As a tax preparer you work at preparing income tax forms for individuals and businesses. You can work with a firm or on your own in this type of job. This does not mean that you will only work during tax time as businesses all have different fiscal year ends and they need quarterly tax reports prepared. You might review a client's past returns, computer taxes owed from previous years or deal with the general ledger of a company. For many people, this job could be a second income if they work on their own and only choose to work during tax time.
In the position of tax preparer, you must have a thorough knowledge of tax laws and regulations. You also need to keep current on any changes for these laws each year. You will spend time interviewing clients to gain information about their financial situations so that you can claim the appropriate deductions and tax credits to reduce the amount of taxes owed as much as possible. You must be good at organizing your time and prioritizing tasks, while at the same meeting deadlines. If you work at home, your office must include all the standard office equipment, such as computer, fax machine, shredder and copier. You also need to have a manual filing system, as you will need to have copies of the income tax returns of your clients to compare them from one year to the next.
As a tax preparer, you will spend your time dealing with numbers. Your daily activities will include reviewing client financial records and tax returns, interviewing clients, consulting tax law handbooks or consulting with tax professionals online or by telephone, and reviewing and rechecking each form to detect any miscalculations or other errors before the client files it. Accounting software is essential in this job and because most income tax forms are now files online, you do need to be knowledgeable about this in order top provide this service to your clients.
While you can have an degree in accounting and work as a tax preparer, you do not need to have a university degree if this is the only type of work you do in the accounting industry. There are many colleges that offer courses that teach you the basics of tax preparation and the handbooks that come with the income tax forms are very easy to understand. If you plan to work in this job in either Oregon or California, you will need to be certified as a tax preparation specialist with as an Accredited Tax Preparer.
It would be beneficial to your accounting career to obtain the credential as an accredited tax preparer no matter what state you live in. The three –hour exam for this certification is a subset of the ABA exam (Accredited Business Accountant). If you have documentation of sixty hours of successful work in preparing taxes, you won’t have to take the exam and if you have a graduate degree, you already qualify for the certification.
