Firms Are Raising Their Fees and Killing the Billable Hour For Good in 2026

Time to refresh this image we used last time we wrote about Ignition’s US Accounting and Tax Pricing Benchmark report. Unsurprisingly, firms surveyed by Ignition are once again planning to raise their fees.

Confidential to clients: Don’t angrily threaten to go elsewhere if your trusted accounting professional informs you they’re raising fees, there is no elsewhere. Well, technically there probably is but you don’t want to go there. Here’s a visual representation of this advice if that helps:

With that out of the way, let’s get into the 2025 Accounting and Tax Pricing Benchmark report. The report consists of responses from 219 Ignition clients in the US with a wide revenue spread from $251K–$700K in reported annual revenue (27% of respondents) to more than $5 million (8%). By size, just over a third of respondents reported having between two and five employees, 13% are sole practitioners, and almost 21% have six to ten people; only 0.5% reported having more than 200 employees.

Now the highlights:

• 80% of firms plan to raise prices across their services in 2026.
• 37% of firms plan to raise prices by 5%
• 30% of firms plan to raise prices by 10%
• 49% cite rising business costs as the main driver for raising prices.
• 28% say fear of losing clients holds them back, while 30% report no hesitation at all.
• 65% of firms feel confident in their pricing, with 26% saying they are very confident.

Just what are those fees, you ask? Helpfully, Ignition reveals the numbers for individual returns:

For basic individual tax returns*, most firms cluster within a relatively narrow mid-range. The $400–$599 band leads at 27%, with $600–$799 close behind at 22%. Combined, nearly half of firms (49%) fell into this range in 2024, and the same pattern continues this year, indicating that typical pricing for individual returns has remained stable. Above this, fewer firms occupy the higher tiers: 15% charge $800–$999, 9% price at $1,200–$1,500, and 8% sit between $1,000–$1,199. At the premium end, just 5% command fees above $1,500, while 10% charge less than $400, representing the more budget-conscious segment of the market.

And business:

When it comes to business tax returns, most firms are firmly positioned in the middle of the pricing spectrum. The $1,000–$1,499 range remains the most common, reported by 29% of firms, with $1,500–$1,999 close behind at 26%. This mirrors last year’s distribution almost exactly, suggesting that mid-range pricing remains a stable anchor for many practices. Beyond this core range, the number of firms tapers off steadily: 14% charge $2,000–$2,499, another 14% fall between $500–$999, and 10% set fees at $2,500–$3,000. Only a small group — just 5% —price their services above $3,000, reflecting the premium end of the market.

There are a lot more figures in the report, like advisory services and bookkeeping/accounting pricing, but our audience tends to have the attention span of a squirrel so we’ll skip that. You’re welcome to request the report yourself if you’d like to see those.

Before we wrap this up, there’s one more item we’d like to call attention to and that’s how firms are charging:

Said Ignition:

In 2025, fixed fee takes the lead as the dominant approach, used by 54% of firms, up slightly from 50% in 2024. Value pricing holds second place at 27%, a slight dip from 29% last year, while minimum fee plus complexity remains steady at 11% year-over-year.

The most notable change is the further decline of hourly billing, now used by just under 4% of firms—down from nearly 8% in 2024—potentially highlighting the profession’s ongoing movement away from time-based models in favor of transparent, scalable pricing structures.

Ding-dong, the billable hour is dead. It’s about time (no pun).