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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

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

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

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

Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
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.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
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.
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.
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.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
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.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
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.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

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:

Attention to Detail
Integrity
Dependability
Self Control
Cooperation
Stress Tolerance

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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