There are literally more small businesses in operation today than at any point in history. While small business owners must wear every conceivable hat possible in order to get their ventures off the ground, taxes are one area in which many of us don’t have a problem outsourcing to someone more knowledgeable on the subject than ourselves. Plus, millions of citizens turn to tax services to help them with their individual returns as well so there is a huge market out there for professionals with experience in this field. This is why there is a growing demand for tax services that cater to small businesses and if you have experience or training in this growing field, it may be time to go into business for yourself!

Essential Equipment

Aside from some top notch tax preparation software, a computer, fax machine, cell phone, printer/copier, and some general bookkeeping software like Quickbooks, a tax services business does not require a lot of start-up capital or expensive equipment. Assuming that you have the computer and an Internet connection, you can get your tax services business up and running for $1500-$2000. Now this figure assumes that you will operate some sort of Internet-based tax service at first or else you will need to include money to pay office rent and utilities. You could actually do it for less but since you can use the capital investment as a tax write-off anyway, why not get the better equipment and make life easier on you?

Skills and Experience

While having an education background in tax law and preparation is a great tool to have, having the experience in this field is essential! Taxes can be very complicated especially for businesses so you don’t want to start a tax services business unless you already have 3-5 years (and more is definitely better and will help you generate business quicker!) of experience, do not consider this as a small business option! Liability issues arise quickly in tax preparation matters, which is why this business should only be considered by true tax preparation professionals.

Charges and Earnings

Tax preparation services typically charge based off of the number of forms they help fill out. Special deductions require different forms and every single form means more potential revenue for your business. Clearly you will be busiest from January thru mid-April but you can also make steady revenue throughout the year by offering tax planning to help clients prepare for the following year’s taxes. A typical fee charged for helping a client complete their federal and state income taxes range from $100-$200.

Marketing

There are a large number of web-based tax services businesses operating and this is due to the low overhead and large market which is possible for people operating any Internet business. While many website owners choose to develop their sites by adding a lot of content and links to other sites in order to build search engine rankings, you could sidestep this entire process by using pay-per-click advertising. Basically, you bid on keywords like “tax preparation service” and agree to pay the search engine company your bid amount every time someone clicks on your link (which happens to appear on the front page of the search results off to the side of the sites that opt to attain those rankings through content and search engine optimization). This is a simple short cut to the top of the rankings that could really get your business up and running in a hurry!