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What is CURB and How Do I Apply it?

Say hello to CURB

 

"So... how much is this going to cost me?"

 

Every advisor knows that question. Here's the secret: clients only lead with it when they can't yet see what they're getting. Show the benefit before the cost and the question answers itself, because now they're not buying an expense. They're buying a return. Benefit before cost. B before C, always. (The only place C comes first is CURB.)

 

CURB is how you get there. If you've been with us a while, you already know this idea by another name: the ROI Method of Value Pricing. CURB is that same method, explained by the math. The CURB Score™ is the number the ROI method was always pointing at. New name, same promise: show the benefit, then price the plan by what it's worth.

 

The ABCDs of the perfect client process

 

Here's what our profession usually does: quote the cost, and maybe show the benefit later. That's backwards, and it's why pricing conversations feel like a fight.

 

CURB flips it. Lead with the benefit, then show the cost right alongside it. Four steps, as easy as A, B, C, D:

 

  • A — Ask. Three asks and one document. Ask about their tax life (W-2? businesses? rentals?). Ask about their cash (what can they actually invest in planning this year?). Ask their comfort levels (their own CURB tolerances, right in Discovery). Then collect the 1040, because it verifies the story and it's where the savings hide.
  • B — Benefit. Lead with the projected value, always. And it's more than tax savings: catching the negative AR that's quietly bleeding a client's business is real value too. Nobody asks "what's this going to cost me" when the first number they see is what they'll gain.
  • C — Cost. Now, and only now, the fee, straight from the CURB Score. One fixed number, quoted up front, anchored to their own projected value. Never contingent, never a guarantee.
  • D — Deliver. Do the plan and show the wins. Then here's the part that builds a firm: the moment you spot a new opportunity while delivering, tax or financial, run the ABC on it and quote it right then. The perfect client process isn't a funnel you run once. It's a loop you run every time you find money.

 

B before C, always. The only place C goes first is CURB.

 

The 4 letters

 

Every strategy in the TaxPlanIQ library is scored 1 to 5 on each of these:

 

  • Complexity. How involved is the client's tax life? Level 1 is a W-2 earner or retiree. Level 2 is an investor. Level 3 is one rental or business. Level 4 is multiple or both. Level 5 is wealth and legacy planning.
  • Urgency. How ready is the client to act? Level 1 is a long horizon ("take your time"). Level 2 is annually, level 3 quarterly, level 4 this month, and level 5 is "ready right now, let's move."
  • Risk. How much audit and liability exposure does the strategy carry? Every level comes with real odds attached, so this one gets its own section below.
  • Burden. Who does the work? This one reads two ways at once, and that's the beauty of it. Level 1 means the burden sits mostly on the client and barely on you. Level 5 is concierge: the most work on your plate, and the highest level of service your client receives. Level 3 splits it down the middle.

 

Why Burden is quietly the most useful letter. A high B means you're doing more, which is why it raises your fee. But it also means the client is getting more: hand-holding, vendor coordination, someone else carrying the load. That's not a cost you apologize for. It's a benefit you sell. When a client asks what they get for the fee, a B of 5 is the answer.

 

The math (this is the ROI method, spelled out)

 

Here's the whole formula, no mystery:

 

  1. Average the 4 numbers. That's the CURB Score.
  2. Multiply the score by 10%. That's your fee percentage.
  3. Multiply the fee percentage by the plan's projected tangible financial value. That's your advisory fee.

 

Tangible financial value is exactly what it sounds like: real, countable money you're creating for the client. Usually that's projected tax savings. But it counts other wins too, like fixing the negative AR that's draining their business.

 

So a plan that scores 2.5 prices at 25% of projected value. If the plan projects $24,000 in savings, your fee is $6,000, quoted up front. The client invests $6,000 in a plan projected to deliver $24,000. That's the ROI conversation, and nobody argues with that math.

 

Price the proposal, not the outcome

 

Let's be precise, because this is where CURB protects you. The fee is anchored to projected value in a proposal. It is a fixed fee, agreed before the work starts. It is never a contingent fee and never a guarantee of savings. Circular 230 restricts contingent fees for this kind of work, so a fee tied to a percentage of whatever the IRS ultimately allows isn't just bad practice, it can put your license at risk. CURB keeps you out of that territory entirely: value pricing up front, based on what the plan is worth. Not a cut of the outcome.

 

It starts before they're even a client

 

CURB isn't just for pricing. It's a prequalifying tool. In Discovery, prospective clients answer a short "tell us about your tax life" section and set their own comfort levels on the same 1-to-5 ladders. Your firm sets its ranges too. A strategy only surfaces when it fits both the client's tolerances and your firm's, and the required cash is within the client's reach. So before you've sunk hours into a prospect, CURB has already told you whether there's a real fit, what kind of plan makes sense, and roughly what it's worth.

 

Risk, by the numbers

 

"Risk" is the word that makes tax planning feel scary. So we replaced the feeling with a fact. Every strategy in the library carries an assigned risk level, and every level carries real odds.

 

Level

 

 

 If audited, estimated chance it holds up

 

 

 What it means

 

 

 Standard

 

 
1

 

 

 Written into the tax code, so essentially not challenged

 

 

 The rules say you can do this. The IRS doesn't fight it.

 

 

 Safe Harbor

 

 
2

 

 

 50% or better

 

 

 Well established, with strong authority behind it.

 

 

 More Likely Than Not

 

 
3

 

 

 Around 40%

 

 

 Mainstream planning. Defensible with standard documentation.

 

 

 Substantial Authority

 

 
4

 

 

 20% or better

 

 

 A newer position courts haven't ruled on yet, or one the IRS listed and later dropped. Needs strong documentation.

 

 

 Reasonable Basis

 

 
5

 

 

 Based on IRS designation, not odds

 

 

 The IRS currently flags this pattern as a listed transaction or transaction of interest. Form 8886 disclosure may apply depending on the client's facts and implementation.

 

 

 Listed / Reportable Transaction

 

 

 

Read this part twice: these are not the odds of getting audited. They're the odds the position holds up if someone questions it. A level 4 at "20% or better" does not mean a 20% chance of trouble. It means that if the IRS does challenge it, you'd expect the position to stand better than 1 in 5 times on its merits. (In tax language, holding up is called being "sustained.") These thresholds come straight from the authority standards your profession already runs on.

 

Levels 1 and 5 don't carry a percentage, because they aren't confidence judgments. Level 1 is settled law. Level 5 is about a designation the IRS has made right now, not about your odds.

 

That changes the conversation completely. Instead of "this feels risky," you can say "this one is a level 2, so if it's ever questioned it holds up better than half the time, and this one is a level 4, better than 1 in 5, and it needs strong documentation." A fearful concept becomes a factual one. You choose strategies with eyes open, your client understands exactly what they're agreeing to, and conservative clients simply never see level 4 and 5 strategies unless they've said they want them.

 

Risk levels are also non-sticky. If the IRS vacates a designation, a level 5 strategy moves back down to level 4. The number reflects where things stand now, not where they once stood.

 

TaxPlanIQ Risk Levels are our planning guidance, not a determination of any filing obligation. Filing obligations depend on the client's facts and implementation, determined by the advisor and vendor.

 

The bottom line

 

CURB takes the two hardest conversations in tax advisory (is this prospect a fit, and what do I charge) and turns them into the easiest ones. Less second-guessing, better-fit clients, risk you can point to instead of worry about, and fees that finally match the value you deliver.