A practical workshop to turn your tax-practice idea into a launch plan
You have thought about starting a tax business. Now set aside a weekend to decide what you will offer, what it will take to operate, and what you need to do next.
In this MuseSpring workshop, tax attorney and founder Jason D. Carr, Esq., LL.M. guides you through the early decisions involved in building an independent tax preparation practice. You will work through a starting client profile, business setup questions, IRS application steps, client workflow, starter fee method, and first outreach plan.
You will leave with a launch calendar, rather than a promise that every application and approval can be finished in two days.
What You Will Build
As you follow the training, you will create:
- A clear description of the clients and returns you intend to serve first
- A list of work you will refer until you have the right training
- A business setup and application plan
- A startup budget with costs you can prioritize or defer
- A client process from first inquiry through filing follow-up
- A starter fee and scope-change method
- An outreach list and 30-day launch calendar
The workshop includes six guided work intervals so you can pause the recording, make decisions, and return with your worksheets completed.
What You Will Learn
Choose a starting service you can deliver well
Define a practical first-client profile and a preparation scope. The workshop focuses on building from individual and self-employed Schedule C work within your training, with a clear path to refer matters outside that scope.
Put the business steps in the right order
Understand the different purposes of an EIN, PTIN, and EFIN, and identify which applications fit your operating model. Paid federal return preparers need a valid PTIN before preparing returns for compensation.2 Firms seeking to e-file clients’ returns independently apply to become authorized IRS e-file providers; approval and issuance of an EFIN follow the IRS application and suitability process.56
Build a professional client process
Map how you will check fit, quote the work, set the engagement scope, collect documents securely, prepare and review the return, obtain filing authorization, and follow up with the client.
Plan for client-data security
Choose how your practice will receive, access, store, and protect sensitive taxpayer information. IRS Publication 5708 provides a sample written information security plan that smaller practices can adapt to their actual operations.8
Find your first conversations
Draft a simple explanation of whom you serve, build a warm-contact and referral-partner list, and put initial outreach and follow-up dates on your calendar.
Who This Workshop Is For
This workshop is for aspiring preparers and career changers who want to start an independent tax practice and need a practical place to begin. It also fits someone who has started learning tax preparation but has yet to turn that training into an operating plan.
You can work through it at your own pace. The exercises are designed to turn the weekend into a set of decisions and scheduled next steps.
About Jason Carr
Jason began preparing returns after leaving the Navy in 1995. He learned through a correspondence course and prepared about 50 returns during his first season using borrowed retail space, a desk, a file cabinet, and a typewriter.
Today, Jason is a tax attorney and founder of MuseSpring. He built MuseSpring to help people learn tax preparation, launch practices they own, and continue developing as tax professionals.
Your Next Step
Register for Start Your Tax Business This Weekend. Set aside time for the recording and the six work intervals, then use your completed launch calendar to keep moving.