The exciting part about becoming an Income Tax Entrepreneur ™ is that your business has unlimited growth potential, and each year your income also expands because the original new clients have now become your prior clients, and they will stay with you year after year if you provide them with a service and prepare their taxes “legally, ethically and morally!” ™ In fact, Forbes™, Inc.™, and Entrepreneur Magazine™ all put the tax, accounting, bookkeeping, and financial consulting business as the "#1 Most Profitable Small Business" you can start in America.

Fear & Resistance - Many people may have fears or second thoughts about entering into the income tax preparation business and preparing taxes because they think that they need some type of special qualifications, e.g., an Enrolled Agent (EA), a Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD), or a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. You don’t have to have any prior experience in business, or an accounting background to become an Income Tax Entrepreneur ™. While you do need to have some basic understanding of numbers, however, a degree in business, marketing, accounting, calculus, or economics, is not required.

Learning the Basics - More importantly, income tax preparation is not at all about accounting or bookkeeping; but it’s about tax laws, the US Constitution, US Statutes, and Federal Administrative Rules and Regulations, i.e., the IRS Code. All that’s needed is to take at least one basic income tax preparation course to give you the foundation, and then later you should take continuing education (CE) courses every year to maintain and increase your level of tax knowledge. Most basic income tax preparation courses start with the presumption that you have no prior tax experience, and tax software makes it a lot easier to prepare tax returns. However, even with this being a factor, tax software can only process and calculate what you input. The key skill set that you must develop is to be able to complete tax returns without tax software, i.e., you must first become familiar with the line items and sections of a standard Form 1040 tax return. (NOTE: REMEMBER, YOU SHOULD NEVER DEPEND ON THE TAX SOFTWARE PROGRAM ALONE TO PREPARE THE RETURN FOR YOU; IT IS ONLY A TOOL!”)

It’s Not About the Numbers!

A People Business - The average person believes that the income tax preparation business is all about the numbers. This could not be farther from the truth. The assisted income tax preparation industry is ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE! There’s a saying that” people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” This is a people business, and although your knowledge of taxes plays a key part, the experience that you provide your clients makes up 80% of the reason they will continue to patronize your services.

Maintaining Client Confidentiality - Dealing with a client’s financial information places you in a delicate fiduciary role, of which, protecting and keeping their information free form public disclosure takes center stage. Your client’s are looking to see that they can trust you. They are looking to see that you have integrity. They are looking to see that you will treat them with respect, and they are looking for your guidance as the tax expert. You may be able to demonstrate to them that you completed their tax return perfectly, but without giving them personal service fit for a king and queen, then you risk them not returning. Worst case scenario, they will tell 10 people about the impersonal experience.