How You Can Make Money Year-Round as a Tax Preparer

With tax season finishing up, many tax professionals are experiencing a slowdown in billable client activity. But tax preparation doesn't have to be a seasonal business. You can take action now to ensure a more consistent, year-round revenue stream and take your business to the next level.

Moving Beyond Basic Tax Preparation

To thrive as a tax preparer year-round, you need to expand beyond basic 1040 and state return preparation. These are the most seasonal of all tax preparation activities. While these are foundational services, many taxpayers with uncomplicated financial situations are exploring DIY options, forcing you to compete on price alone. And of course, most of that business ends on April 15.

Here are just a couple of ideas for reducing seasonality in the business and making money year-round. (For more ideas, check out the list at the end of this article.)

In addition to tax preparation, a tax preparer can offer a range of valuable client services that help provide a better-rounded offering to clients, grow the business, and smooth out revenue to reduce the seasonality of your business. Think about areas where you already have some expertise and can add value to your existing clients and bring in new ones.

You could expand your services to include payroll, for example, to help clients ensure their employees are paid accurately and on time, and bookkeeping, which is closely aligned with tax preparation. Tax planning is another critical service that can be delivered throughout the year, helping clients strategize to minimize tax liabilities and maximize savings. (We recently discussed tax planning in this article.) You can also expand into offering clients payment and bank services, offering additional options to clients for paying tax liability, making estimated payments, and processing refunds.

If you have in-house expertise in IT support or information security, you could offer these as lucrative consulting services to clients.

Specialized Expertise

Another approach is to grow your practice as a trusted advisor for clients with more complex tax scenarios, such as those involving multinational businesses, non-profits, agriculture, investments, or real estate. By specializing in these areas, you position yourself as an expert, attracting clients who require specialized knowledge and are willing to pay for it. This is a great way to move beyond simple form completion to become a more sustainable, profitable practice.

Get Started Today

A great place to get started is to check out our marketplace partners listed on the Latino Tax Pro website. These are trusted companies we’ve worked with on a consistent basis that have just what you’re looking for.

Better still, you can jumpstart your success by checking out the Marketplace at Latino Tax Fest 2025, the premier bilingual event for tax professionals, June 16-19, 2025, at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The expanded Marketplace will feature 73 exhibitors offering cutting-edge software, tools, and services designed to help you serve clients throughout the entire year. And of course, as always, this year's Tax Fest offers the best in continuing tax education, networking opportunities, and entertainment.

By diversifying your services beyond basic preparation and embracing education and technology, you can build a robust and sustainable tax practice that thrives throughout the year. The key is identifying where you can add the most value and developing specialized expertise that clients are willing to pay for year-round.

By specializing in these areas, you establish yourself as an expert, attracting clients who require specialized knowledge and are willing to pay premium rates for it. Elevating your service beyond simple form completion is key to a sustained, profitable practice.

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A few ideas on ways to expand your tax preparation business to make money all year

  • Offer full-service payroll processing, including direct deposit and tax filings
  • Provide monthly or quarterly bookkeeping services
  • Offer financial statement preparation and analysis
  • Specialize in specific industries (e.g., restaurants, construction) to build expertise
  • Partner with banks to offer payment processing, finance and business banking services to clients
  • Offer financial planning, retirement planning, and investment advisory services (if properly licensed)
  • Provide debt management counseling
  • Become a reseller, trainer, or offer support for tax software
  • Offer customized tax software solutions for specific industries
  • Offer tax research and consulting services for complex tax situations
  • Provide tax planning and strategy development
  • Specializing in resolving tax disputes with the IRS or state tax agencies
  • Offer services such as offers in compromise, payment plans, and penalty abatement
  • Provide ongoing tax planning
  • Offer consulting services to other tax preparers on practice improvement
  • Provide training on client management, workflow optimization, and staff development
  • Provide cybersecurity consulting
  • Offer marketing services to other tax preparers, including website design, social media management, and content creation
  • Expand your business through franchising, and offer franchise opportunities to other tax preparers
  • Offer insurance products to business clients, such as liability insurance or workers' compensation
  • Launch a school or training program for tax preparers
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