RE: Estate / business sale

I believe the starting point for valuing a tax or accounting business is annual revenues times a factor of 1.  That factor goes up or down depending on various factors including the profitability of the practice.  But when doing those calculations, it is assumed that the person that buys it is planning on being able to run it.  If uncle thinks it is worth a billion dollars, tell him that he can come down and get the keys anytime.  Otherwise write him a check for $150 to cover the value of the office equipment and call it even.  If he prefers picking up the keys, tell him good luck and walk down the block and open up your own tax practice in your new digs.

There are brokers/companies that will help sell a tax practice, it will all depend on your annual revenue.  Contact a few and see what kind of formula they use.

I purchased a portion of a client list from a preparer that was retiring, I paid him 50% of his 2021 tax prep fee for each client that came to me for 2022 taxes.

Your mom doesn't own this business. You started your own. The start you got was having access to that client list. A business like that would be deeply discounted at sale.

Think if you had not been in a position to take on the work; the only asset is the client list, and that is only as potential earnings, not a hard asset but an intangible. If I bought that list from you, I would not agree to any fixed amount. I would negotiate that only a share of each returning client would be paid to you, and only for a set amount of time (perhaps only year one). Otherwise, everything else came from your efforts, as those clients made a decision to stay with you or not, not because they had to. In other words, their business is not a lock in this type of service offering. So, there is very little inherent value in "the business" but that won't stop the uncle from thinking there is money to be had. Tell him unless he can come earn it by drumming up business and performing the work, there is no real value in the business other than what you do. You could lock the door and go to work for someone else.

In other words, he may have read or heard about buying and selling businesses, but he is overlooking that you don't really own a business. You own your job. The business is you.

I went through this with an architect. His best friend was out golfing a lot in the summer and skiing in the winter, and owned a retail shop with staff. The architect didn't understand how his buddy was able to be out of the office so much. I pointed out that if this architect was not doing his job, he had no operations. He is his own business, so unless he is "at work" he has no business in reality. He owns his job. His buddy has staff running the shop while he was out and about.

"To sum it up in a nutshell we do not make a lot of money. I am sure this would be small to do. The 3 desks and 5 filing cabinets are trashed picked."

You need to stop demeaning yourself, this business, and all the effort. Every time you post, it is sad. Buck up. You're making a life.

Google something like "selling a tax practice".  That will give you several 'brokers' that help buy/sell tax practices (generally the client list). 

They are the experts that can tell you what it is worth.  Call or email them, and ask them to provide you an estimate of what it is worth, and give that to the attorney.