How to Start a Tax Preparation Business

Your Guide for Starting a Home Tax Preparation Business

If you have any interest in a career as a tax preparation professional, it’s important to know that you aren’t stuck with the choice between working for a large accounting company or at a local branch of a nationwide tax preparation service. It’s possible to have a lucrative and fulfilling career as a work from home tax preparer if you have the right credentials and experience. Working from home offers tremendous freedom and flexibility. If you want to start a tax preparation practice out of your home, you should have some idea of what to expect.

 

Why Start a Tax Preparation Practice From Home?

Tax preparation is a field that offers job security. With compound annual industry growth and a consistent need for tax professionals nationwide, a certified tax preparer will never be out of work for long. While a tax preparation professional can likely find a job at one of the thousands of tax preparation services operating in the United States, many modern tax preparers are opting for opening their own home-based practices instead. In fact, out of the more than 80 million tax returns prepared each year, only about 23% go through tax preparation company franchises. The vast majority of Americans who file tax returns prefer to work with smaller tax preparation companies, most of which have less than ten employees.

To start a tax preparation business from your home, finding clients is your first priority. Even outside of tax return season, many home-based tax preparation professionals offer their clients a wide range of tax-related services, from managing their business taxes to navigating various tax-related issues through the Internal Revenue Service or state revenue departments. However, the availability of clients is just one of the reasons many modern tax professionals are choosing to work from home. This type of working arrangement offers several distinct benefits:

  • A work from home tax preparation professional can set his or her own schedule. Work as hard as you want, as often as you want, with as many clients as you want once you put in the necessary effort to attract a client base.
  • Working from home makes it much easier to manage work-life balance and handle family life. A tax professional working from home can provide in-home childcare and not have to worry about the expenses of daycare.
  • A work from home tax preparer has minimal overhead. To start a tax preparation business out of your home, you need to obtain the necessary software, office supplies, and technology to do your work, but you won’t need to worry about additional property expenses that would come with owning office space or payroll for employees.
  • You can grow in the future. If you want something more than just a side gig for extra income and dream of expanding your practice beyond a one-person operation, your experience working from home can empower you for your professional future.
  • Working from home remotely allows you to provide tax preparation services to clients outside your local area, offering even more opportunities to expand your practice in the future.
  • All you need when it comes to office space is room in your home to do your work efficiently and a clean, comfortable area to meet with clients in person.

Of all the incredible benefits of working from home, perhaps the best is a complete freedom and day-to-day flexibility that comes when you start a tax preparation practice in your home.

 

Get Your Home Tax Preparation Business Started the Right Way

Running your own tax preparation practice does come to the responsibility of finding your own clients, managing your own expenses, and truly being your own boss. You need to ensure you have adequate resources for handling your clients’ needs. This includes office equipment, communication technology, and the necessary software for handling each client’s individual tax-related issues.

You also need to prepare your home to accommodate your business. This is easier for some than others, but ultimately you just need a quiet and comfortable workspace and a place to meet with clients if you plan to meet with them in person. You may also need to upgrade your tech; the right software, a newer computer, and a quality printer are crucial.

If you work with clients from your local area, you’re going to need the appropriate forms for filing local, state, and federal tax returns for them. You will also need to handle your own business expenses and tax obligations. To grow your tax preparation practice beyond a one-person operation, you can delegate these responsibilities to other employees. To become more financially stable, you may want to handle these tasks yourself.

Before you can start working from home as a tax preparer, you need to complete the necessary coursework to obtain your tax preparation certification. Depending on where you live and where you plan to practice, you’re going to need to navigate federal as well as state-level requirements. Having some professional guidance in this regard can be a tremendous asset and help you streamline the process of getting your work-from-home tax preparation business up and running. You may also need assistance completing your certification, and Universal Accounting can help.

 

Complete Required Coursework and Certification With Expert Assistance

When you first start working from home as a professional tax preparer, your first clients might be friends, family members, and neighbors, but you could quickly expand to helping other local business owners with their tax-related issues. Having the right certification is a necessity for opening such a business, but going a step further and learning how to truly take charge of your business can make working from home more efficient and rewarding.

Universal Accounting offers a wide range of courses designed to empower you as a business owner. Unlike other tax preparation courses, you can complete the Universal Accounting tax preparation course in a matter of weeks instead of months and hit the ground running with the tools you need to guide your tax preparation business into the future.

Whether you want to supplement your income by providing tax preparation services out of your home or grow into a larger business in the future, Universal Accounting offers the courses and tools you will need for success. Call us today at (877) 833-7909 for more information about our tax professional courses and how we can help you start working from home as a professional tax preparer.

How to Start an Accounting Business

Tips for Starting Your Own Accounting Business

Are you interested in taking your accounting experience further? Does the idea of starting your own business and working from home sound enticing? Accounting is one of the most flexible fields when it comes to working situations; it’s possible to land a position at a large accounting services corporation or an established local accounting company. It’s also possible to develop your own client list and become a one-person operation, offering professional accounting services to a select few. Universal Accounting offers a range of accounting courses designed to help you secure the accounting job you want or start an accounting business on your own.

 

While many accounting professionals find rewarding and fulfilling work as employees of established companies, many others are discovering the value of the flexibility and sense of ownership that comes with starting a business at home. Working from home may require more work than just accounting services; you will need to build a client list, manage your business expenses, and file the appropriate business and tax paperwork with the appropriate local, state, and federal agencies. Most accounting professionals who decide to work from home find these additional responsibilities to be well worth the effort.

 

Why You Should Consider Starting Your Own Accounting Practice

Modern life may be incredibly fast-paced and over-saturated with technology, but technological advancements have also made it easier than ever to stay connected with others and to do professional work remotely. Companies in various industries have started relying more heavily on telecommuting over recent years, attracting top talent from well outside their local areas by offering them the tools to do their work remotely on their own schedules. This flexibility is great for businesses and even better for individuals for several reasons:

  • Working from home enables you to more easily balance your career and personal responsibilities.
  • If you work from home managing your own business, your personal success hinges on the effort you put into your accounting practice.
  • You always have room to grow. If your accounting business really takes off, you could secure a high-paying position at a large accounting firm thanks to your experience or eventually open up your own local accounting practice and hire a few employees to handle more clients.
  • For accounting professionals with young children, working from home can offer peace of mind and save a surprising amount of money considering the cost of daycare.
  • When you manage your own accounting practice yourself from home, you have the freedom to work whenever you want, as hard as you want. You don’t need to juggle vacation time or paid time off to manage things like illness or family events; simply let your clients know when you’re available.
  • Working for yourself from home will empower you with invaluable business management experience.
  • As you grow your client list for your home accounting business, you will develop business contacts that can become friends and professional assets in the future.

Ultimately, starting your own accounting business and working from home offers you the chance to be your own boss and grow your business on your own terms.

 

Starting Your Home Accounting Practice the Right Way

One of the most common causes of small businesses failing is the owner failed to take full account of all the expenses tied to opening a business and keeping it running. Payroll, overhead, property leasing, utility bills, and countless other expenses can quickly pile up without a steady stream of customers or clients. When you open your own accounting practice out of your home, you generally don’t need to worry about many of the most common expenses most other small business owners face.

Since you’ll be working from home, you don’t need to invest in business property or lease an office. This is an option for the future if your business grows. For now, you just need a clean, quiet space to work and perhaps meet clients. Most modern accounting professionals will work almost entirely remotely, but if you plan on meeting with clients in person, make sure you have a comfortable space where you can go over the work you’ll be performing for them.

 

Prepare for Your Expenses and Tax Obligations

It costs money to open and run any business, even if you are your one and only employee. Expect to pay for a business license and the appropriate local and state licenses. You also need to prepare some type of marketing budget. Unless you already have people asking you for accounting services, you need some way of finding your first clients. Advertising locally is generally the best route for new accounting practices, and you can also offer your services to friends and family; they may not only take advantage of your services but also introduce you to new clients.

Overhead for a home accounting business can come in many other forms, including the software you need to handle client orders, a functional and reliable computer and phone system that empowers you to do timely and accurate work, and office supplies. You should also prepare to invest in a quality printer, as accounting work generally involves working with lots of different forms and documents. You can manage most of your documentation digitally, but paper copies are a necessity for many accounting projects. Finally, you also need to invest in your own professional development.

 

Complete Your Education

For your home accounting practice to succeed, you need to be able to attract and retain clients. Your qualifications as a professional accountant are crucial for not only maintaining clientele but also performing your work admirably and keeping your clientele satisfied. Whether you want to open an accounting practice out of your home as a side business for extra income or to transition to working from home as your full-time career, Universal Accounting offers a wide range of courses designed to help you get your accounting firm off the ground.

Universal Accounting can provide you with the tools to attract and retain new clients so you can start earning what you deserve for the good work you do. We offer a proven turnkey solution for building an accounting business out of your home. Call Universal Accounting today at (877) 833-7909 for more information about the accounting courses we offer and find out how we can help you start working from home as a professional accountant.