services start at $750. The first conversation is free.

Jim Swiech, CPA

Jim Swiech, CPA

18+ years. Jim does the planning himself. Updated

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Our fees

The first conversation is free. If you start the Comprehensive Plan within 30 days of an Assessment, the full $1,500 Assessment fee is credited toward it.

Not sure which fits? You do not have to choose. Jim tells you on the free consultation.

How the free consultation works

Jim talks with you first, at no charge, for about 30 minutes. At the end he tells you what he actually thinks. It will typically be one of three things:

  • “Based on what you have told me, I honestly do not hear enough here to justify paying us.”
  • “You are fairly straightforward. If you want us to formally model whether retirement works and put it in writing, the $750 Retirement Tax Snapshot fits.”
  • “You have enough moving pieces that I do not want to give you a half-baked answer based on a 30-minute conversation. You are a better fit for the $1,500 Retirement Tax Assessment.”

There is no pressure toward a larger service. We recommend the smallest engagement that actually solves your problem.

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Where to start

If your finances are reasonably straightforward and your question is “can we retire,” start with the Snapshot. If you have large pre-tax balances, a pension with choices to make, Social Security timing still open, Medicare surcharges in play, charitable goals, an inherited account, or a house or move on the horizon, start with the Assessment.

Retirement Tax Assessment

$1,500

What tax and planning problems and opportunities are actually present? For a household with enough moving pieces that a responsible recommendation takes more than one conversation.

Included:

  • Your last two federal and resident-state returns read line by line
  • Your accounts, income, spending, Social Security, pensions and retirement timing loaded and verified against your statements
  • Retirement sustainability and cash-flow analysis, run at 4.5%, 6.5% and 8% returns
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  • Roth conversion opportunity identified, with the likely years and a dollar range
  • RMD, Medicare IRMAA, withdrawal-sequencing and survivor exposure
  • Major upcoming dates and cliffs, and one current-year action when it can reasonably be determined
  • A written assessment with clear recommendations and next steps, a results meeting, and one follow-up round of questions

The Assessment is a complete standalone engagement. It identifies what matters; it does not build the year-by-year schedule, the elections or the implementation calendar. If you move into the Comprehensive Plan within 30 days, the full $1,500 is credited toward it.

Retirement Tax Snapshot

$750

Does retirement work? A written answer, run properly, for a household whose finances are reasonably straightforward.

Included:

  • Your retirement accounts, retirement date, spending, Social Security, pension and other recurring income, entered and confirmed with you
  • A retirement cash-flow projection with federal and resident-state taxes estimated inside it
  • Your projected annual draw on investments and how long the money is expected to last
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  • The projection run at 4.5%, 6.5% and 8% returns, with 6.5% as the planning case
  • Anything obvious that materially affects whether retirement works
  • A short written findings and recommendation document, and a results meeting

Taxes are estimated under current law from the information you provide. The Snapshot does not review prior tax returns, model Roth conversions, or build a plan. If your situation needs any of that, it will say so.

If deeper planning is worth it

Comprehensive Retirement Tax Plan

$4,950first year

If you completed the Assessment within the last 30 days, the full $1,500 is credited toward this fee.

Exactly what should we do about it? For a household where the Assessment showed real money on the table and several decisions that depend on each other: when to convert and how much, which accounts to draw from, when each spouse claims Social Security, which pension option to take, how Medicare surcharge thresholds affect the strategy, and what happens to the survivor.

The plan:

  • Multi-year Roth conversion strategy with recommended amounts by year, and the rules for adjusting them each year
  • Withdrawal sequencing across pre-tax, Roth, brokerage and cash
  • Social Security claiming analysis for both spouses, including the survivor implications; pension survivor-option analysis where applicable
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  • RMD projections and Medicare IRMAA planning by year
  • Up to three major scenarios you select, stress-tested across market-return assumptions and the major planning variables

This year's taxes:

  • Current-year tax projection, safe-harbor calculation, estimated-tax amounts and due dates, and a year-end true-up
  • Your federal and resident-state individual returns for the planning year, prepared and filed

Your family and your documents:

  • Beneficiary and account-titling review
  • Estate documents reviewed for coordination with the plan; one coordination meeting with your estate attorney when needed. We do not draft legal documents or practice law.

You receive the written plan, a one-page executive action plan, a 10-year cash-flow and tax projection, and an implementation calendar showing what happens, when, and who does it.

Work outside this scope, such as amended returns, additional states, business transactions, or a scenario beyond three, is quoted separately before any work begins.

Book the free consultation

After your first year

Annual Retirement Tax Strategy

$3,250a year, paid twice a year or quarterly

For households that have completed the Comprehensive Plan. The first year builds the plan. Every year after, we keep it current and make each year’s decisions on time.

Included, every year:

  • Your federal and resident-state individual returns, prepared and filed
  • The plan refreshed on current balances, income, spending and current tax law
  • This year's Roth conversion and withdrawal-order recommendation
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  • RMD calculation and Medicare IRMAA review
  • Estimated-tax amounts and due dates, and a December year-end action sheet
  • An annual family, beneficiary and legal-document check, coordinated with your attorney
  • A spring tax and planning meeting and a fall strategy meeting

Updated annually means maintaining what the Comprehensive Plan already established. A genuinely new planning question, such as selling the house, a major inheritance, or a move to another state, is quoted separately.

Questions people ask

How much does Go Beyond Tax charge?

The Retirement Tax Snapshot is $750, the Retirement Tax Assessment is $1,500, the Comprehensive Retirement Tax Plan is $4,950 for the first year, and the Annual Retirement Tax Strategy is $3,250 a year. Every fee is fixed and quoted in writing before work begins.

How does the $1,500 credit work?

If you complete the Assessment and begin the Comprehensive Plan within 30 days, the full $1,500 is credited toward the $4,950 first-year fee.

Do you prepare my tax return?

The Comprehensive Plan and the Annual Strategy include your federal and resident-state individual returns. The Snapshot and the Assessment do not prepare returns.

Does the Snapshot look at my past returns?

No. It estimates taxes under current law from the information you provide. The Assessment reads your last two returns line by line.

Do I have to buy the Comprehensive Plan after the Assessment?

No. The Assessment is a complete standalone engagement, and it may conclude that you do not need more.

Do you work with clients outside Western New York?

Yes. We work virtually with retirement tax-planning clients across the U.S.

Do you bill by the hour?

No.

The full guide

Everything each service includes and excludes is in the Retirement Planning Services and Pricing Guide. Download the guide (PDF).

If your retirement cannot be separated from your business, we handle that as a separate engagement. Start with the free consultation.

Read about the work itself on the retirement tax planning and Roth conversion analysis pages.

Start with the free consultation

Thirty minutes with Jim. He tells you which service fits, or that none of them do. The price you see here is the price you pay.

Book the free consultation

Go Beyond Tax is the retirement tax-planning practice of Swiech Consulting LLC. Jim Swiech, CPA. Fees shown are for individual households; work outside a service’s stated scope is quoted in writing before it begins.