According to Accounting Today, average fees for tax prep are rising. While it certainly does depend on which forms you need, all tax prep fees are steadily increasing a few percentage points, and will very likely continue to rise as the individual mandate is facilitated through tax filing.

Average fees for a 1040 individual tax return prepared during 2011 were $233, according to a survey of over 8,000 accountants and tax preparers across the country done by The National Society of Accountants.  This figure actually reflected a slight increase, 1.7%, over fees charged for preparing 2009 tax returns.