How to Become a Tax Preparer in 2027: PTIN, Credentials and Pay

How to become a tax preparer starts with one small step: you register with the IRS for a PTIN. After that, you choose how far to go. You can stop at preparing returns, add a voluntary IRS recognition, or earn a credential that lets you speak for clients in an audit. You can add the rest as the work grows.

What Does a Tax Preparer Do?

A tax preparer collects a client’s documents, works out what they owe or what they’re due back, and files the return. BLS, in its profile of accountants and auditors, describes the tax side of the work as computing taxes owed, preparing returns and making sure taxes are paid properly and on time.

Your clients can be families, freelancers and small business owners. They hand you W-2s, 1099s, receipts and a pile of questions. Your job is to sort the pile, spot the deductions and credits that apply, and explain the result in words they can follow.

The work is a long way from audit or corporate accounting. You see the same forms again and again, and you spend your day with clients. If you like talking with people, that’s a plus. If you’d rather sit with a ledger, accounting in a company may suit you better.

How to Become a Tax Preparer, Step by Step

Here’s the usual order:

1. Get a PTIN. It’s required before you prepare a single return for pay.
2. Learn the work. Take a tax course or apprentice at a firm. Our entry-level accounting jobs guide lists places to start.
3. Check your state. A few states add their own rules, covered below.
4. Consider the Annual Filing Season Program. It’s voluntary, and it gives you an IRS record of your training.
5. Decide on a credential. The enrolled agent and CPA paths come with full representation rights.

What Is a PTIN and Why Do You Need One?

The IRS says anyone who prepares or helps prepare federal tax returns for compensation must have a valid PTIN. Most first-time applicants can get one online in about 15 minutes, and the fee is $18.75.

You’ll renew it every year, so put the renewal on your calendar before filing season. Keep in mind that the PTIN is a registration, not a qualification. It says the IRS knows who you are. It doesn’t say you’ve been tested on anything.

What Is the Annual Filing Season Program?

The Annual Filing Season Program is a voluntary IRS program for preparers without a credential. To take part you complete 18 hours of continuing education, including a six-hour federal tax law refresher with a test. You also renew your PTIN and agree to follow the IRS rules for practitioners, known as Circular 230.

Finish all that and the IRS gives you a Record of Completion for the year. Preparers who passed certain recognized tests are exempt from the refresher, though the IRS still asks them for 15 hours of continuing education.

It’s useful because it gives you something on paper. But it’s a yearly program, not a license, and the rights it brings are limited.

Tax Preparer, Enrolled Agent or CPA: Who Can Represent You?

This is the part that changes what you can offer clients. The IRS sorts preparers into groups by what they may do if a return gets questioned.

• PTIN holders without a credential can prepare returns. For returns filed after 2015, the IRS says they have no authority to represent clients.
• Annual Filing Season Program participants have limited rights. They can represent only clients whose returns they prepared and signed, and only before IRS revenue agents and customer service staff. They can’t handle appeals or collection matters.
• Enrolled agents, CPAs and attorneys have unlimited rights. They can represent clients on any matter, including audits, payment problems and appeals.

An enrolled agent is licensed by the IRS and passes a three-part exam. A CPA is licensed by a state board of accountancy. Our enrolled agent page walks through that credential, and our CPA exam page covers the other.

Which States Have Their Own Tax Preparer Rules?

Federal rules are the floor. Some states add more, and you should check yours before you take a paying client.

California runs a registration program. Its page says most people who prepare returns for pay must register, and the steps include a 60-hour qualifying education course, a PTIN and a $5,000 surety bond. Oregon says anyone who prepares Oregon personal income tax returns for pay must be licensed or registered with its Board of Tax Practitioners.

Those are two examples, not a full list. Other states have rules too, so look up your state’s tax agency or licensing board before you start.

Does an Accounting Degree Help a Tax Preparer?

You can start without a degree, because the federal rule is about the PTIN. But a degree helps in two ways. It teaches the tax and accounting material in an order that makes sense, and it opens roles beyond seasonal returns.

BLS lists a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field as the usual entry education for accountants and auditors. Tax preparers aren’t in that group, so don’t read it as a rule for this job. It does show where a degree can take you later.

If you’re working while you study, compare programs on our working adults list and check price on the cheapest programs list. Our guide on whether an accounting degree is worth it helps with the decision.

How Much Does a Tax Preparer Make?

BLS tracks tax preparers as their own group, so these figures describe the exact job. In May 2025 the median wage was $54,920 a year, which works out to $26.40 an hour. About 76,480 people held the job.

Pay spread widely. The lowest tenth earned $33,760 or less, and the highest tenth earned $99,270 or more. State matters too: New York had a median of $71,850, and Alabama had $33,280.

Those are the pay for the whole group, not a promise for your first year. Hours, clients and credentials all move the number. For a wider comparison, see our accountant salary page.

What Is Tax Season Really Like?

Busy season is real. BLS says overtime is typical for accountants and auditors at certain times of year, tax season among them. For a preparer, that means long days in late winter and early spring, and a quieter stretch afterward.

Plan for that rhythm. Some preparers fill the slow months with other work, such as year-round bookkeeping or accounting. If you want steady income, ask yourself how you’ll cover the slow months before you commit.