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Tax Preparation is a solid skill, and in the US one does not need a license to file taxes! Unfortunately, because of that there are many charlatans out there who do bad work and have no license to lose, and there are no real consequences for them. This doesn't mean that all unlicensed pros are "bad", there are honest and hard working ones, and we know quite a few of them, and support them. But there just isn't enough of them, and we need more.
As of May 2024, the accounting and tax preparation industries are in a pretty dismal state. The new generations are no longer interested in working one hundred hours a week for a resume and they are not enrolling in accounting as a major. As of 2014 (we did a study) the average number of clients who use a preparer to file their taxes (so, excluding self-file folks), there was a ratio of 916 tax returns per accounting firm, including one-person firms. This is crazy!
Comfortably and without working one hundred hours a week, 1 person can prepare 150-170 tax returns if that's all they do at work. Imagine some of these 1-person firms doing 500 or 750 or 900 returns. Do you think they don't miss something? Something big? A lot? Do you think they have time to give you tax advice? Actually reduce your taxes? We'll bet on a no. And clients pay the price by overpaying tax and making themselves targets of audits.
Accounting firms are already scrambling with hiring, citing lack of skilled labor they'd be happy to pay. And given the falling accounting enrollment in colleges and a cohort of already over-worked and soon-retiring preparers, we may be looking at a pretty huge shortage of tax and accounting professionals in the next five to ten years. AI will help supplement some things but it certainly won't fill the void, at least not for a while. So as an industry, we are in need of highly skilled and motivated individuals who can be trained to do good work.
And this is a win-win for the industry and for scholarship awardees being trained, because they will make it, don't doubt it.
The question now is: would you like to be at the forefront of this shift, set its direction, and be the first to change the trajectory of the industry, your firm, and those students we train?
We will utilize the theoretical curriculum from the IRS's VITA program training for individuals with ongoing weekly support and deep dives. The business tax prep will be covered and we are working on a relationship with theory course provider to make this happen. Business tax returns require bookkeeping knowledge (bookkeeping is the foundation of accounting) and students here will be required to pass a bookkeeping exam or previously to have been a part of the Bookkeeper Project and have completed it.
Each cohort will be supported 2-3 times a week for the duration of the program. We will hold technical sessions, Q&A, business case studies and so much more.
This program will run on a cohort-based system, just like our other projects. We will have 30 to 50 participants in the cohort to make sure that the material is well digested and can be applied. We care about the quality of these future tax preparers because they'll be working for you and others like you!
Our plans also include eventually opening up a VITA (low income tax assistance clinic) where these students can get their first experience under supervision.
This is a comprehensive project so we are looking at launching it in 2025! It is currently open to funding on a limited basis.
