8 min read

How to Staff a Tax Practice for the 2027 Filing Season

Written by

Omer Bloch - CEO of Remote Latinos | 6+ years of experience in Hiring and Sales | USA

Published on

October 28, 2026

A small tax firm avoids most tax season overtime by moving the work around each return off its credentialed staff before January. Hire one or two trained assistants in the fall for intake, document collection, data entry and client follow-up. CPAs, EAs and PTIN-holding preparers then spend their hours on preparation, review, signing and representation.

What does a tax season staffing plan need to cover?

A tax season staffing plan for a small firm covers four things: the expected return volume by week, the tasks each return needs, who is allowed to do each task, and the date each new hire starts training. Write the plan in October, so new staff learn the software and the client portal before the first returns arrive.

Start with last season. The IRS opened the 2026 filing season on Monday, January 26, 2026, and the deadline to file 2025 returns was Wednesday, April 15, 2026. The IRS expected about 164 million individual returns. Pull your own numbers for the same window: returns completed per week, extensions filed, and how many returns sat waiting on a client document.

The 2027 opening date is still open. As of October 19, 2026, the IRS has not announced it, and it normally does so in January. Build the plan around a late January start and adjust the first two weeks once the date is public.

The second input matters more than volume: where your preparers' hours went. Most owners know the answer without a time study. Hours disappear into chasing a missing 1099, renaming scans, answering "did you get my documents?" calls, and resending portal invites. That is the work you staff for.

Which tasks need a credentialed preparer, and which can support staff handle?

The IRS draws that line with the PTIN. A person your firm pays to prepare a federal return, or substantially all of one, must hold a PTIN even if a partner reviews and signs it, while someone who keys in data and collects documents without advising the client is not a preparer. That line sets how a tax firm divides the work.

Task	Who does it	Notes
Mail organizers and engagement letters	Support staff	From a template the partner approved
Chase missing documents through the portal	Support staff	Daily list by client and document
Scan, name and file documents in practice management	Support staff	One naming rule, written down
Enter W-2, 1099 and other source documents into tax software	Support staff	Data entry only, checked in review
Prepare the return and choose tax positions	PTIN-holding preparer	Needs a 2027 PTIN
Answer client questions about tax treatment	CPA, EA or credentialed preparer	Support staff take the message and route it
Review and sign	CPA or EA	Signer owns the return
Represent the client before the IRS	CPA, EA or attorney	AFSP holders have limited rights
Track e-file acceptance, payments and extensions	Support staff	Status updates to clients

Two details belong in the plan. The PTIN fee is $18.75, and IRS guidance already refers to the "2027 PTIN," so anyone joining as a preparer should have one before day one. Representation is narrower than many owners assume: an AFSP Record of Completion lets a preparer represent only the clients whose returns that person prepared and signed, and only before certain IRS employees. A PTIN on its own, with no AFSP record or other credential, carries no representation rights for returns prepared after December 31, 2015.

For a longer list of what a non-CPA assistant can take on, see which tax firm tasks a non-CPA assistant can handle.

How does a tax firm add capacity without paying overtime?

A tax firm adds capacity without overtime by taking hours away from its credentialed people before the season starts. Count the hours each preparer spent last season on work that needs no credential, such as document follow-up and status calls, and assign that block to a full-time or part-time assistant who is trained by January.

Here is a hypothetical to make the math concrete. A firm with four preparers finds that each one lost about an hour a day to document chasing and client status calls. That is four preparer hours a day, every day of the season, that one assistant can absorb. The preparers keep their schedule and the firm gets back the time it used to buy with overtime or late nights from the partners.

The assistant only absorbs those hours if the handoffs are clear. Write down three things:

When a return moves from "documents complete" to "ready to prepare," and who flips that status.
Which client questions the assistant answers (status, missing items, payment links) and which go to a preparer.
What the assistant checks before handing data entry to review: every form on the organizer is present, totals match the source, and names and SSNs match last year.

If you compare a remote assistant with a local seasonal hire, the BLS figures help set the in-house side. BLS puts the May 2025 median at $54,920 a year for tax preparers, while bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks earned $50,670.

When should a tax firm start hiring for tax season?

A tax firm should start the search for seasonal support in September or October. A new assistant needs weeks to learn the practice management system, the client portal, the firm's naming rules and the review checklist. Firms that hire in January pull hours from the senior staff the new person was supposed to protect.

Month	What gets done
October	Map tasks by owner, write the role scorecard, start the search
November	Hire, sign confidentiality and security documents, grant limited system access
December	Train on sample files, the portal and the naming rules; send organizers to returning clients
January	Engagement letters, document intake and the daily missing-items list
February to April 15	Data entry, status calls, e-file tracking, extension prep for the preparers
After April 15	Extension follow-up, cleanup and the next season's prep

The months after April matter for keeping a good assistant. A plan for that period is in what remote accounting staff do after April 15.

What security rules apply when you add remote tax staff?

Every tax firm adding staff, remote or local, needs a Written Information Security Plan, because federal law requires one for tax and accounting professionals. The FTC also lists tax preparers among the financial institutions its Safeguards Rule covers, and sending return information to a preparer abroad brings mandatory Section 7216 consent language into play.

Start the plan from IRS Publication 5708 and use Publication 4557 for the recommended safeguards. On the FTC side, the program has to be in writing and cover administrative, technical and physical safeguards. Since May 13, 2024, a breach of unencrypted data on 500 or more consumers has to be reported to the FTC as soon as possible and within 30 days of discovery.

A client consent for staff abroad has to carry the Rev. Proc. 2013-14 warning about how little U.S. agencies may be able to do to enforce privacy laws against a foreign preparer, and SSN disclosures need a data protection safeguard on both ends. The wording and setup are in the Section 7216 and WISP guide for offshore staff. Settle this in November so it does not hold up January intake.

Does a remote assistant in Latin America work tax season hours?

A remote assistant in Bogota, Lima or Quito works on UTC-5 all year, which is the same clock as U.S. Eastern time from January until U.S. daylight time starts on the second Sunday in March. After that, those cities are one hour behind Eastern. Mexico City is one hour behind Eastern in winter.

That overlap is what makes the plan work in practice. The assistant is online when clients upload documents and call about status, and the preparers get same-day answers. If you want the assistant to run client intake and document collection, you can hire a pre-vetted financial assistant now and have that person trained on your portal before the first organizer goes out.

How Remote Latinos can help

If the plan above ends with an open seat for January, Remote Latinos can fill it with a professional from Latin America who keeps your office hours. We start with a 30-minute call about the role, your tax software and the schedule, vet candidates against your scorecard, and leave the final interviews and the pick to you. The seat can run full time at 30 to 40 hours a week, or part time at 15 to 25 for a smaller practice. See the financial assistant role, or start your search for tax season support.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm the rules for your state with a qualified advisor.

Frequently asked questions

Does a tax season assistant need a PTIN?

It depends on the work. The IRS requires a PTIN for anyone compensated for preparing, or assisting in preparing, all or substantially all of a federal return, even if someone else signs it. Staff who only enter data and gather documents, without giving tax advice, are not considered preparers.

When does the 2027 IRS filing season start?

As of October 19, 2026, the IRS has not announced the opening date of the 2027 filing season; it normally announces the date in January. For reference, the 2026 season opened on January 26, 2026, and the filing deadline was April 15, 2026.

Can a remote assistant outside the US work on client tax files?

Firms do this, but the rules have to be in place first. Under IRC section 7216 and Rev. Proc. 2013-14, a consent to disclose return information to a preparer located outside the United States must include mandatory language. The firm also needs a Written Information Security Plan, and tax preparation firms are covered by the FTC Safeguards Rule.

Should a small tax firm hire full-time or part-time help for tax season?

Count the support hours your preparers lost last season to document chasing, scanning and status calls. If that adds up to most of a work week, a full-time assistant fits; if it is closer to half, part time works. Remote Latinos defines full time as 30 to 40 hours a week and part time as 15 to 25.