🎯 The business: from January to April, you run the document desk for small CPA and enrolled-agent firms. You set up the client portal and a checklist for every client, use AI to read, name and file what clients upload, and chase whatever is missing so preparers open a complete file instead of a half-empty one. You never prepare returns or give tax advice. You handle the paper so the people with credentials can do the tax work.
At a glance
| Money to start | ≈ $590 to $1,940 |
| Time to the first paying firm | Sign in October to December for the January season |
| Hours a week | 25 to 35 from late January to mid-April; light the rest of the year |
| Skills that matter most | Order and accuracy, knowing what a W-2, 1099 and K-1 look like, polite persistence with clients |
| What it can pay | About $9,900 for a season with three firms, before tax (worked below) |
Is this for you?
It suits someone who likes a clean checklist and does not mind sending the fourth polite reminder. A background in bookkeeping, a tax office front desk or office administration helps, and so does an accounting major.
It is a poor fit if you need even income all year. Most of the money arrives in about four months. It also needs serious care with data: you will see Social Security numbers, wages and bank details for hundreds of people, and federal law treats misuse of that information as a crime.
Who pays, and what
Solo CPAs, enrolled agents and small tax practices preparing roughly 200 to 2,000 returns a season. Their worst weeks are spent not on tax work but on chasing paper: the client who sent one W-2 out of two, the brokerage form that arrived as a phone photo, the K-1 nobody knew was coming.
Software already exists. TaxDome, Canopy, SmartVault and Karbon all offer client portals, organizers and automatic reminders; TaxDome costs about $800 to $1,200 per user a year, by review-site reports. The gap is not software. It is the setup and the daily work: building each client’s checklist from last year’s documents, writing reminders clients actually answer, and checking that what arrived is complete and readable.
Price: an estimate of $1,500 to $5,000 for a season package, or a per-return fee of about $5 to $15, depending on how much of the chasing you take on.
What it takes to start
| LLC and city or county license | $150 to $500 |
| One paid AI account on a business plan | About $240 a year |
| Errors and omissions insurance (an estimate; get quotes) | $0 to $700 first payment |
| Security basics: password manager, encrypted laptop, a privacy screen | $50 to $200 |
| Simple website, domain, business email | $50 to $150 |
| Your own written information security plan (free IRS template; your time) | $0 |
| Training: a practice-management tool’s free course, plus a tax-basics course if you need one | $100 to $150 |
| All-in | ≈ $590 to $1,940 |
The firm pays for its own portal and keeps every client file in it. You work inside their accounts. Do not download client documents to your own computer or upload them to your personal AI account.
Start to finish: the steps
1. Learn the documents. Know a W-2, the common 1099s (NEC, INT, DIV, B, R), 1098 mortgage interest, 1095-A and a K-1 on sight, and roughly when each arrives. You are sorting, not interpreting, but you must know what you are looking at.
2. Learn one portal well. Pick the one most small firms near you use, often TaxDome or Canopy, and take its free training. Firms that already own a portal are your easiest sale: they paid for it and never set it up fully.
3. Write your security plan. Tax preparers count as financial institutions under the FTC Safeguards Rule, so the firm must have a written security plan and must check that its service providers protect the data. Use the IRS’s free template (Publication 5708) to write your own. Firms notice when a vendor brings one.
4. Make the business legal. Register the business, get the local license and a business bank account, and price errors and omissions insurance. See Contracts, client data and AI rules for the contract terms you need.
5. Sell in the fall. Firms decide their season setup from September to December. After January they have no time to talk.
6. Build each client’s checklist. From last year’s file, list every document the client should send this year. Load the list into the portal’s organizer and set reminders: a friendly first request in early January, then reminders when forms are due to arrive and every week or two after.
7. Run the desk daily. As uploads come in, AI tools inside the portal (or an approved business AI account the firm signs off on) read each document, name it and file it. You check every match, flag unreadable pages, and send short, specific "still missing" messages. A file moves to the preparer only when it is complete or the preparer says go.
8. Handle the stragglers. From March, the work is late K-1s, corrected 1099s and clients who vanished. Track them on one list the firm partner reviews weekly, so extensions get decided early.
9. Close the season and re-sign. In May, send each firm a one-page season report: files completed, average days to complete, top missing documents. Book next season before summer.
Pricing
| Portal and checklist setup only | $750 to $1,500 once |
| Season package, small firm (setup plus January to April desk) | $1,500 to $5,000 |
| Per-return fee instead of a package | $5 to $15 a return |
| Extension season (May to October), light chasing | $150 to $400 a month |
| Extra work outside the agreement | $35 to $60 an hour |
The package and per-return ranges are research estimates; the rest are example prices. Bill a deposit before January and the rest monthly through the season, so you are not waiting until May to be paid. More in Pricing AI and IT services.
The math
Take one season with three firms. Firm A has 600 returns at $10 each: $6,000. Firms B and C each buy a $2,500 season package: $5,000. Revenue is $11,000. Costs for the season: about $500 for insurance, $200 for AI and software, $100 for security tools, $200 for marketing and $100 for licenses, $1,100 in all. That leaves about $9,900 before tax for roughly 450 hours from December to April, or about $22 an hour.
That hourly figure is modest in the first year. It rises in the second season, when checklists already exist and returning clients answer faster, and when you add a fourth firm without adding much setup. Set aside a quarter to a third of profit for income and self-employment tax; see Small business taxes.
Getting customers
Start with your own preparer. The CPA or enrolled agent who does your family’s taxes, a bookkeeper you have worked for, a professor who still runs a small practice. Tax firms hand client files only to people someone can vouch for, so the first three clients come through trust.
A plan for the first ten. In September, list 50 small tax practices nearby from your state CPA society’s directory and the IRS directory of federal tax return preparers. Send 50 short emails, call the 20 that open them, and aim for 6 conversations and 2 or 3 signed firms for the season. Attend one state CPA society chapter or enrolled-agent chapter meeting in the fall. Expect 2 to 4 firms in the first season.
Hi Mr. Lee, I run a document desk for small tax practices during filing season. I set up each client’s checklist in your portal, sort and name what they upload, and chase what’s missing, so your files are complete before you open them. I don’t prepare returns or give advice, everything stays inside your portal, and I bring a written security plan. Could we talk for 15 minutes this month about next season, before January gets busy?
Channels, best to worst for tax firms.
1. Referrals from firm owners: practitioners talk at CPE events and chapter meetings.
2. State CPA society and enrolled-agent association chapters: meetings, newsletters, sometimes a vendor list.
3. Your portal’s partner or consultant listing, if the vendor offers one.
4. LinkedIn: firm owners read short posts on "how we cut missing-document emails".
5. Bookkeepers who send clients to a tax preparer; they can introduce you.
6. Google Business Profile, for firms that look you up after a referral.
7. Upwork: some firms post seasonal "tax document assistant" jobs, but expect low rates.
8. Paid ads: last. Owners rarely buy this from an ad.
Turn clients into proof. Measure two numbers all season: days from first request to complete file, and how many files reached the preparer complete. Ask each partner for a short quote in May and one introduction to a colleague, ideally in another town. More in the launch and marketing playbook.
Running it week to week
In season: work the upload queue every morning and afternoon, send missing-document messages twice a week, and give each partner a short Friday list of files that are stuck. Spot-check AI filing every day, because one W-2 filed under the wrong client is a privacy breach. Out of season: keep extension clients moving, fix last season’s checklist problems, and sell next season.
Rules to check
Tax-return information (IRC 7216). Federal law makes it a crime for anyone involved in preparing returns to disclose or use a client’s tax information without consent, outside narrow exceptions. A firm may pass information to a U.S.-based helper who provides support services for preparing the return without asking each client, and that helper is then treated as a "tax return preparer" under the same rules (Treasury Regulation 301.7216-2). That means you. Use client data only for this firm’s work, never for your own marketing, and do the work from inside the U.S. Uses beyond that need the client’s written consent in the format the IRS sets (Rev. Proc. 2013-14 for individual returns; Rev. Proc. 2008-35 for others), one separate consent per use. The civil penalty is $250 per disclosure, up to $10,000 a year (IRC 6713), on top of the criminal exposure.
AI tools. The IRS has not issued AI-specific guidance on this rule. Commentators say sending return data to an outside AI service may need client consent naming that recipient. The safe course: use AI only inside the firm’s portal or under a business AI agreement the firm has approved in writing, with training on customer data turned off. The firm decides whether consent is needed, not you.
Data security. Tax preparers are covered by the FTC Safeguards Rule. The firm needs a written information security plan and must oversee service providers like you. Since May 2024, a breach of unencrypted information affecting 500 or more people must be reported to the FTC within 30 days. Use multi-factor sign-in everywhere, an encrypted laptop and no personal email.
No tax work. You do not prepare returns, enter data into tax software, or answer "can I deduct this?". If a firm wants any of that, ask whether it needs a PTIN from the IRS first, and keep advice with the credentialed people.
What goes wrong
A document is filed under the wrong client and that client sees a stranger’s W-2; check matches by name and Social Security number’s last four, every time. A firm asks you to "just send it through ChatGPT" on a personal account; say no, in writing. Clients go silent in March and the firm blames the desk; agree in advance how many reminders you send and when the partner calls. A brokerage sends corrected 1099s in March and a finished file reopens. And the season ends on April 15 but the money does not arrive until June because you billed at the end; take a deposit.
Questions people ask
Do I need a PTIN to help a tax preparer during tax season?
Not for collecting, sorting and filing documents, which is administrative work. Anyone paid to prepare, or help prepare, all or substantially all of a federal return needs a PTIN. If a firm wants you entering data or preparing schedules, check the IRS PTIN rules first.
Can tax preparers use AI on client tax documents?
Only with care. Return information is protected by IRC 7216, and commentators say outside AI services may need client consent. Use AI only inside the firm’s portal or under a business agreement the firm approves, with data excluded from training.
How much does tax document collection software cost?
By review-site reports, TaxDome runs about $800 to $1,200 per user a year; Canopy, SmartVault and Karbon price differently. The software is the smaller cost. The setup and daily chasing are what firms hire help for.
Can a college student do this part time?
Yes, if you can give the firm reliable hours from February to mid-April, which collides with midterms, so plan for it. Accounting students fit well. International students on F-1 visas generally cannot freelance for outside clients without work authorization; a paid internship with a firm under CPT may be the route. See the student guide and ask your international student office first.
What do I do the rest of the year?
Extension clients run until mid-October, firms want next season’s checklists rebuilt in the fall, and some firms pay for help with their own year-end. Many operators pair this with bookkeeping cleanup or office automation work.
Free help
SCORE mentors and your local Small Business Development Center help with contracts and seasonal cash flow at no cost. The IRS publishes free security guidance for tax professionals (Publication 4557) and the written security plan template (Publication 5708). Portal vendors run free training. Your state CPA society and enrolled-agent association list local practices and events.
The 7216 rules, the Safeguards Rule points and software prices were checked in November 2026. Re-check software prices each fall, and watch for IRS guidance on AI and return information, which did not exist when this was written.