<prompt> Human: Just wanted to get someone elses opinion that may have more experience than me on this topic. This is my first year paying for a CPA to do my taxes. I just graduated from college last year. We originally agreed on a flat fee of 2k over the phone to complete all of my taxes which already I thought was pretty expensive. He sends me the invoice for the amount we originally agreed on and I pay him. He then sends me another invoice a few days later demanding I pay him an additional 1.8k for unforeseen work??? He is charging a rate of 500hr for a couple extra hours of work. I never agreed to this rate. I thought I was paying him a lump sum and thats almost double the amount we agreed on from the beginning. Am I getting scammed? I knew it would be expensive to hire a professional but almost 4k to do my taxes? I cant afford that! Now he has 2k of my money and he is refusing to submit my taxes until I pay him the remaining 1.8k. I feel like Im being held hostage. Assistant: I work for a very high end private tax firm in Denver. I am an EA and I work for a CPA. We charge 350 an hour. This is a typical price for someone needing help with intricate issues very high income, sole proprietorship, multiple rental properties, foreign income reporting, etc.. From what I see you dont have any issues that would require you to need those kind of high level servicesexpertise. Find someone much more affordable if you feel you need professional help. Human: Yeah the reason I agreed to pay him so much in the first place is because I am currently working overseas on a foreign assignment. The CPAs I had contacted before him were werent comfortable filing my taxes for me because of my unique situation. Didnt expect to end up paying 4k though...  <response>: Understandable. As someone who works in the field youre definitely overpaying. I would recommend finding someone who charges you a flat rate rather than by the hour for all work. That way there are no surprises. Also, try to find a firm that advertises for foreign earned income filings. They will usually charge you less for those filings because they are used to them therefore taking them less time on average to prepare. Im sorry about your current situation. I hope it works out for you. 