[NoWorriesMyAccountantHandlesThat]

Hi All – I have been working in Big 4 Tax for 2 years now (SALT) and if I am being 100% transparent, I am not satisfied. The end goal has always been to eventually be my own boss, meaning either open up my own CPA firm or buy in as a partner at a smaller firm. I recently started a side hustle of doing tax returns for individuals (yes I know this isn’t allowed but neither is taking a pen home with you from the office). My question is does anyone have any advice as I begin this tax prep business? I currently have 63 individuals & businesses that I will be filing for this year and am looking to sustainably grow this practice until it is deemed lucrative enough to make a full time career. If anyone has any experience in this I would love to speak in greater detail but any advice is great advice. Fire away ninja’s.

[Number_cruncher32]

I am interested in starting my own tax prep business and I was impressed thst you are able to do it on the side while still working a full time job with a Big 4 firm. I was curious, how did you obtain your 63 clients? Did you advertise? If so, in what type of forum? How long did it take you to accumulate thst many clients?

[jeff]

“If that CPA with 4-5 years of school, one or more degrees, and 4 passed exams is charging less than H&R Block, they are screwing the rest of us.”

They aren't screwing you. It's your job to show the value you provide vs the others and differentiate.

Only 10% of customers use price as their first factor anyway. 5% automatically go with the lowest price. 5% go with the highest price.

[Recked]

Very valid point, as always.
I manged to land a client this year that legit paid $40 for a tax return last year.
The preparer actually did time for tax fraud about 10 years ago.
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They were not happy with the bill and I negotiated it down (before starting).
Ended up over time on it, of course, but I definitely over serviced that client to show the value.
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I've lost more than 5 new clients this year based off of price alone.
All were people who had always done the taxes themselves, but the returns were getting more complicated so they wanted to go to an accountant. Most were self employed or side gigs, so I knew it was going to be some intense hand holding and loads of questions like what can I deduct.
Hate to lose a client, but I'm not going to cut my rates for those headaches.
–
Funny enough every client that was hesitant about the price but went with me anyway, always seems to thankful to have found me. Even got a number of thank you cards this year. That always shows me I did a good job and I save them, I've collected quite a stack.

[jeff]

You might consider a prepared response when people object to price…walk them through mistakes you've seen that led to big penalties, not to mention having the feds in their life.

I would then offer to give them a few numbers of “cheaper” accountants they can call.

They will likely go with you once they see you don't need them.

If you haven't read it – go read the book “Influence”. It's in my list of top-7 business books.

[NE CPA]

Great thread. Are there any additional resources (books, sites) that lay out starting your own practice? This forum is great, however the focus is very different.

One of the main reason's I am pursuing the CPA is to start my own practice. I work in a standard corporate accounting focused role and I'd like to make a shift away from paycheck jobs. Besides the scaling the CPA exam mountain, I imagine, I would either need to work at a smaller shop to get some practice or launch things on my own on a part time basis. Lots to consider here, any insight would be appreciated.

[Author]

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