Typical Fee for 706

Does anyone have any guidance on what would be a typical fee for a 706? I was presented the opportunity to prepare one (would be first) and have no idea what fee to charge. It looks extremely complex and time consuming (this estate has multiple rentals, multiple investment accounts, other homes, insurance policies, etc.). I spoke to another CPA that thought a minimum charge would be $7500, probably closer to $10k in this case. That would equate to over 40 hours of work.

I would appreciate any opinions from folks that have prepared these before. Thanks.

Estates are complicated. The assets have to be identified, appraised, distributed. The body of law is different from income tax. Filling out the form is the easy part. It's the fact that every asset has a story that you have to know before you put it on the form.

If you don't do this often, make sure that you have a technical person to review your work. The biggest danger is what you don't know and therefore don't recognize as an issue. I have a very small practice, and knock on wood, it's usually about every 5 years that someone passes - not sooner. That's not often enough doing the work to stay sharp. I always make sure I have backup.

Re your specific question: I think I've done one estate return for about $10k. Every other one has come in at around double that amount. That's after I write off time where I had to relearn some technical issue that I felt was general knowledge, not specific to the client, and therefore unfair to bill.

Wow thanks JAD. I never realized just how complex these are. It seems that most CPA's don't do them. Now I know why.

Not to mention the IRS audit rates for 706 forms:

IRS Statistics from 2012:
Form 706 – 12,582 tax returns filed, 3,762 audited (29.9%).
Estates between $5 million and $10 million audited nearly 60%
Estates over $10 million 100% audit rate.

About 5 years ago I attended a two day seminar regarding the preparation of Estate returns. The most important tidbit of information that I learned from the two day seminar is that I never want to prepare a 706 form.