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Tax Preparers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Prepare tax returns for individuals or small businesses.

Related: Accountants & Auditors Bookkeeping, Accounting, & Auditing Clerks Credit Counselors Personal Financial Advisors Tax Examiners & Collectors, & Revenue Agents

Industries: Professional, Science, & Technical

Summary
Details

Interview clients to obtain additional information on taxable income and deductible expenses and allowances.
Calculate form preparation fees according to return complexity and processing time required.
Use all appropriate adjustments, deductions, and credits to keep clients' taxes to a minimum.
Explain federal and state tax laws to individuals and companies.
Answer questions and provide future tax planning to clients.
Check data input or verify totals on forms prepared by others to detect errors in arithmetic, data entry, or procedures.
Prepare or assist in preparing simple to complex tax returns for individuals or small businesses.
Review financial records, such as income statements and documentation of expenditures to determine forms needed to prepare tax returns.
Answer questions and provide future tax planning to clients.
Furnish taxpayers with sufficient information and advice to ensure correct tax form completion.
Compute taxes owed or overpaid, using adding machines or personal computers, and complete entries on forms, following tax form instructions and tax tables.
Schedule appointments with clients.
Consult tax law handbooks or bulletins to determine procedures for preparation of atypical returns.

Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

45120/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

21.69/hr

Currently Employed

2,020

Yearly Projected Openings

270

Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:

Cautiousness
Integrity
Attention to Detail
Dependability
Achievement Orientation

Desktop calculator
Desktop computers
Notebook computers

Accounting software
Calendar and scheduling software
Compliance software
Data base user interface and query software
Document management software
Electronic mail software
Financial analysis software
Human resources software
Internet browser software
Office suite software
Project management software
Spreadsheet software
Tax preparation software
Web page creation and editing software
Word processing software

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