Starting Tax Preparation Buisness

[caramelaggie]

Hello Ladies,
A few years ago a friend of mine bought a book and started doing taxes for others the next tax season. I have now been inspired to do the same. I am presently taking classes in tax preparation and wanted to know if anyone else has done this venture and has any tips or suggestions.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[heartandsoul]

Hi Caramel

I haven't done this so I don't have any advice to give. I just wanted to let you knwo that I do think htat this is a worthwhile venture. Several people are making money by helping others do their income taxes. Best of luck. ;)

[floetry22]

Hey,
I took some tax courses with Jackson Hewitt (basic & business) last tax season and worked as a tax preparer as well. It's definitely a lucrative business to start. I believe that if you become a paid preparer (not with JH, H&R, or any other company) you would need a tax preparer ID from the IRS and a business ID depending on your state. But a tax prep ID is always good to have because you don't your ss# on everyone's tax forms. I started out targeting people with simple 1040A, EZ forms first and then you can work your way up to the harder tax returns.

[CoCo2000]

Any help would be greatly appreciated![/b]

This franchise is owned by two young brothers (I think they are cousins) and they have been around for at least 10 years in the tax preparation business:

Colbert/Ball Tax Service Franchise Information (http://www.colbertballtax.com/franchiseIndex.php)

I first read about them in an article in Black Enterprise Magazine a couple of years ago. The article is about home-based franchises and the section about their tax service is on page 2 of the article under the heading "A Taxing Way To Build A Business." I had to log onto the site in order to search for the article, so hopefully you will be able to read it from the following link:

Black Enterprise Magazine Article (http://www.blackenterprise.com/Archiveopen.asp?Source=/archive2002/09/0902-42.htm&p=1)

If not, let me know and I will post the text of the article here.

HTH

[caramelaggie]

Floetry and Coco thanks for the advice, it was some great info.