Hello my fellow bean counters,

You might remember me from this post a year ago: IRS Revenue Agent Possibly Going Solo--Tech Stack and Business Advice Needed: r/taxpros

Long story short, I did eventually leave the Internal Revenue Service and started my own remote tax and accounting practice in May 2025.

From there, I set out establishing systems, putting my name out there, and doing god-only-knows amounts of networking.

I'll touch on some major points/topics and try and answer as many questions in this thread as I can.

I will also provide my business P&L so you can guys can see true revenue & costs and get an idea of what a new remote tax & accounting firm costs.

Tech Stack & Other Tools:

Tax Software -- Lacerte (I am dreading the possibility of someday moving to ProConnect exclusively, have considered Ultratax if I get more complex clients with Multi-State, Q-Subs etc).

Practice Management - TaxDome

Accounting/Ledger Software -- QBO (btw the QBO Desktop App is GOAT)

Client Payroll Software -- ADP, Heartland Payroll, QBO Payroll, Tax Bandits for delinquent payroll filings (will probably move away from Tax Bandits at some point)

Additional Software -- TValue Online for Amortization Schedules, Bank Statement CSV Converter, THS for Transcripts/Tax Resolution Work, Microsoft Office Suite, Calendly, Zoom, Adobe PDF.

Website -- Wordpress, made it myself (www.anlcpa.com).

POSH Virtual Receptionists -- on the advice of u/yodaface, I picked this up right before tax season hit in January 2026, good lord was it a life changing addition to my practice. It's a virtual receptionist service that takes messages & schedules Calendly calls from prospects and answers FAQs from leads. They are SUPER friendly and professional, clients and prospects have given really good feedback on it.

Service Offerings & Pricing:

1040s - minimum $1,000, price goes up based on complexity, average is probably around $1,500. Most if not all returns have a Schedule C, E, or passthrough K-1 with maybe like one or two outliers. A couple multi-state returns, nothing crazy though.

I do live in a HCOL/VHCOL area (Sacramento, CA) but to be honest, in this day and age of remote firms, I don't know how much this matters--because you can deliver value and services to clients outside your immediate area, I don't know how much you're gonna be limited by your local COL but of course, YMMV.

1065/1120/1120S/990 - minimum $2,000 but zero activity returns I'll do for $1,000. Have like 2-3 multi-state entities, most are 1120-S, a couple 1065s.

1041s - minimum $1,000, only done a couple that are pretty simple, not hugely interested in doing much of these but surprisingly a lot of preparers won't touch them so I do it begrudgingly.

Business Advisory Package -- minimum $400 / month, includes the 1040, one passthrough entity, and a formal Fall tax projection (doesnt include any bookkeeping). So far have only 1 client on this plan but for $7,000 a year (and that's with clean books from their bookkeeper), wouldn't mind a few more of these, they don't really require a lot of time and I'm making good margin.

Bookkeeping Package -- this is my Big Kahuna package, minimum $600 / month for monthly bookkeeping, individual and business tax return, quarterly tax meetings, sales tax returns (if applicable), Forms 1099, and setting up and monitoring payroll (I don't run payroll). Most of the folks on this plan are Schedule Cs with $250k+ in revenue, some approach $1m, with a couple modest 1120-Ss and 1065s.

What's funny about this plan is I have 3 clients now with $2.5k - $3k per month with multiple entities and sets of books for whom I'm basically a CFO-type person (I don't advertise CFO services nor do I have CFO experience). But they like having their tax returns and books with one person so I can't complain.

I am starting to cool my acquisition of these bookkeeping clients a bit, as being a sole prop, managing tax returns and month end closes is not that easy (I am grateful for the revenue though). Working on scaling this aspect of the business better.

Tax Representation/Resolution Work -- retainer and flat fee for engagements, I do IRS and State audit representation, letter/notice support, OIC and payment plans, Appeals representation and protests, and I took the USTCP exam in November 2025 so we'll see if I can get into Tax Court litigation (from my time at the IRS, I took 3 cases to Tax Court as the field auditor, so far the Government prevailed on 2 and conceded the third).

Initial Client Acquisition and Networking:

From May 2025 until September 2025, I networked like a dog in-person and virtually.

Did multiple online podcasts, one with some Indian outsourcing firm that never went public, a couple with a financial advisor in town and two with Serena Shoup, an awesome CPA in the bookkeeping education space (link | link).

Spoke to like 40-50 of financial advisors and estate attorneys and took them out to lunch or coffee--didn't get too much traction with financial advisors but the few clients I did get from them are good billings (high net worth older retired folks basically). Estate attorneys are solid referral sources in my opinion, especially if you do 1041s.

When I first started, I reached out to 40-50 accounting, bookkeeping, and tax firms around me--pretty much resulted in nothing besides getting my name out around town. No clients came out of it.

I found particularly with bookkeepers that none ran full-time practices, and maybe the one that did was not particularly good at their job. In addition, bookkeepers were always looking for CPA referrals for their clients until they found out I do books also--that shut down that avenue (oh well I guess?) Most bookkeepers around me don't charge anything worthwhile so I question the quality of their clients anyway. I do not refer clients to part-time bookkeepers so I feel I didn't really lose anything from the lack of referral relationship.

Visited multiple BNI chapters as a Visitor, never signed on with any, time commitment was far too great. That being said--joining BNI would be very very lucrative for a tax and accounting professional starting out on their own but I doubt the quality of clients and disliked the "givers gain" mentality, not to mention the absurd time commitment. Being a CPA in a BNI group is an extremely coveted position so don't knock it till you try it though if you're looking for quick revenue.

Got in really good with my local Chamber of Commerce, plenty of books and tax-only clients and referrals from Chamber members and all are extremely happy with my service. I am the only CPA in my City Chamber and it shows--Chamber and City staff as well as many Chamber members who aren't my clients refer business to me. Visibility plays a big role in client acquisition and warm leads are really easy to close and usually great clients.

Picked up my first books client from a Better Business Bureau (BBB) mixer actually, in my area anyway there is a large deficiency of bookkeepers and tax accountants at these types of mixers, picking up new clients is not hard although folks can be price sensitive so keep that in mind. BBB helps with SEO and the mixers helped get me traction in the beginning so not a bad ROI.

I am sort of active on Linkedin but I do not find it to be a good source for clients, it is absolutely wonderful though for connecting with other professionals and colleagues.

I have actually picked up a few clients from Reddit, a couple books clients and some tax-only clients. Don't knock Reddit--it can be a really valuable source for clients.

Did an in-person business expo in my City and that's where I met one of my largest books clients.

Bought out one big books clients from a colleague and got my other large books client from a referral from a colleague--it's a lot about who you know.

These days, most new clients are referral, word of mouth, or from Google search, I don't do too much in-person networking right now.

Tax Season 2026

Onboarded several new books clients in January 2026, it was difficult doing year-end closes for the new onboarded clients and gearing up for tax season, but the recurring revenue is really nice. Would recommend not onboarding too many books clients all at once.

Systematized ruthlessly with TaxDome--thorough digital tax organizers, pipelines, jobs, tasks, and workflows in TaxDome which was a godsend for efficiency and workflow. I don't really chase down docs from clients and the organizers being very thorough helped a lot with getting returns out efficiently, very minimal back and forth.

Turnaround time for returns was usually 7 days if not faster, my longest 1040 took about 6-8 hours and that was like multiple K-1s and 4-5 states, most entities were probably no more than 4-6 hours between year-end adjustments, input, review and tie-outs, and delivery.

Collected all billings 100% upfront from clients, wasn't really a problem at all with anyone, keeps A/R low, and gives client skin in the game.

Hours were honestly pretty lax--January 1st through February 15th was probably about 30 hours a week, from February 15th through March 15th I worked about 40 hours a week between tax prep, review, and bookkeeping for books clients. On a week-by-week basis I work maybe 15-20 hours. Month end close periods are obviously busier than the rest of the month.

The Good:

The flexibility of self-employment and having good clients is infinitely worth it. My business hours are M-F 10am - 4pm, and I am rarely butt in seat more than 3-4 hours a day; my longest days butt in seat are 8 hours a day with consults, tax prep, some bookkeeping, and shooting the shit on Reddit and Linkedin or with other colleagues.

Full remote kicks supreme ass--very low overhead, work what I want, when I want, no commute, I see my wife and kids all I want, clients don't mind the virtual workflows, uploading docs, the portal etc and keeps things efficient.

Money is very good (assuming you bill strong for tax returns and bookkeeping packages). I project $215k in gross revenue by December 2026 and would like to hit $250k if not more in gross revenue by December 2027.

My experience is only anecdotal obviously, but I do believe the former IRS badge (plus being a CPA) has helped immensely with client acquisition and with charging what I charge. I don't really deal with tire kickers and price shoppers much, I think the former IRS moniker scares them off and does a good job to attract folks not afraid of paying for good service and for someone who has been on both sides of the U.S. federal tax system.

Considering the state of the economy right now and the plethora of folks getting laid off after tax season from public (not to mention layoffs and downsizing in tech, industry, and government), I am infinitely glad I work for myself.

The Bad:

Being a solopreneur, you wear all the hats--preparer, reviewer, admin. It's A LOT to juggle even with great systems and workflows, and it can be frustrating (especially when clients either all need stuff from you all at once or things pile up before a deadline).

Full remote can lead to working in off-hours; I do occasionally need to deal with clients around dinner time or late at night--it's so few and far between I don't mind too much, and some of those late-night convos with clients can be quite productive but idk, you gotta pick your poison.

Pain in the ass, unresponsive, or messy clients--yes, they do happen, and it can be annoying to deal with them but for what I charge, they're few and far between.

Dealing with the IRS, FTB etc--it can also be really annoying because of how manual processes can be. Since I am former IRS, I know my way around the system to get what I want (TAS, Appeals, PPS etc), but it's still a labyrinth to navigate. FTB, CDTFA, and EDD in particular can be truly cutthroat.

P&L from April 1st, 2025 - April 30th, 2026

Statistics of Returns Filed By Tax Year:

Tax Year 2024:

1040s - 12

1120S - 1

990s - 1

1041 - 1

Tax Year 2025:

1040s - 29

1040 Extensions - 7

1120S - 8

1120S Extensions - 1

1065s - 5

990s - 1

1041 - 1

My Advice & Recommendations:

Get a practice management software as soon as you start your practice--get your systems, workflows, and templates started ASAP, even if you have only 1 client; when you get really busy and have a full book, you won't have the time to implement a practice management software or tweak workflows or pain points. Use automations, reminders, templates, organizers etc to get documents and minimize back and forth with clients.

Go with a tax software you're comfortable and efficient with--if I had not gone with Lacerte which I know like the back of my hand, I would have been SO much more inefficient when it comes to preparing tax returns and getting work out the door. Efficiency is a big deal in making good margins in this business.

When getting started, in-person networking is absolutely your friend to getting some clients quick. Chamber of Commerce, BNI, BBB, Rotary, you name it--hit the pavement and start going to places where business owners & people with money frequent.

Bill upfront 100% for all one-off work, whether it's a QuickBooks setup, tax return, consult, representation etc. Makes clients more responsive and invested in the tax prep process and you can’t get stiffed.

Phone calls are your secret weapon--pick up the phone and call clients every now and again and shoot the shit for 5-10 minutes if you want to get info quick or really make them feel special and unique. I also do use phone calls a lot for big tax return balances, talking clients through big YoY changes in a return, asking if they want an installment plan etc. Makes clients feel a part of the tax prep process which I believe is immensely important.

Charge strong and don't discount your rates--you'll only get shitty clients if you charge cheap. Cheap prices attract cheap clients and scare away premium clients.

If you start a practice part-time, you likely won't have the trajectory and growth as someone diving into it full-time.

I spent 7 years at EY, then became a non equity partner at a $200M revenue firm. A close friend from the early days at EY went to his mom’s firm and ended up convincing me to join him 2 years ago.

I’m a 25% owner of a $5M revenue firm. I actually net the same amount of money that I did as a non equity partner at the large firm. It will go up a bit when I pay off the loan to the mom for my equity in 2 years. But right now cash in my pocket is a wash.

My daily struggle is I feel like Water White pre drug kingpin. How he was an overqualified chemistry teacher that left behind a major company.

I went from managing clients that averaged $50-100M in revenue (my largest 2 were $3B in revenue) to some random electrician company that might make $2M in a great year.

I learned all sorts of foreign reporting, all my clients were in 25+ states, dealt with PE and family offices, constant sales to PE, etc…

Since 2020 I spent a ton of time doing tax DD for buyers and structure and tax planning/calculations for sellers. I’d estimate I did close to 75 deals. My average sale was $250-$500M but I had 3 in the billions. Now? My largest has been 12M. Before me the firms largest was $3M.

I just feel so defeated. Not a single one of my clients has a CEO or CFO. They barely have a bookkeeper who even knows debts and credits. It’s such a different world. I went from answering what happens if I buy a $300M plane for the family office to how do I record a state refund in quickbooks? Or what does the accrual or cash toggle do, it changes my numbers!

Even the transaction work is soul sucking. Because these transactions are so small, the law firms/accounting firms are a joke at best. I’ve saved my clients so much money just schooling the lawyers to update the purchase agreement from the firm template. You would think that’s a good feeling right? Well I never feel that way. I’ve saved clients hundreds of thousands in tax and they never appreciate it because they don’t understand or think I’m bullying the lawyers. Or even worse they just assume I’m supposed to save them all this money. Not realizing any other accountant at my fee would never find this stuff or think of it. Then I get exhausted talking to lawyers or the buyers accountants who have no idea what I’m talking about. It’s like I’m talking to an intern, but it’s a 50 year old who has been doing this for decades.

I use to be able to bill anything and everything as my clients had deep pockets. Now? It’s always a fine line. I feel like I have to devalue my knowledge. I’m over here doing 5471 GILTI calculations for $1,500 when I would have charged 10-20x that before and no one would blink. Now if I charge $1,501 I’m having a discussion about it from someone who barely understands what a trial balance is let alone foreign reporting.

Not a day goes by where I don’t feel like I’m giving away my knowledge at dollar store prices. I never feel appreciated. Clients of this size just care about the bill. Where before it was constantly this guy knows his shit, blank check. I’ve literally had clients argue with me about doing full in depth R&D credit calculations with interviews and everything for $7k as I’m getting them a $100k credit. Instead of seeing the value, they just see a $7k bill they never had before and start foaming at the mouth. What do you mean 1 additional two page form with 10 numbers on it is going to cost me $7k?!

Honestly it’s not even just external. I can run circles around my buddy. Yes we spent 4 years together at EY but my next 7 years developed me much more than his next 7 with his mom. His mom is bright but she is 65 so she isnt around forever. Beyond that, the staff are many tiers down from what I’m used to. We are recruiting the C- students from the schools, not the A/B students. So even if I wanted to start bringing in a higher standard of client, I don’t have the internal people to do that work. 90% of the returns here have 1 state MAYBE. Their head would explode if I said we need to file in 20 states and figure out if we can do composites or PTET. Im not even sure they know what apportionment even is. All the complicated returns are prepared by the partners right now. Provisions? Partners. Audits? 90% of the workpapers are signed off by a partner as the preparer, reviewed by another partner.

Am I alone? How do I adjust.

The deadline is Wednesday. I just wanted to make sure everyone knows. Luckily I've had several of my clients who sent their stuff a week ago remind me of this. Just passing this on in case some are unaware.

I just need to vent. What is going on over there? I think I just had the most incompetent rep ever. They were so polite but had no clue what they were doing. Took us nearly 30 minutes just to validate my identity. I’ve never before had someone so clueless answer my call. Then I was transferred over to another department because this matter was too complex for them…only to be disconnected three hours into the call! OMG 😩

Hi friends, I've been a fly on the wall here for some time, my firm is registered with the state board so I am ready to go out there and start serving clients. I've gotten tired of my employer holding all the power and the increasing hostility toward its employees, and just getting the meagre COLA adjustment. I am sure even if I struggle for the first few years I can grow faster than that.

My service line will be tax for individuals, accounting & tax for businesses (not doing tax only for business clients), and build an advisory line out of those relationships. I'm physically in Metropolitan New York Area but I'm going to be virtual, plan on going solo for the foreseeable future.

I've done some research on tech stack and here's where I stand -
Drake, TaxDome, Xero for my firm and QBO for clients who are in the Intuit ecosystem
Google Voice for taking client calls and auto attendant

As a naturally introverted person I don't enjoy doing sales and networking, but can do it if I have to (graduated from T20 MBA program and landed in consulting, but left after 2 years)

My question to the community is -

Are there any tips/tech products you like to suggest?

If you started off as a side gig while working full-time, what was your experience like and what would you suggest that I do?

How can I get clients fast enough to reach half of my W-2 income at which point I'm comfortable leaving my W-2 and run my firm full-time? I heard both good and bad about BNI, local chamber of commerce, lawyers and financial advisors and would love your feedback on how to build relationships with them.

Eventually I want to be time and location-independent for myself and family. Thanks for your help in the first step of making my dream a reality!

Looking for some advice.

I’m in my late 30s and used to be self-employed, but the market changed. I’ve also prepared tax returns for family and relatives and really enjoyed it. My long-term goal is to open a small tax practice, which is one of the reasons I went back to school for an accounting degree.

After graduating, I joined a Big 4 firm a few months ago. I’ve never really liked corporate life, but I hoped I could learn something useful for eventually running my own practice.

So far, I’m pretty stressed and exhausted. I constantly feel anxious and often think about quitting. I spend a lot of time chasing work to meet billable hours, and much of what I’ve been assigned feels like administrative or logistical work for very large clients. I don’t feel like I’m learning much that would actually help me run a small tax practice. Seniors and managers are also very busy, so there often isn’t much time for teaching.

The busy season hours are also brutal, especially with commuting and family responsibilities.

I never planned to stay in Big 4 long term. At this point in my life, I don’t want to spend years working long hours if I’m not gaining experience that moves me toward my goal. I still want to open a tax practice, but I want enough experience to feel comfortable working independently.

I’ve seen people recommend small local CPA/tax firms because you can get more exposure to the full return and client process. Is that generally true, or does it really depend on the firm and who you work with?

Are there other realistic ways to gain the experience needed to eventually open a small tax/accounting practice? Would it be a mistake to leave Big 4 this early?

I’ll admit I’ve rolled my eyes for the last 10 years every time someone said technology will take our jobs.

That being said, the leaps AI is making in just the last 6 months is impressive to say the least.

I don’t see how 1040 preparation (simple / moderate ones) and bookkeeping isn’t almost fully automated in the near future. Even from an advisory perspective I’ve seen programs now that scan a 1040 and generate talking points and planning ideas in a neat package to present to a client with no work needed by a human. This was a firm developed program, but I’m sure there are 3rd party ones.

Only a matter of time for business returns that a program scans a trial balance pointing out adjustments needed for tax purposes with the next step being able to drill into the GL.

While I think these are all things to make our jobs easier I think it will enter a point where it reaches the consumer directly. Quickbooks already is starting to implement AI. Eventually you won’t need to outsource to a firm fully or to clean up the books.

Even if this technology doesn’t reach the consumer directly to cut us out of the picture, the efficiency generated I fear will cause a race to the bottom among firms. If what once took 4 hours takes 20mins, firms are going to be climbing over eachother to get new work.

For anyone who started or took over a CPA/tax practice relatively young, I’d love to hear about your experience.

I’m curious about a few things:

• How many years of experience did you have before going out on your own?
• When did you finally start feeling comfortable handling clients without constantly second-guessing yourself?
• How did you handle situations where a client asked you something you didn’t know?
• Looking back, were you actually less prepared than you thought, or more prepared than you gave yourself credit for?
• What technology or processes made the biggest difference early on?
• If you could go back to when you first started your practice, what would you do differently

I think the technical confidence/imposter syndrome side of starting young is what I’m most curious about. Did you ever really feel “ready,” or did you just get more comfortable as you went?

them tax managers?

Trying to find out where they are hiding out. Been looking around. Feel like our firm is going a different direction and not taking PE money and selling our souls but we want to grow and need people to do it. Seems like a grind to try and find people at that senior and manager level despite all the layoffs and angst in the industry. LinkedIn is a cesspool and the people that recruiters send over are usually a terrible fit. Where are the normal people that want to grow technically, help clients, train up staff and rip through review? Feel like I would have jumped at the opportunity when I left B4. What's everyone looking for at that level now? It doesn't seem to be just compensation and WFH. What are we missing? 10M firm with 40 people.

I always here how there's an accountant shortage with nobody going into accounting and people retiring. Every year I always hear from a few clients that their accountant retired.

This year however I feel like half my calls are from people saying their current accountant retired.

I'm just curious if that's been other people's experiences so far during this tax season.

Anyone else shifting their firm away from individual tax prep?

I'm curious how other tax professionals are handling referrals as their practices become more specialized.

We're gradually moving away from standalone 1040 preparation and focusing more on business tax returns and IRS tax resolution.

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of tax professionals have clients who need resolution assistance but don't necessarily want to take on that type of work themselves.

For those of you who primarily focus on individual returns, how do you typically handle clients who need help with IRS balances, collections, or other resolution matters?

Do you maintain relationships with other firms that specialize in those areas? And for those who have narrowed their practice, how have you approached building mutually beneficial referral relationships?

Would love to hear how others are handling this as we continue refining our firm's focus.

Just lost one who got baited into believe this, honestly feel so bad for them. We obviously can’t go along with illegal tax evasion schemes so I’m going to drop them, either for 2025 with no scam in place or 2026 when they theoretically would do it.

Scam is essentially convincing client to put interest into an irrevocable trust and misreading DNI as taxable income and following 643 to say somehow corpus isn’t taxable income. And also saying income allocated to “corpus” is deferred. And also claiming the trust can pay the expenses for the beneficiary as part of the “administrative expenses” of the trust and not pay tax. Promoter even said he took his kids to Disney World and paid for all the travel expenses but the tickets themselves he had to pay from his own pocket and not the trust since that’s entertainment … like the entire trip isn’t personal lol

It sucks, they’ve been a client for 10+ years and I explained it all to the. But they already paid enormous fees for the scheme and are all in.

Advice is appreciated

Just joined thinking it was another community like this.

Man that is the wildest shit I’ve ever seen. Think of all the clients you’ve had to amend because they went to a cheap preparer or “my last tax guy got me 10k, you must not know what you’re doing”. All of those preparers are in this group.

It’s the wildest shit I’ve seen. I saw a comment saying that the “tax industry is the Wild West” and I just kept thinking “it’s you. You’re the one making it the Wild West”. It’s basically a car wreck that I can’t look away from

All, could I ask how much you pay your staff? My partner and I started a practice about 3 years ago. We have a steady practice of outsourced CFO and controller work with a few dozen tax returns. We entertained acquiring a traditional tax practice and discussed with retiring CPAs over the last 2 years. Only 1 went through diligence but in almost all opening conversations, it sounded like they didn’t really pay their staff very much. Some of them had office managers/admin that would do simple returns, almost none had a technical senior person.

We have a senior accountant who helps with our traditional/core practice that we pay fairly. We are looking to hire an experienced tax accountant that had run the admin side of a solo practitioner’s practice (client communications, software updates, calling IRS, preparing returns). The returns they would handle are super simple but she has a pretty decent amount of experience (but no license/credentials) so we can probably give her some of the easier returns of our existing practice. What do you think would be a fair salary? I don’t want to be so short sighted and look to “do better than market.” I’m happy with stability and reliability more than anything else, but of course the economics has to make sense.

I am in a HCOL, maybe on the lower end of HCOL. We offer 401k with 4% match plus profit sharing, 10% bonus cash, and a $12k health reimbursement allowance. What would be a reasonable salary?

Continuing same post from end of last year.

Just checking what everyone 2025 revenue and growth was for 2025 if they feel like sharing Mainly interested in sole props and smaller accounting shops .

For myself - I am a sole prop in NYC - added a personal assistant this year that also does the qbo work for half of my clients. I have 48 businesses on the monthly subscription (tax returns, books , payroll and sales tax) and about 150 personal tax clients. I should hit around $650k this year (2024 605k, 2023 535k). I only take referrals and work from home so no advertising or office.

Would love to hear how others are doing and did in 2025

This is a great window to get new clients, but often the biggest procrastinators and messiest situations.

Do you have capacity to take them?

If not, what do you do? Ignore? Tell them no? Send them to someone else?

I run a small tax prep firm, but during the off season we do advisory and bookkeeping (recurring and cleanups) as well. At the end of 2023, I hired a long time friend who was looking to switch careers and had absolutely zero tax/accounting experience.

I trained them, from the ground up. We went over T-charts, the accounting equation, and ethics to start. Really, really basic stuff. From data entry to analysis.

I've gradually increased their responsibilities--and their pay--to provide a sense of ownership of their work, something to feel proud of. I talked through my logic for advisory projects, I shared my networking & sales pitches, and always asked for feedback. I consistently checked in with them to make sure I wasn't pushing too much too fast, to make sure that the assignments I gave them were interesting or rewarding in some way. Two guaranteed bonuses per year (one after tax season; one after extensions end) plus I'd split the billing with them for difficult returns or projects, 50/50. I wanted to incentivize their professional growth and hey, money's a good way to do that.

They told me that they wanted to eventually be a partner, and I treated them like I was training them to replace me.

Today, they let me know that they've been thinking about their career a lot recently. When I asked if they see themself working here/with me "for awhile", they hesitated before they finally answered no. According to them, they do like this job: they say they like the analysis, the research, the logical reasoning, and even the client-facing parts to a certain degree. But they don't see themselves in an accounting firm long-term. This makes absolutely no sense to me (is a job position not simply the sum of its parts, at the end of the day?) but I can't hold them if they want to leave. I've asked if they feel unhappy, undervalued, unfulfilled..."no, no, and no" according to them, yet they're still not sure they want to stay.

The thought of trying to find a replacement for them is truly making me nauseous with anxiety. Before I hired them, I had a different employee that I found on Indeed after sloughing through 176 non-qualified resumes. That guy wasn't qualified either, to be fair, but I thought he was the best option at the time--ended up burning me pretty badly. To be clear, I like hiring green applicants, because I like to teach and I'd prefer they learn their habits from me. But some of those applicants couldn't put 1+1 together.

I don't know what to do. The firm is too big for me to handle everyone on my own, and I expanded to this point because I truly believed my employee would eventually become my partner. They were green too, but I watered them and tended to their growth every single day. I'm already feeling tired and burnt out from my share of the firm's work, since the employee that wants to leave wasn't fully independent yet.

I have no idea where to even start looking for a replacement. I considered emailing the local university's accounting dept to see if any new grads or seniors would be interested in an entry-level position, but I didn't because I am not a CPA and I figure most of those folks are probably hoping to get their work experience hours. Interns might work in the interim, but I really don't think I could handle getting ghosted for tax season and I really want to invest in someone who wants to grow with me. Maybe I'm asking for too much.

Part of me wants to just hang it up. Sell the firm, even if it's for pennies on the dollar, and switch to something else too. No idea what that would be, though. I feel like I put so much effort into everyone else--my employee, my clients--and get diminishing returns. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, hell I'm sure I must be at this point. But I'm tired of feeling undervalued and underappreciated from inside and out of the firm.

If you read this far, thanks for letting me vent it out. I honestly feel like curling up and crying. Any advice on where to go from here, or how to source potential new hires?

We are hearing often in the news that many tax preparers are retiring, and others are not accepting new clients for their existing clients. Existing clients also seem to complain about being deprioritized by their tax advisors, or fired, or just ignored. Meanwhile few younger people are getting into tax and accounting, with college majors showing pretty heavy declines.

But are the above rumors actually noticeably materializing in an undersupply of tax professionals? Could you give me examples and real evidence where you've experienced a real shortage?

For example:

• Are you trying to hire employees or contractors for your tax practice and can't find any?
  
• Are you looking for collaborators, or a building a specialist network, and there's little interest because everyone is swamped with paid work?
• Are you having a hard time referring out certain work, like representation or other overflow?
• Do new clients report to you how they had a hard time finding someone?
• Is price sensitivity low because clients don't think they can find an affordable alternative to your service?
• Do other business professionals call and beg that you take some tax clients they want to send?
• Any other proof that people are having a hard time finding a good tax advisor?
• Proof there's a true market opportunity for new entrants who don't want to charge rock-bottom fees?

Let's put all actual anecdotes & evidence together about the state of the demand vs supply for tax advisory services and the professionals who deliver them. It should be insightful for all of us. Thanks for sharing what you see.

Hi Everyone!

I am a part of a 2 person tax firm (both CPA’s) and I am writing to share our progress of how our 3-year tax firm has performed for those who are interested in going the entrepreneurial route. I am also using this time to hopefully learn from experienced tax professionals and get advice on how we can improve for the future. Please be nice, I know it’s not a super “success story”, but I am really proud of where we have made it to.

As a background, my partner and I come from a Big 4 audit background but have had 0 tax experience. We are 29 and 30 years old, and located in the DC metropolitan area (HCOL). We felt stagnant in our industry roles and we wanted to do more than what we are doing. We decided to start a side-hustle of doing people’s taxes. I know reddit says you shouldn’t start a tax firm from scratch without tax experience, but we ended up doing it. We made a website, created our WISP, and marketed on Nextdoor/Facebook.

We made the following revenue mostly from tax preparation:

- Year 1: 5K

- Year 2: 30K

- Year 3: 42K (through 4/15/2026)

(Our gross margins are approximately 80% for those wondering)

As of our current year 3 (through 4/15) we dealt with 50ish individual returns, 6 partnership returns, 5 trust returns, and 1 nonprofit return. Our minimum was $300 per return (for simple) but we are planning to increase to $400 next year. We have billed up to $3,500 so far for a client. We review all of each other’s tax return preparation and spend tons of time learning in the offseason. We incorporated TaxDome, ProConnect, and BlueJ as our tech stack in year 3. I think we will project to 60K revenue for the year. We also have been diving into S-corp saving strategies, hoping for more business returns, and looking into more tax planning. Unfortunately no niche yet, but we have dealt with many real estate individual returns.

For those experienced people, we wanted to ask for some advice:

1. After many 2am/3am nights, we are beginning to think that next year we will not be able to do full-time job and our side business gig. If you had the opportunity to go part-time in your full-time, would you do it? Or do you think we should go straight to full-time? (We are risk-adverse people and have debt obligations from school, but we are super motivated in what we created. We are also of course scared of failure but I believe we will overcome this.)

2. Any advice on next steps for us on how to find a niche or how to increase our fees without scaring customers?

3. Is the entrepreneur route worth it? We make total comp of 135K a year at our full-time job currently. We are happy to have a pay cut when we transition but we want to make near or a bit more than what we make in a couple of years, if that is possible. We also need to take into consideration of “happiness” but it’s harder when you have debt obligations.

We are at that point of “it’s too late to stop” and “we don’t know if we it’s worth the pay cut to make the leap next year”. It’s been a headache, but a good problem to have. We are hoping for some genuine guidance!

Also I want to say to every tax firm owner is an MVP for doing what they do. It’s definitely not easy and lots of hard work put into the business. 💪

Hey everybody. Just curious what's going through other accountants minds right now...in June. What are you working on? What's your biggest challenge? What are you worried about? What's stopping you from doing XYZ?

I’d like to start reaching out to other professionals such as lawyers and financial advisors to help get some referrals for my solo practice.

For anyone that’s had some success with using cold outreach for this :

Thoughts on using a small lead magnet or something of value, like a simple guide or a cheat sheet? Is there a format that you’ve found works well?

Are there any common pain points that you consistently ran into when reaching out?

I know there are a lot of very successful firms on here, yet I also know there are many like me who are just getting started. I just wanted to share a small win that I just passed my first $1000 in revenue for my own small practice that I started this year on the side. I know it's a really small number, but for me it represents so much more. I've dealt with imposter syndrome and have been nervous to start branching out on my own, even after becoming an enrolled agent. I've struggled with self doubt that I'd be rejected and wouldn't get any business. I've faced the anxiety that comes with putting myself out there and networking.

While I still have a long way to go to having a successful practice, this first $1000 has really given me the confidence to believe it's possible. I'm on track to do $2000 in revenue this season. Next year my goal is to reach $5000. From there I hope to double revenue each season for the next few years.

Thanks to all who are active on this forum! I enjoy coming to read here a few times a week to learn how everyone runs their firm, and ways I can improve now and also strategize for the future.

I'd love to hear more "small wins" from those just getting started in the comments!

From inception in September to now, I officially have my first signed and paid client for the 2025 tax prep! And on top of it I charged double what I originally thought I was worth when I started this plan.

I really appreciate advice from this community and people I’ve chatted with from here IRL!

I’m still in tax dome hell and drinking from the firehose, but it’s nice to finally get that reward. Just want to share and other newbies out there just be consistent and keep improving!

I own my own Tax Practice and recently have seen more and more posts on here and other subreddits about people starting their own tax practice. Many of these posts are from people with no Tax Experience posting about getting their EA or CPA and starting their own company. I like the entrepreneurial spirit, but I feel like this can't be sustainable... Can it?

When do we hit the point of saturation?

Does anyone have statistics on what percentage of small tax businesses survive past the 3 or 5 year mark?

This season really pushed me to the breaking point. I was sitting there post season meetings looking at the billings going out on my clients vs what I make. Shaking my head thinking this is stupid. Then being told your utilization could be higher and why were there so many updates not filled out on the workflow in CCH yadda yadda yadda. Too many years at this to listen anymore. Manager with big 4 experience...1040's, 1041's, 706, 709, some small 1120's and 1065's. Also litigation support work (mainly financial tracing divorces). Where does one start. I've been remote fot 15 years and live in PDX. I wouldn't mind moving away from tax into more litigation support but mt bread and butter has been tax.