Meera Patel
(555) 318-4072
[email protected]
Chicago, IL
Profile
Filed 340 error-free federal and state returns during the 2023 tax season at Lakeshore Financial Services, passing a state DOR audit with no adjustments required. Meera Patel brings six years of tax preparation experience across individual filers, sole proprietors, and S-corps, with daily use of CCH ProSystem fx TAX and Intuit QuickBooks for bookkeeping reconciliation. Clients consistently leave with maximized deductions and a clear explanation of why their liability landed where it did.
Professional Experience
Tax Preparer, Lakeshore Financial Services, Chicago, IL | January 2021 – Present
- Prepared 340 federal, state, and local returns across the 2023 filing season, covering Forms 1040, 1040-SR, Schedule C, and Schedule E for clients ranging from salaried employees to rental property owners.
- Interviewed clients annually to capture updated income sources, life events, and business expenses, identifying an average of $2,100 in additional deductions per small-business client.
- Reviewed W-2s, 1099-NECs, brokerage statements, and expense receipts before opening any return in CCH ProSystem fx, cutting data-entry correction cycles by seven hours per season compared to prior preparer workflow.
- Explained applicable federal and Illinois state tax law changes to 80-plus returning clients each January, using plain-language summaries prepared in Microsoft Word to replace dense IRS notices.
- Verified completed returns drafted by a junior associate across 45 files per season, catching arithmetic errors and missed withholding credits before submission.
- Met all April 15 and October 15 extension deadlines across four consecutive tax seasons without a single late-filing penalty assessed to a client.
- Collaborated with the firm’s enrolled agent on three IRS correspondence audits, compiling documentation packages in QuickBooks and Excel that resolved each inquiry within 60 days.
Tax Preparer (Seasonal), Beacon Tax & Accounting Group, Naperville, IL | January 2019 – December 2020
- Processed 160 to 190 individual returns per season using ATX Total Tax Office, covering standard W-2 filers, self-employed contractors, and clients with multi-state income allocations.
- Applied all eligible credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and education credits, reducing average client tax liability by $870 across EITC-eligible filers in 2020.
- Conducted intake interviews for clients with complex situations, such as mid-year job changes, divorce settlements, and inherited IRAs, gathering documentation needed before the return was opened.
- Reconciled client QuickBooks records against bank statements for eight sole proprietors to confirm Schedule C income figures, flagging three instances of uncategorized income that would have triggered underreporting.
- Answered client questions through the firm’s intranet scheduling portal, responding to 30-plus inquiries per week during peak season with turnaround under 24 hours.
- Trained two new seasonal hires on ATX data-entry procedures and the firm’s document-checklist protocol during the 2020 onboarding week.
Bookkeeping and Tax Assistant, Pallavi Sharma CPA LLC, Schaumburg, IL | June 2017 – December 2018
- Supported a solo CPA in preparing returns for 90 individual and small-business clients annually, handling data entry, document sorting, and initial form population in ATX.
- Maintained QuickBooks files for five small-business clients on a monthly basis, reconciling accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll entries to keep year-end tax work clean.
- Organized and scanned source documents, including receipts, mileage logs, and charitable contribution letters, into a structured digital filing system that cut retrieval time during review meetings.
- Drafted client-facing tax summary letters in Microsoft Word explaining refund or balance-due amounts and the three to four key line items that drove the outcome.
- Completed the IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) in 2018, satisfying 18 hours of continuing education to earn limited representation rights.
Key Skills
- Federal and state tax return preparation (individual, S-corp, partnership)
- Tax law research and compliance (IRC, IRS Publication 17)
- Software proficiency (CCH ProSystem fx TAX, Intuit QuickBooks, ATX Total Tax Office)
- Financial document review (W-2, 1099, Schedule C, K-1)
- Client interviewing and deduction identification
- Spreadsheet modeling (Microsoft Excel, pivot tables)
- Active listening and client communication
- Attention to data accuracy in multi-form return packages
- Deadline management across multi-state filing calendars
Certifications
- IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Record of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | January 2024
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | October 2017
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL | August 2013 – May 2017
Michael Lee
(555) 304-7182
[email protected]
Phoenix, AZ
Profile
Switched from paper-based intake to ATX Total Tax Office mid-season at Greystone Tax Solutions last spring, cutting document retrieval time for 35 client files down to same-day lookup. Tax preparer assistant with just under two years of seasonal and part-time experience supporting individual and small-business return preparation across federal and Arizona state filings. Comfortable working inside ATX and cross-checking figures in Microsoft Excel before a senior preparer commits the return. Accurate enough to earn a clean internal QA pass on every batch submitted during the 2024 filing season.
Professional Experience
Tax Preparation Assistant, Greystone Tax Solutions, Phoenix, AZ | January 2024 – April 2024
- Assisted two senior preparers in completing 47 individual federal and Arizona state returns across the 2024 filing season, covering a range of filing statuses from single filers to married filing jointly with dependents.
- Reviewed W-2s, 1099-INT statements, and mortgage interest forms for each assigned client before the preparer opened the return in ATX, flagging four mismatched employer identification numbers that required corrected documents.
- Entered client income and expense data into ATX Total Tax Office and cross-checked every calculated line against the client’s own year-end summary sheet to catch transposition errors before final review.
- Conducted 12 in-person intake interviews under the supervision of a credentialed preparer, asking follow-up questions about freelance income, home-office use, and student loan interest to surface deductions clients had not considered.
- Organized and scanned roughly 200 source documents per week into the firm’s shared drive, labeling each file by client ID and tax year so the senior preparer could pull records without interrupting active client meetings.
- Compiled a one-page Excel tracker listing each assigned return’s status, outstanding document requests, and scheduled pickup date, which the office manager used in the daily standup to prioritize callbacks.
- Helped draft six plain-language cover letters in Microsoft Word explaining refund estimates and any amounts owed, reducing the number of clarification calls the front desk received by three per week during peak season.
Accounting Intern, Suncrest Business Services, Tempe, AZ | May 2023 – December 2023
- Supported a staff accountant in reviewing financial records, including income statements and mileage logs, for eight sole-proprietor clients preparing to file Schedule C with their 1040s.
- Verified totals on draft returns prepared by a part-time bookkeeper, catching one arithmetic error in a depreciation schedule that would have overstated a deduction by $1,340.
- Logged all incoming client documents into an Excel workbook and routed physical folders to the correct preparer within 24 hours of receipt, keeping the document queue near zero for 18 consecutive business days in November.
- Assisted the staff accountant with quarterly estimated-tax calculations for three small-business clients by pulling prior-year figures from QuickBooks and entering them into a shared Excel template.
- Researched two IRS publications (Publication 535 and Publication 946) to help answer a client’s question about first-year expensing under Section 179, summarizing the relevant limits in a short email for the accountant to review before sending.
- Tracked office supply invoices and minor vendor payments in QuickBooks under close supervision, reconciling 22 line items each month against physical receipts before the staff accountant posted the final batch.
Key Skills
- Tax return preparation support (ATX Total Tax Office, CCH ProSystem fx TAX)
- Source document review (W-2s, 1099s, Schedule C records)
- Client intake interviewing and deduction identification
- Federal and state tax form instructions (1040, Schedule A, Schedule B)
- Data entry verification and arithmetic cross-checks
- Spreadsheet tracking (Microsoft Excel pivot tables and conditional formatting)
- IRS tax law research using IRS.gov publications
- Written client correspondence (Microsoft Word summary letters)
- Oral explanation of filing status and credit eligibility to individual clients
Certifications
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | January 2024
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ | August 2020 – May 2024
Yaling Zhang
(555) 304-8821
[email protected]
Nashville, TN
Profile
Moved from a part-time bookkeeping clerk role into a tax preparation assistant position at Trellis Accounting Partners after one season, where a supervising CPA trusted me with increasingly complex individual returns. Comfortable working inside CCH ProSystem fx TAX and Microsoft Excel to cross-check client data against source documents before a senior preparer signs off. Accurate intake interviews and careful document review helped the firm keep a clean submission record through two consecutive filing seasons. Currently pursuing the IRS Annual Filing Season Program credential to round out formal tax law training.
Professional Experience
Tax Preparation Assistant, Trellis Accounting Partners, Nashville, TN | January 2024 – Present
- Assisted three senior preparers in completing individual federal and state returns for roughly 60 clients across the 2024 filing season, handling data entry in CCH ProSystem fx TAX under direct supervision.
- Reviewed W-2s, 1099-INT forms, and mortgage interest statements for 28 assigned client files before handing each package to a senior preparer, flagging four arithmetic discrepancies that were corrected prior to submission.
- Conducted intake interviews with nine clients to gather information on side-income sources, home-office use, and charitable contributions, then documented findings in a shared Excel intake log.
- Compiled a filing-status tracker in Microsoft Excel listing each client’s return type, outstanding documents, and target submission date, which the team lead referenced at weekly check-ins.
- Helped explain the difference between standard and itemized deductions to clients during intake appointments, translating IRS Publication 17 language into plain terms under the supervising CPA’s guidance.
- Escalated two client files to the enrolled agent on staff after noticing inconsistencies between reported self-employment income and supplied bank deposit records, preventing potential underreporting issues.
- Organized and scanned client source documents into the firm’s encrypted folder system, maintaining a naming convention that cut retrieval time during the busy March-April period.
Bookkeeping Clerk (Part-Time), Folio Small Business Services, Nashville, TN | August 2023 – December 2023
- Entered weekly expense receipts and vendor invoices for five small-business clients into QuickBooks, logging an average of 35 transactions per client each month.
- Verified monthly bank statement line items against QuickBooks records for three accounts, flagging exceptions for the supervising bookkeeper to resolve.
- Supported the preparation of quarterly sales tax worksheets by pulling revenue totals from QuickBooks reports and cross-checking figures against point-of-sale exports.
- Tracked outstanding client document requests in a shared Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, sending follow-up notes through the firm’s internal messaging board when submissions were more than five business days late.
- Documented recurring categorization questions in a one-page reference sheet that two other part-time clerks began using for consistent expense coding.
Key Skills
- Tax return preparation support (CCH ProSystem fx TAX, ATX Total Tax Office)
- Source document cross-referencing (W-2s, 1099-DIV, Schedule C receipts)
- Client intake interviewing for deduction and credit eligibility
- Federal and state filing requirements (Form 1040, Schedule A, Schedule SE)
- Data entry verification and arithmetic spot-checking
- Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, formula auditing)
- Written communication of tax filing status to individual clients
- Bookkeeping fundamentals (Intuit QuickBooks)
- Time management across overlapping April and October deadlines
Certifications
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | December 2023
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Belmont University, Nashville, TN | August 2019 – May 2023
John Bergsen
(555) 714-3092
[email protected]
Portland, OR
Profile
Specializes in small-business and nonprofit bookkeeping, where clean general ledgers and timely reconciliations keep owners audit-ready year-round. Carries four years of hands-on work across Intuit QuickBooks and Microsoft Excel, building month-end close packages, classifying transactions, and catching coding errors before they compound across quarters. Clients leave each engagement with accurate financials they can hand directly to their CPA or lender.
Professional Experience
Bookkeeper, Copperleaf Business Services, Portland, OR | March 2022 – Present
- Maintain QuickBooks Online files for 14 active small-business clients spanning retail, food service, and independent consulting, closing each set of books within five business days of month end.
- Reconcile an average of 23 bank and credit card accounts monthly, catching $6,400 in misfiled transactions over the past year before financials reached the clients’ CPAs.
- Prepare quarterly profit-and-loss statements and balance sheets formatted to lender standards, which three clients used to secure SBA loans totaling $310,000.
- Process bi-weekly payroll entries for eight clients using payroll provider exports, posting wages, employer taxes, and benefit deductions to the correct cost centers each cycle.
- Rebuilt the chart of accounts for a restaurant client whose prior bookkeeper had created 90-plus redundant expense categories, condensing it to 38 clear accounts and cutting the owner’s monthly review time to under an hour.
- Field client questions through a shared team inbox, averaging 11 resolved inquiries per week with same-day turnaround on anything flagged urgent.
- Trained one junior bookkeeping associate on QuickBooks reconciliation workflows and the firm’s month-end checklist during the fall 2023 onboarding cycle.
Bookkeeping Assistant, Ridgepoint Accounting & Advisory, Salem, OR | August 2020 – February 2022
- Supported three senior bookkeepers in managing ledgers for 22 nonprofit and small-business accounts, handling data entry, transaction coding, and document requests.
- Entered and categorized 300-plus vendor invoices per month in QuickBooks Desktop, maintaining coding accuracy verified during each quarterly internal review.
- Compiled annual audit-support packages for five nonprofit clients, pulling bank statements, reconciliation reports, and expense documentation that passed all four external auditor reviews without a single adjustment request.
- Built an Excel tracker consolidating due dates, client names, and reconciliation status for every active account, giving the senior team a single reference that replaced a scattered shared spreadsheet.
- Assisted with 1099-NEC preparation for 17 vendor relationships across six clients, cross-checking W-9 information against QuickBooks vendor records before submission.
- Scanned, renamed, and archived source documents in the firm’s SharePoint system, reducing document retrieval time during audits to under three minutes per request.
Key Skills
- General ledger maintenance and month-end close (QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop)
- Bank and credit card reconciliation across multiple accounts
- Accounts payable and accounts receivable cycle management
- Payroll entry and quarterly payroll report preparation
- Chart of accounts setup and reclassification
- Financial statement compilation (balance sheet, profit and loss, cash flow)
- Source document organization and digital filing (Google Drive, SharePoint)
- Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, conditional formatting for variance analysis)
- Client communication and plain-language reporting for non-accountant business owners
Certifications
- QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor Certification | Intuit | January 2023
- Bookkeeping Certificate | American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB) | September 2021
Education
Associate of Applied Science in Accounting
Chemeketa Community College, Salem, OR | September 2018 – June 2020
Allison Rosenberg
(555) 214-8803
[email protected]
Denver, CO
Profile
Enrolled Agent (EA) with a specialty in small-business and individual tax compliance across the retail and hospitality sectors. Fluent in CCH ProSystem fx TAX and Intuit QuickBooks, Allison builds client files that hold up under IRS scrutiny — four consecutive seasons without a single amended return flagged by the agency. Clients typically leave the first appointment with a clear picture of their filing status, expected liability, and at least two deduction categories they had not previously claimed.
Professional Experience
Tax Preparer, Frontrange Tax & Advisory, Denver, CO | January 2021 – Present
- Prepare between 280 and 310 individual and small-business returns each filing season, covering federal, Colorado state, and applicable local jurisdictions.
- Identified an average of $4,800 in previously unclaimed deductions per small-business client during intake, including home-office allocations, vehicle-use logs, and Section 179 elections.
- Conduct structured intake interviews for clients with rental income, gig-economy earnings, or multi-state sourcing to capture every taxable event before return assembly begins.
- Cross-check completed returns against source documents — W-2s, 1099-NECs, brokerage 1099-Bs, and Schedule K-1s — before submission, reducing post-filing client inquiries to fewer than eight per season.
- Explain federal and Colorado tax law changes to clients each January through a one-page plain-language summary distributed at the first appointment, cutting repeat phone questions by roughly a third.
- Coordinate with the firm’s enrolled agent on extension filings for six to eight business clients each October, ensuring all Form 4868 and Form 7004 deadlines are met.
- Train one seasonal associate per year on CCH ProSystem fx TAX data-entry protocols and the firm’s document-verification checklist.
Tax Preparer, Millbrook Financial Group, Aurora, CO | September 2018 – December 2020
- Processed 175 individual returns per season using ATX Total Tax Office, with a focus on wage earners, retirees with pension and Social Security income, and first-time filers.
- Applied all eligible credits — Child Tax Credit, American Opportunity Credit, Earned Income Credit — to 100% of qualifying returns, recovering a combined $62,000 in client refunds during the 2020 season.
- Reviewed QuickBooks transaction histories for 11 sole-proprietor clients each quarter to reconcile reported revenue against bank deposits before year-end tax prep began.
- Caught a $14,500 underreported 1099-NEC during a pre-submission arithmetic review, correcting the return before filing and sparing the client a likely CP2000 notice.
- Answered client questions through a shared scheduling portal, closing 90% of inquiries within one business day during peak season.
- Compiled a Microsoft Excel workbook each season tracking every assigned return’s status, outstanding documents, and projected refund or liability, which the supervising CPA used for capacity planning.
Bookkeeping and Tax Assistant, Summit Ridge Accounting Services, Boulder, CO | June 2016 – August 2018
- Supported three senior preparers during two full tax seasons, entering income and deduction data for 55 individual returns under direct supervision.
- Organized and scanned client source documents — receipts, mileage logs, charitable contribution acknowledgments — into a structured digital filing system, cutting document retrieval time at the front desk noticeably.
- Verified arithmetic totals and data-entry fields on returns drafted by senior staff, flagging discrepancies in 14 returns before they reached the review queue.
- Maintained QuickBooks records for eight small-business clients on a monthly basis, posting transactions, reconciling accounts, and generating profit-and-loss statements used directly in tax prep.
- Completed the IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) coursework in 2017, earning the right to represent clients before the IRS in limited examination matters.
Key Skills
- Federal, state, and local return preparation (individual and Schedule C)
- CCH ProSystem fx TAX and ATX Total Tax Office
- Intuit QuickBooks file review and reconciliation
- Deduction and credit eligibility analysis
- Client intake interviewing and taxable-income documentation
- Multi-state filing compliance and extension management
- Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, tax liability modeling)
- Financial record review (income statements, 1099 series, K-1s)
- Oral and written explanation of tax law to non-specialist clients
Certifications
- Enrolled Agent (EA) | Internal Revenue Service | March 2020
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Record of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | December 2023
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO | August 2012 – May 2016
Jasmine Brown
(555) 382-9047
[email protected]
Charlotte, NC
Profile
Picked up a part-time bookkeeping role at a small retail gift shop during college and realized fast that clean numbers matter more than anyone in the store realized. Now holding a B.S. in Accounting and a working knowledge of Intuit QuickBooks, Microsoft Excel, and CCH ProSystem fx Tax built through coursework and a tax-season internship at a regional CPA firm. Accurate source-document review and clear client communication have been the two things supervisors mention most in every evaluation, and both translate directly to filing-season support work.
Professional Experience
Tax Preparation Intern, Alderton & Pruitt CPA Firm, Charlotte, NC | January 2024 – April 2024
- Assisted two licensed CPAs in completing 38 individual federal and North Carolina state returns during the January-through-April filing window.
- Reviewed W-2s, 1099-INT statements, and Schedule A documentation for 14 assigned clients before any data touched the return, flagging three income figures that did not match employer transcripts.
- Entered client income, deduction, and credit data into CCH ProSystem fx Tax under senior preparer review, maintaining a log of every change made after initial entry.
- Supported intake appointments by documenting client responses to a standard 22-question interview sheet covering filing status, dependents, and notable life changes from the prior year.
- Cross-checked arithmetic totals on six paper-draft returns prepared by a co-intern, catching two addition errors before submission to the reviewing CPA.
- Compiled a shared Excel tracker listing each assigned return’s document status, preparer, reviewer, and deadline, which the senior staff adopted for the remaining 60-plus returns in the queue.
- Helped draft four client-facing follow-up letters in Microsoft Word asking for missing Social Security numbers or unreported 1099 income, using firm-approved language reviewed by a partner.
Accounting Assistant (Part-Time), Harborstone Gift & Home, Concord, NC | August 2022 – December 2023
- Logged daily sales receipts and vendor invoices into QuickBooks for a 12-person retail operation, keeping the transaction register current within 24 hours of each business day.
- Verified petty cash disbursements against receipts at the close of each week, a task covering 30 to 45 transactions and roughly $1,600 in total outflows per month.
- Organized and scanned vendor contracts, purchase orders, and bank statements into a shared drive folder structure built with the store owner, cutting retrieval time for monthly reviews.
- Tracked accounts payable aging for eight active vendors and routed overdue invoices to the owner with a one-sentence status note each Thursday.
- Supported the owner’s outside bookkeeper during quarterly sales tax filing prep by pulling and labeling North Carolina and South Carolina sales figures from QuickBooks reports.
- Documented a $3,750 discrepancy between the QuickBooks register and the point-of-sale system export during a routine check, escalating it to the store owner the same afternoon.
Key Skills
- Tax return preparation support (federal and state individual returns)
- Source-document review (W-2s, 1099s, Schedule C receipts)
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax data entry and return assembly
- Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, reconciliation worksheets)
- Intuit QuickBooks file review and transaction coding
- Client intake documentation and deduction-eligibility note-taking
- Arithmetic cross-checking and data verification against IRS instructions
- Written correspondence drafting (plain-language client letters)
- Filing deadline tracking across federal and state calendars
Certifications
- IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Certificate of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | October 2023
- QuickBooks Online Certified User | Intuit | March 2024
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC | August 2020 – May 2024
Layla Hassan
(555) 847-2193
[email protected]
Atlanta, GA
Profile
Handles tax compliance and return preparation for a portfolio spanning 200-plus individual filers and 40 small-business clients across the retail, hospitality, and professional-services sectors. Fluent in CCH ProSystem fx Tax and Intuit QuickBooks, applying both to cross-verify source documents before a single figure reaches a submitted return. Earned a clean pass on the firm’s annual quality review every year from 2021 through 2024 by catching misclassified income and overlooked credits before filing. Clients routinely leave intake appointments with a clear picture of their effective rate, expected refund, and any estimated payments due.
Professional Experience
Tax Accountant, Pinnacle Tax & Wealth Advisors, Atlanta, GA | January 2022 – Present
- Prepare 180 to 210 individual and S-corporation returns each filing season, spanning 11 states and covering a combined gross income of roughly $28 million across the client base.
- Identified $94,000 in overlooked home-office and Section 179 deductions for eight small-business clients during a proactive mid-year review, reducing their combined tax liability ahead of the fourth-quarter estimated payment deadline.
- Conduct structured intake interviews for clients with rental income, freelance earnings, or equity compensation, capturing every taxable event and documenting supporting receipts before opening a return in CCH ProSystem fx Tax.
- Cross-check completed returns drafted by two junior staff members, verifying arithmetic, filing-status elections, and credit eligibility against current IRS instructions before the managing CPA signs off.
- Explain Georgia Department of Revenue conformity rules and federal law changes to clients in plain language during annual review appointments, reducing follow-up calls by 35% compared to the prior season.
- Track extension requests and all April 15, June 15 (foreign-income filers), and October 15 deadlines on a shared Microsoft Excel calendar, with zero missed statutory due dates across the 2022-2024 filing years.
- Draft IRS correspondence responses for three audit inquiries, compiling documentation packages that resolved each case without additional assessment.
Tax Associate, Northgate CPA Group, Birmingham, AL | July 2019 – December 2021
- Processed 130 individual returns per season using ATX Total Tax Office, applying all eligible credits, including the Child and Dependent Care Credit, American Opportunity Credit, and Earned Income Tax Credit, to keep each client’s effective rate as low as the law permits.
- Reviewed W-2s, 1099-NEC forms, Schedule K-1 packages, and charitable-contribution receipts for accuracy before data entry, catching 47 mismatched figures across the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
- Supported the firm’s enrolled agent on quarterly payroll filings (Forms 941 and 940) for 12 business clients, verifying withholding totals against QuickBooks payroll registers each quarter from Q3 2019 through Q4 2021.
- Fielded client questions through the firm’s scheduling portal and a shared staff mailbox, responding to 95% of inquiries within one business day during peak season.
- Prepared Georgia, Alabama, and Florida state returns concurrently for 22 clients with multi-state income, correctly allocating wages and pass-through income under each state’s sourcing rules.
- Assisted in transitioning the office’s document workflow from paper folders to a cloud-based portal, cutting average document retrieval time per return from several minutes to under 30 seconds.
Accounting Intern, Calloway & Birch Financial Services, Tuscaloosa, AL | January 2019 – June 2019
- Assisted three senior preparers with 55 individual federal and state returns during the spring filing season, entering income and deduction data into ATX and verifying totals against source documents under direct supervision.
- Organized and indexed client files, including mileage logs, mortgage interest statements, and prior-year returns, so every preparer could locate supporting documents without searching through unstructured paper piles.
- Drafted a one-page deduction checklist in Microsoft Word for self-employed clients, which the firm adopted as a standard intake handout beginning in tax year 2019.
- Completed 40 hours of IRS-approved continuing education modules covering individual taxation fundamentals and ethics, building the base for the firm’s Annual Filing Season Program.
Key Skills
- Federal, state, and local return preparation (Forms 1040, 1120-S, 1065)
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax and ATX Total Accounting Office
- Intuit QuickBooks transaction review and coding
- Deduction and credit optimization analysis
- Multi-state filing compliance and deadline tracking
- Microsoft Excel pivot tables and tax-worksheet modeling
- Source-document review (W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, brokerage statements)
- Client consultation and plain-language tax law explanation
- IRS correspondence review and notice response drafting
Certifications
- Enrolled Agent (EA) | Internal Revenue Service | March 2022
- IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Completion | Internal Revenue Service | January 2024
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL | August 2015 – December 2018
Nicholas Hall
(555) 314-7892
[email protected]
Houston, TX
Profile
Tax preparer with eight years of experience across individual filers, sole proprietors, and small S-corporations in the retail and hospitality sectors. Fluent in CCH ProSystem fx TAX and ATX Total Tax Office, with a strong command of federal and multi-state filing requirements that has supported clean reviews every filing season from 2017 through 2024. Clients regularly cite plain-language explanations of deduction eligibility as the reason they return year after year.
Professional Experience
Senior Tax Preparer, Ironwood Tax & Accounting LLC, Houston, TX | January 2021 – Present
- Prepare 280 to 310 individual and small-business returns each season using CCH ProSystem fx TAX, covering federal, Texas franchise, and up to four additional state filings per client.
- Identify overlooked deductions, including home-office allocations, vehicle depreciation under Section 179, and qualified business income deductions, recovering a combined $53,000 in client refunds above initial projections during the 2023 filing season.
- Conduct intake appointments for clients with rental properties, self-employment income, and multi-state W-2 situations, gathering source documents and reconciling discrepancies before any data entry begins.
- Review returns prepared by two junior staff members before submission, catching arithmetic mismatches and incorrect filing-status selections on 14 returns during the 2024 season.
- Explain federal and Texas tax law changes each January through a brief written client notice distributed via the firm’s scheduling portal, cutting follow-up phone calls by roughly 40 calls per season.
- Manage extension filings for 62 clients, meeting every April 15 and October 15 deadline without a late-filing penalty across all three full seasons at the firm.
- Reconcile QuickBooks records for nine sole-proprietor clients quarterly, ensuring Schedule C figures align with bank activity before year-end close.
Tax Preparer, Keystone Financial & Tax Services, San Antonio, TX | October 2018 – December 2020
- Processed 190 individual returns per tax season in ATX Total Tax Office, handling W-2 wage filers, retirees with pension and Social Security income, and gig-economy workers with 1099-NEC filings.
- Applied all eligible credits and adjustments, including the Saver’s Credit and American Opportunity Tax Credit, for clients who had not claimed them in prior years, generating refund increases across 37 returns in 2020.
- Interviewed clients to surface income sources frequently missed during self-reporting, such as cryptocurrency disposals, jury duty pay, and state tax refunds treated as income.
- Cross-checked data entry totals against source documents on every return before e-filing, keeping the firm’s amended-return count to three filings across the 2019 and 2020 seasons combined.
- Collaborated with the firm’s enrolled agent on an IRS correspondence audit for one client, assembling a 48-page documentation package that resolved the inquiry with no additional tax assessed.
- Trained a seasonal associate during January 2020 on ATX intake procedures and document-naming conventions, reducing supervisor review time on that associate’s returns by a full business day per week.
Tax Preparation Associate, Dunmore & Calle CPA Group, Austin, TX | January 2016 – September 2018
- Assisted four senior preparers in completing returns for a client base of 150 households and 20 small businesses, focusing on data entry, document organization, and preliminary deduction analysis.
- Scanned and indexed source documents, including brokerage year-end statements, mortgage interest forms, and charitable contribution receipts, into the firm’s document management system for every active file.
- Built a Microsoft Excel workbook to track each assigned return’s status, due date, and outstanding items, which the team adopted firm-wide by the 2017 season.
- Completed IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) requirements in 2017, earning federal limited representation rights before IRS Collections and Customer Service.
- Answered client tax-law questions routed through the firm’s shared inbox, resolving 83 of 97 inquiries independently during the 2018 filing season before escalating the remainder to senior staff.
- Prepared Schedule A itemized deduction worksheets for 44 clients, verifying state tax payments, mortgage interest, and charitable amounts against supporting documentation before final review.
Key Skills
- Federal, state, and local return preparation (Form 1040, Schedule C, Schedule E)
- CCH ProSystem fx TAX and ATX Total Tax Office
- Deduction and credit application (EITC, Child Tax Credit, education credits)
- Client intake interviewing and taxable-income documentation
- Multi-state filing compliance and apportionment schedules
- Financial record review (W-2s, 1099-series, K-1s, brokerage statements)
- Microsoft Excel for income tracking and depreciation schedules
- IRS e-file submission and acknowledgment monitoring
- Intuit QuickBooks for small-business bookkeeping reconciliation
Certifications
- IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Certificate of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | January 2024
- Accredited Tax Preparer (ATP) | Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation | March 2020
Education
Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting
University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX | August 2011 – May 2015
James Mitchell
(555) 382-7194
[email protected]
St. Louis, MO
Profile
Caught a $47,000 income-classification discrepancy on a small-business Schedule C at Palomar Tax Group that would have triggered an underreporting penalty, flagging it three days before the client’s filing deadline. That kind of scrutiny defines 11 years of tax preparation work across individual, small-business, and multi-state filers. CCH ProSystem fx Tax and ATX Total Tax Office are the primary platforms, with supporting work in Intuit QuickBooks for client bookkeeping reviews. Clients leave with a clear picture of what they owe, why they owe it, and what to do differently next year.
Professional Experience
Senior Tax Preparer, Palomar Tax Group, St. Louis, MO | February 2020 – Present
- Lead preparation of 280 to 310 returns per filing season, covering individuals, sole proprietors, partnerships, and S-corps across Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas.
- Identified a $47,000 income misclassification on a client’s Schedule C in March 2023, correcting the entry before submission and avoiding an estimated $11,200 underreporting penalty.
- Conduct intake interviews averaging 45 minutes per client to surface rental income, side-business activity, stock sales, and life events, such as marriage or home purchase, that shift deduction eligibility.
- Review W-2s, 1099 packages, K-1 statements, and depreciation schedules for 14 small-business clients before entering data into CCH ProSystem fx Tax, cross-checking totals against prior-year carryforwards.
- Explain applicable federal tax law changes and Missouri-specific conformity rules to clients in plain language, typically during a 20-minute post-filing review call.
- Supervise two junior preparers each season, reviewing their completed returns for arithmetic accuracy and procedural compliance before the firm’s enrolled agent signs off.
- Maintained a clean record across all IRS and Missouri DOR correspondence from 2021 through 2024, with no penalty notices attributable to preparation errors on assigned returns.
Tax Preparer, Westfield Accounting & Tax LLC, St. Louis, MO | September 2016 – January 2020
- Prepared 190 to 220 individual and small-business returns per season using ATX Total Tax Office, handling filers with rental properties, self-employment schedules, and education credits.
- Applied all eligible deductions and credits, including home office deductions, vehicle mileage elections, and the Saver’s Credit, reducing aggregate client tax liability by roughly $38,000 across the 2018 season.
- Reviewed QuickBooks Desktop files for six small-business clients each quarter, reclassifying personal expenses incorrectly coded to business accounts before year-end return preparation began.
- Verified and corrected data entries on 55 returns drafted by a part-time seasonal associate during the 2017 and 2018 filing seasons, catching 12 errors that would have required amended filings.
- Tracked extension deadlines for 40 clients on a shared Microsoft Excel workbook, ensuring all October submissions reached the IRS and state portals before the 11:59 p.m. cutoff every year since 2017.
- Drafted plain-language tax summary memos in Microsoft Word for business-owner clients, covering effective tax rate, estimated quarterly payment schedule, and one recommended strategy for the following year.
Tax Preparer, H&R Block (Franchise Location, Chesterfield), Chesterfield, MO | January 2014 – August 2016
- Completed 130 to 160 individual returns per filing season at a high-volume retail location, covering W-2 filers, retirees with Social Security and pension income, and first-time homeowners claiming mortgage interest deductions.
- Interviewed each client using the firm’s structured intake form to capture all income sources, marital status changes, and qualifying dependents before selecting the appropriate filing status.
- Applied Earned Income Tax Credit eligibility criteria across 60-plus returns per season, verifying income thresholds, relationship tests, and investment income limits against IRS Publication 596.
- Used H&R Block’s tax software platform alongside Microsoft Excel to reconcile reported income against W-2 and 1099-INT figures, flagging three clients whose employer-reported amounts differed from their personal records.
- Passed all internal quality-control audits from January 2014 through April 2016 with no procedural citations noted by the district reviewer.
- Earned promotion to a lead preparer role in the second season, taking on after-hours client appointments and training one new associate on interview technique and data-entry procedures.
Bookkeeper and Tax Assistant, Riverbend Business Solutions, St. Peters, MO | June 2012 – December 2013
- Supported the firm’s sole CPA in assembling source documents, including receipts, mileage logs, and bank statements, for 75 individual and small-business clients across tax season.
- Entered income and expense data into ATX Total Accounting Office under direct supervision, building proficiency in Schedule C, Schedule E, and Form 4562 depreciation entries.
- Managed monthly QuickBooks records for nine small-business clients, posting transactions, reconciling accounts, and generating income statements the CPA used for quarterly estimated tax calculations.
- Scanned and indexed roughly 1,400 pages of client source documents across the 2013 filing season, organizing files by client number and tax year in the firm’s document management system.
- Completed the IRS PTIN registration process and 18 hours of continuing education in federal tax law to qualify for supervised return preparation during the 2013 season.
Key Skills
- Federal, state, and local return preparation (individual, Schedule C, S-corp)
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax and ATX Total Tax Office
- Multi-state apportionment and residency analysis
- Credit eligibility review (EITC, Child Tax Credit, education credits)
- Intuit QuickBooks file review for income and expense classification
- IRS and state correspondence and notice response
- Tax law explanation for non-accountant clients
- Microsoft Excel for depreciation schedules and carryforward tracking
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) continuing education compliance
Certifications
- Enrolled Agent (EA) | Internal Revenue Service | November 2018
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Record of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | January 2024
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | October 2012
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO | August 2008 – May 2012
Thomas Wilson
(555) 382-9047
[email protected]
Minneapolis, MN
Profile
Switched the firm from ATX Total Tax Office to CCH ProSystem fx TAX during the 2022 filing season, rebuilding return templates and training three preparers on the new workflow inside six weeks. Now four years into tax preparation across retail and nonprofit client bases, with particular depth in Schedule C and multi-state filings for sole proprietors. Reads W-2s, 1099 packages, and depreciation schedules against current IRS instructions before a single figure goes on a form, a habit that held a clean record through two consecutive state revenue audits covering FY2021 and FY2022. Clients leave with a plain-language summary of what changed year over year and why.
Professional Experience
Tax Preparer, Briarwood Tax & Accounting LLC, Minneapolis, MN | January 2022 – Present
- Completed the ATX-to-CCH ProSystem fx TAX platform migration before the January 2022 filing season opened, rebuilding 40-plus return templates and writing a two-page field-mapping guide the rest of the team still uses.
- Prepared 210 to 230 individual and small-business returns per season, covering Form 1040, Schedule C, Schedule E, and Form 1065 for partnerships with up to four members.
- Screened every client file for credit eligibility before finalizing, recovering $42,000 in overlooked credits firm-wide during the 2023 season alone, including education credits and the Saver’s Credit for seven lower-income clients.
- Conducted intake appointments for 85 sole-proprietor clients, asking structured questions to separate personal and business expenses and flag missing quarterly estimated payments.
- Verified arithmetic and data-entry on returns drafted by a seasonal associate, catching 14 transposition errors across the 2022 and 2023 seasons before e-filing.
- Explained Minnesota-specific additions and subtractions to federal AGI to 60-plus clients each year, using a one-page comparison sheet built in Microsoft Excel.
- Held clean records through two Minnesota Department of Revenue correspondence audits covering FY2021 and FY2022, with no adjustments required on either filing.
Junior Tax Preparer, Tanner & Gould Financial Group, St. Paul, MN | September 2020 – December 2021
- Handled a portfolio of 120 individual returns under the supervision of a senior preparer, progressing from simple W-2-only filers to clients with rental income and stock sales by the second season.
- Reconciled QuickBooks records for nine small-business clients against bank and credit card statements each quarter, identifying a misclassified $7,900 equipment purchase that shifted one client’s Schedule C net income meaningfully before filing.
- Applied depreciation schedules on Form 4562 for six clients with home-office and vehicle deductions, cutting each client’s federal taxable income by $1,100 to $3,400 depending on asset basis.
- Processed 22 extension requests under Form 4868 ahead of the April deadline, then tracked and completed all 22 extended returns before October 15 without a single late-filing penalty.
- Organized and indexed source documents in the firm’s shared drive using a naming convention that cut retrieval time during client callbacks by roughly half a day per week across the team.
- Assisted the firm’s enrolled agent in responding to three IRS CP2000 notices by pulling original source documents and drafting written explanations of reported figures.
Tax Preparation Assistant (Seasonal), Lakeland Community Tax Center, Minneapolis, MN | January 2020 – April 2020
- Supported VITA-affiliated preparers in completing returns for 55 low-to-moderate income households during a single filing season, focusing on Form 1040 with Schedules 1 and 3.
- Interviewed clients in English and with Spanish-language assistance to gather income documentation, deductible expenses, and dependent information before handing files to a certified preparer for review.
- Cross-checked totals on 30 paper-prepared draft returns against IRS tax tables and software output, flagging four arithmetic discrepancies before e-filing.
- Earned PTIN registration in January 2020 to satisfy IRS preparer identification requirements before the season opened.
- Attended four in-house training sessions on earned income credit eligibility rules, leaving with a reference card that the center’s coordinator adopted for the following season’s volunteer onboarding.
Key Skills
- Federal and multi-state individual and small-business return preparation
- CCH ProSystem fx TAX and QuickBooks file reconciliation
- Schedule C, Schedule E, and depreciation (Form 4562) preparation
- Credit and deduction eligibility screening (EITC, Child Tax Credit, education credits)
- Source-document review: W-2s, 1099 series, brokerage 1099-Bs, K-1s
- Microsoft Excel: client tax workbooks, quarterly estimate tracking
- Extension and amended-return processing (Form 4868, Form 1040-X)
- Client intake interviewing and life-change impact analysis
- IRS and state tax law interpretation and plain-language explanation
Certifications
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | January 2020
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Record of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | December 2023
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI | September 2016 – May 2020
Mei Zhang
(555) 847-2193
[email protected]
Sacramento, CA
Profile
Promoted from seasonal tax preparer to full Enrolled Agent at Quorum Tax & Advisory after earning EA credentials in 2021, giving Mei Zhang unlimited IRS representation rights that most preparers at her level don’t hold. She carries CCH ProSystem fx Tax as her primary platform and regularly works multi-entity S-corp and partnership returns alongside individual filings. Clients in the small-business and real estate sectors count on her to surface credits and basis adjustments their prior preparers missed, including a single-year catch totaling $23,400 in overlooked depreciation recapture corrections across five client accounts.
Professional Experience
Enrolled Agent, Quorum Tax & Advisory, Sacramento, CA | February 2021 – Present
- Carry a client roster of 214 active accounts spanning individual filers, LLCs, S-corps, and rental property investors, filing federal returns in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Texas each season.
- Resolved seven IRS correspondence audits and two CP2000 notices through 2022 and 2024, achieving full abatement or reduction in all nine cases by building substantiation packages from QuickBooks exports, bank records, and depreciation schedules.
- Identified $23,400 in net depreciation recapture corrections across five business-client accounts during a firm-wide file review in 2023, flagging basis miscalculations that had carried forward undetected for up to three years.
- Drafted estimated quarterly tax projections in Excel for 38 self-employed clients, cutting underpayment penalties to zero for that group across the 2022 and 2023 tax years.
- Mentored two junior preparers on K-1 passthrough income allocation and Schedule E reporting, reducing review-revision cycles on their assigned partnership returns by roughly a third during the 2024 filing season.
- Coordinates with clients through a shared firm scheduling portal and follow-up calls, keeping average document turnaround below five business days per engagement.
Tax Preparer, Quorum Tax & Advisory, Sacramento, CA | January 2020 – January 2021
- Prepared 178 individual federal and California state returns during the 2020 filing season using CCH ProSystem fx Tax, covering W-2, 1099-NEC, rental income, and basic Schedule C filers.
- Cross-checked arithmetic and entry data on 62 returns assembled by a contract preparer before submission, catching 11 calculation discrepancies tied to incorrect standard-vs.-itemized deduction selections.
- Screened every assigned return for Earned Income Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit, and California Renter’s Credit eligibility, applying credits in 74% of qualifying cases where the prior year’s return had left them unclaimed.
- Passed all three IRS Special Enrollment Examination parts on first attempt (May 2021), completing the EA credentialing process within 12 months of joining the firm full-time.
- Interviewed clients with rental income or side-business activity to document mileage, home-office use, and material participation status, producing signed intake notes filed with each return for audit-support purposes.
Tax Associate (Seasonal), Pacific Crest Tax Services, Elk Grove, CA | January 2018 – April 2019
- Supported three senior preparers across two filing seasons, handling data entry and source-document organization for a combined 310 individual returns filed through ATX Total Tax Office.
- Reviewed W-2s, 1099-DIV statements, mortgage interest certificates, and charitable contribution receipts to determine the correct filing status and deduction method for each client before return assembly began.
- Built a shared Microsoft Excel log tracking submission status, extension requests, and outstanding client documents for 85 assigned accounts, giving the team a single reference point that replaced a paper-based tracking sheet.
- Explained California filing deadlines and common deduction rules to walk-in clients during intake appointments, handling 22 individual consultations without senior supervision in the 2019 season.
- Earned IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) completion certificate after finishing 18 hours of continuing education in federal tax law updates, tax-related ethics, and federal tax topics prior to the 2019 season.
Key Skills
- IRS representation and power of attorney (Form 2848)
- Multi-entity return preparation: S-corps, partnerships, and sole proprietors (Schedule C, K-1)
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax and Intuit QuickBooks file review
- Federal and state tax law research (IRC, Treasury Regulations, IRS publications)
- Payroll tax compliance: Forms 941, 940, and W-3 reconciliation
- Basis tracking and depreciation analysis (Form 4562, Section 179)
- Client financial-record review: income statements, balance sheets, and expense documentation
- Microsoft Excel modeling for estimated quarterly tax projections
- Written and verbal tax law explanation for non-accounting audiences
Certifications
- Enrolled Agent (EA) | Internal Revenue Service | May 2021
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Certificate of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | December 2018
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA | August 2013 – May 2017
Marcus Jackson
(555) 412-7839
[email protected]
Kansas City, MO
Profile
Specializes in corporate and pass-through entity taxation for mid-market real estate and professional services firms, where partnership allocations, depreciation schedules, and multi-state apportionment create compounding complexity. Builds returns in CCH ProSystem fx TAX and cross-references source data in Microsoft Excel before submission, keeping the firm’s error-correction rate well below industry norms. Clients consistently receive the full scope of eligible deductions and credits, and the firm has cleared three IRS correspondence audits without amendments across FY2022 through FY2024.
Professional Experience
Corporate Tax Preparer, Elmhurst & Voss CPA Group, Kansas City, MO | February 2021 – Present
- Prepares 210 to 240 federal and multi-state returns per filing season, covering S-corporations, C-corporations, and multi-member LLCs with revenue ranging from $800,000 to $14 million.
- Identifies depreciation elections, Section 199A deductions, and R&D credits that reduced aggregate client tax liability by $138,000 across the 2023 tax year.
- Audits client QuickBooks files against supporting bank records before beginning each return, catching mis-categorized capital expenditures in 37 engagements since joining the firm.
- Explains multi-state apportionment methodology to business owners in plain language during annual review calls, covering Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois nexus obligations for 28 corporate clients.
- Coordinates extension requests for 60-plus entities each September, ensuring zero missed deadlines for Form 7004 filings from FY2021 through FY2024.
- Reviews draft returns completed by two associate preparers, verifying totals, carryforward figures, and supporting-schedule attachments before partner sign-off.
- Researches state-level tax law updates each January using CCH tax news feeds and distributes a one-page summary to the five-person tax team before busy season begins.
Tax Associate, Sandoval & Kline Financial Advisors, Kansas City, MO | October 2018 – January 2021
- Processed 145 individual and small-business returns per season using ATX Total Tax Office, including Schedule C, Schedule E, and Schedule K-1 pass-through income for sole proprietors and S-corp shareholders.
- Conducted intake interviews with 90-plus clients each season, probing for changes in rental income, business asset disposals, and home-office eligibility that prior-year returns had not captured.
- Applied Earned Income Tax Credits, Child and Dependent Care Credits, and education credits across 54 qualifying returns in the 2019 filing season, generating $96,000 in combined client refunds.
- Cross-checked arithmetic on every return against IRS instruction tables in Microsoft Excel before transmission, reducing the firm’s amendment rate to four returns out of 145 filed in the 2020 season.
- Reconciled brokerage 1099-B consolidated statements for 22 clients holding individual securities and mutual funds, correctly sequencing short-term and long-term capital gain/loss netting on Schedule D.
- Trained alongside the firm’s two enrolled agents on IRS correspondence procedures, contributing supporting documentation for five CP2000 notices resolved without additional tax assessed.
Tax Preparation Assistant, Halloran Community Tax Services, Independence, MO | January 2017 – September 2018
- Supported three senior preparers in completing individual returns for a walk-in client base of 300-plus households, focusing on W-2 wage earners, Social Security recipients, and first-time filers.
- Entered income and deduction data into ATX software for 80 assigned returns per season, verifying each figure against physical source documents before saving the draft.
- Organized and indexed client files, including W-2s, 1099-R distributions, mortgage interest statements, and charitable contribution receipts, cutting document-retrieval time during review by roughly half.
- Answered client questions at the front desk about filing status options and standard versus itemized deduction tradeoffs, referring complex situations to senior staff immediately.
- Completed the IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) in 2018, satisfying 18 hours of continuing education covering tax law updates, ethics, and federal tax topics.
Key Skills
- Corporate and partnership return preparation (Forms 1120, 1120-S, 1065)
- Multi-state apportionment and nexus analysis
- CCH ProSystem fx TAX and ATX Total Tax Office
- Financial statement analysis: income statements, balance sheets, and general ledger review
- Federal and state tax law research and plain-language client advisory
- Depreciation scheduling and Section 179 / bonus depreciation elections
- Source-document reconciliation and error-detection review
- Intuit QuickBooks file auditing for entity-level engagements
- Extension filing management across April, September, and October deadlines
Certifications
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | January 2017
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Certificate of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | January 2024
- Enrolled Agent (EA) | Internal Revenue Service | March 2022
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO | August 2013 – May 2017
Rachel Thompson
(555) 814-3092
[email protected]
Austin, TX
Profile
CPA licensed in Texas with a concentration in corporate and individual taxation, built across seven years spanning regional public accounting and a Big Four-adjacent advisory practice. Proficient in CCH ProSystem fx Tax for multi-entity return assembly and in Intuit QuickBooks for year-end close reconciliations that feed directly into compiled financials. Clients in the energy and real estate sectors rely on Rachel to identify credit and depreciation strategies that hold up through state-level examinations, three of which closed without a single proposed adjustment from FY2021 through FY2023.
Professional Experience
Tax Manager, Celara Advisory Group, Austin, TX | March 2021 – Present
- Oversee preparation and review of 210-plus federal and state returns per filing season, covering S-corporations, partnerships, and high-net-worth individuals in the energy sector.
- Identified a missed cost segregation opportunity for a commercial real estate client, accelerating $312,000 in depreciation deductions across the 2022 and 2023 tax years.
- Managed IRS correspondence examination for three business clients in FY2021 through FY2023, assembling substantiation packages that resolved all inquiries with no tax due.
- Directed a four-person team of staff and senior associates through the April 15 and September 15 deadlines each year since joining, tracking status in a shared CCH workflow dashboard updated daily.
- Evaluated client eligibility for the Employee Retention Credit across 17 small-business accounts, documenting qualification rationale and coordinating amended payroll filings that recovered $187,500 in total credits.
- Authored a 12-page internal memo summarizing the Inflation Reduction Act’s energy-efficiency credit changes, which the firm’s client services team distributed to 140 business clients in Q4 2022.
- Reduced average return-assembly cycle time by two business days by redesigning the firm’s document-request checklist and moving client uploads to a secure client portal.
Senior Tax Associate, Delworth & Crane LLP, Dallas, TX | June 2018 – February 2021
- Prepared 95 to 130 individual and small-business returns per season using CCH ProSystem fx Tax, including Schedule C, Schedule E, and multi-state apportionment worksheets.
- Reviewed prior-year returns for 28 new clients during onboarding, catching a recurring depreciation error that generated $9,600 in amended-return refunds across six accounts.
- Interviewed business-owner clients to document deductible expenses, distinguishing personal and mixed-use items in accordance with IRC Section 274 and Treasury Regulation guidance.
- Computed quarterly estimated tax obligations for 34 self-employed clients, calibrating payments to minimize underpayment penalties while preserving cash flow for each business.
- Collaborated with the firm’s enrolled agent on Texas franchise tax nexus analysis for eight out-of-state clients expanding operations into the state in 2019 and 2020.
- Cross-checked data entry on returns completed by two junior associates, catching input discrepancies on 11 returns before transmission, bringing the season’s retransmission count to zero.
Tax Staff Accountant, Trellis Financial Partners, Fort Worth, TX | August 2016 – May 2018
- Supported three senior CPAs in preparing individual and trust returns, gaining exposure to Form 1041 fiduciary income tax filings for the first time during the 2017 filing season.
- Reconciled QuickBooks records for nine small-business clients against monthly bank statements, surfacing $26,400 in misclassified expenses that were reclassified before year-end close.
- Entered client income documents, including W-2s, 1099-DIV, 1099-B, and K-1s, into ATX Total Tax Office with a verification step requiring sign-off from a supervising associate.
- Researched IRS Publication 946 depreciation tables and MACRS class lives to answer client questions about vehicle and equipment write-offs, summarizing findings in a brief written memo each time.
- Tracked extension filings for 52 individual clients across April, June, and October deadlines using a shared Microsoft Excel log, with zero missed submissions during both tax seasons.
- Participated in the firm’s annual tax-law update training in January 2017 and January 2018, completing 16 CPE hours each year toward Texas State Board continuing education requirements.
Key Skills
- Federal and multi-state corporate return preparation (Forms 1120, 1120-S, 1065)
- Depreciation scheduling and Section 179 / bonus depreciation analysis
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax and ATX Total Accounting Office workflow management
- Financial statement review: income statements, trial balances, and general ledger tie-outs
- IRS examination support and state audit response documentation
- Intuit QuickBooks file diagnostics and year-end adjusting entry preparation
- Tax law interpretation and plain-language client advisory writing
- Microsoft Excel modeling (PivotTables, VLOOKUP, multi-year effective-rate comparison)
- Estimated tax payment scheduling and penalty avoidance planning
Certifications
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA) | Texas State Board of Public Accountancy | November 2016
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax Certified User | Wolters Kluwer | April 2019
Education
Master of Science in Taxation
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX | August 2014 – May 2016
Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting
University of North Texas, Denton, TX | August 2010 – May 2014
Imani Carter
(555) 304-7821
[email protected]
Baltimore, MD
Profile
Picked up tax prep work at a small Baltimore storefront during college to cover tuition, and discovered that untangling multi-state filings for clients who had moved mid-year or worked remotely across state lines was the kind of puzzle worth doing full time. Five years later, CCH ProSystem fx Tax and ATX Total Tax Office are daily tools, and the specialty is individual and small-business returns spanning three or more jurisdictions. Clients consistently receive their completed returns before the IRS acknowledgment window closes, and the firm’s review partner cleared every assigned return without a correction request during the 2022 and 2023 filing seasons.
Professional Experience
Tax Preparer II, Tidewater Tax & Financial Group, Baltimore, MD | January 2022 – Present
- Prepared 210 to 240 individual and small-business returns per filing season, with roughly 40 percent of those returns spanning two or more state jurisdictions.
- Screened every client file for applicable deductions and credits before assembly, identifying overlooked home-office deductions for 18 remote-worker clients in 2023 and recovering a combined $31,600 in additional refunds across that group.
- Interviewed clients with income changes, mid-year relocations, or new Schedule C activity to capture accurate taxable-income figures and confirm correct filing status before entering any data into CCH ProSystem fx Tax.
- Built a Microsoft Excel worksheet template for year-over-year liability comparisons that the firm’s three other preparers adopted in the 2024 season, cutting per-client review time by 25 minutes.
- Tracked extension and estimated-payment deadlines for Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Washington, D.C., filing all 34 extension requests assigned to the queue by the April 15 and October 15 cutoffs every year since 2022.
- Caught arithmetic discrepancies in six returns originally drafted by a seasonal associate in 2023, flagging the errors before the review partner’s sign-off and avoiding potential penalty exposure on all six accounts.
- Explained part-year residency apportionment rules and reciprocity agreements to clients relocating between Maryland and Virginia, translating regulatory language into plain-language summaries each client could keep for their records.
Tax Preparer, Chesapeake Accounting & Advisory Services, Towson, MD | September 2019 – December 2021
- Completed 130 to 160 individual federal and Maryland state returns across the 2020 and 2021 filing seasons using ATX Total Tax Office, maintaining a clean review record with the supervising enrolled agent both years.
- Reviewed W-2s, 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC forms, Schedule K-1 packages, and itemized expense receipts to select the correct forms and schedules before any data entry began.
- Supported four sole-proprietor clients monthly by reconciling Intuit QuickBooks expense categorizations against bank statements, correcting misclassified entries that would have overstated taxable income by $8,400 in FY2021.
- Handled client inquiries submitted through the firm’s online intake portal, responding to 90 percent of questions within one business day during peak season.
- Documented deduction-eligibility determinations in client folders, creating a paper trail the review partner used to clear nine returns selected for quality-control sampling in March 2021.
- Completed IRS Annual Filing Season Program coursework in October 2020 and October 2021, fulfilling the 18-hour continuing education requirement each cycle.
Tax Preparation Assistant, Liberty Square Tax Services, College Park, MD | January 2019 – August 2019
- Assisted two senior preparers during the 2019 filing season, entering income and deduction data for 55 individual returns in ATX Total Tax Office under direct supervision.
- Organized, scanned, and indexed source documents for each client file, ensuring every folder included the required W-2s, 1099s, and prior-year return before the preparer’s review began.
- Cross-checked arithmetic on 30 completed returns by tracing form-line totals against supporting schedules, flagging three data-entry discrepancies for correction before filing.
- Sat in on 20 client intake appointments to observe deduction-identification techniques, then conducted eight supervised interviews independently by the end of the season.
- Drafted a one-page instruction sheet in Microsoft Word explaining Maryland’s state e-file confirmation process, which the office used to reduce follow-up calls from first-time filers by roughly a third.
Key Skills
- Multi-state individual and small-business return preparation (CCH ProSystem fx Tax, ATX Total Tax Office)
- Federal and state tax law interpretation for remote workers and part-year residents
- Deduction and credit screening: EITC, Child Tax Credit, education credits, home office
- Financial-record analysis: P&L statements, Schedule C documentation, and 1099 series
- Source-document intake and filing-status determination
- Microsoft Excel for year-over-year tax liability comparisons and client worksheets
- Intuit QuickBooks payroll and expense review for sole proprietors
- Extension and estimated-payment deadline tracking across six state tax authorities
- Plain-language explanation of nexus rules and apportionment to non-accountant clients
Certifications
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | October 2018
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Certificate of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | October 2023
- Enrolled Agent (EA) | Internal Revenue Service | March 2023
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Towson University, Towson, MD | August 2015 – May 2019
Ana García
(555) 847-2193
[email protected]
Albuquerque, NM
Profile
Manages a self-employed tax consulting practice serving 85 to 110 individual and small-business clients each filing season across retail, freelance, and real estate sectors in the Albuquerque metro. Trained in CCH ProSystem fx TAX and Intuit QuickBooks, she builds each engagement around a thorough review of income documentation, deduction eligibility, and applicable federal and New Mexico state credits before a single figure hits the return. Every April 15 and October 15 deadline has been met without a penalty notice since opening the practice in 2020, and clients regularly report refund outcomes that exceed their prior-year filings by meaningful margins.
Professional Experience
Self-Employed Tax Consultant, Ana García Tax Consulting, Albuquerque, NM | January 2020 – Present
- Built a solo consulting practice from scratch, growing the active client roster to 107 households and small businesses by the 2024 filing season, with a 91% year-over-year client retention rate.
- Prepare federal and New Mexico state returns ranging from straightforward W-2 filers to S-corporation shareholders with multi-state K-1 income, using CCH ProSystem fx TAX for all production work.
- Identified overlooked deductions, including home-office allocations, Section 179 equipment elections, and qualified business income adjustments, that generated a combined $67,500 in additional client refunds across the 2023 season.
- Conduct structured intake interviews for each engagement to capture changes in filing status, dependent eligibility, rental activity, and side-income streams before pulling any source documents.
- Reconcile QuickBooks files against bank and credit card statements for 23 small-business clients on a quarterly basis, catching misclassified expenses before they distort the annual return.
- Developed a custom Excel depreciation schedule template that tracks asset basis, placed-in-service dates, and Section 168(k) bonus elections across all business clients, cutting the time spent recalculating prior-year figures each season.
- Explain federal and state law changes, including the updated standard mileage rate, Inflation Reduction Act energy credits, and 1099-K threshold shifts, to clients via a brief written summary distributed each January.
Tax Preparer, Sandia Tax & Accounting Services, Albuquerque, NM | October 2017 – December 2019
- Handled 210 to 240 individual returns per season for a two-CPA firm serving primarily middle-income households, sole proprietors, and landlords with Schedule E activity.
- Screened every assigned return against the firm’s 14-point pre-submission checklist, catching arithmetic and data-entry discrepancies in 38 returns during the 2019 season before they reached the e-file queue.
- Applied Earned Income Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit, and American Opportunity Credit eligibility rules to interview notes, increasing average refund amounts for qualifying clients by 18% compared to the prior preparer’s calculations.
- Reviewed W-2s, 1099-G unemployment statements, and mortgage interest records to confirm the correct filing status for each client, escalating ambiguous dependency and community property questions to the supervising CPA.
- Maintained organized digital case files in ATX Total Tax Office for each client, ensuring supporting documents were attached and cross-referenced to the corresponding return lines.
- Communicated updates to clients through the firm’s scheduled callback system, resolving document questions for 60-plus clients across each filing season without missing a confirmed appointment slot.
Accounting Assistant, Turquoise Ridge Property Management, Rio Rancho, NM | June 2015 – September 2017
- Supported the controller in preparing quarterly and annual financial statements for a portfolio of 14 residential and commercial properties using Intuit QuickBooks.
- Recorded rental income, vendor invoices, and maintenance expenditures daily, maintaining a chart of accounts that the external CPA firm later cited as ‘audit-ready’ during the FY2016 review.
- Compiled depreciation schedules and year-end expense summaries that fed directly into the owner’s Schedule E filings, reducing document-preparation time at tax season by three weeks.
- Verified totals on accounts payable batches prepared by the office manager, flagging four duplicate payments totaling $4,200 before checks were issued.
- Assisted the controller in responding to a New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department inquiry in 2017, organizing gross receipts records and correspondence that resolved the matter with no assessment.
Key Skills
- Federal, state, and local return preparation (Forms 1040, 1065, 1120-S)
- Deduction and credit identification for self-employed and gig-economy filers
- CCH ProSystem fx TAX and ATX Total Tax Office
- Intuit QuickBooks file review and quarterly reconciliation
- New Mexico gross receipts tax compliance and reporting
- Income documentation analysis: W-2s, 1099-NECs, Schedule K-1s, and brokerage statements
- Client consultation and plain-language explanation of IRS law changes
- Microsoft Excel (multi-year tax projection worksheets and depreciation schedules)
- Error detection in third-party-prepared returns before submission
Certifications
- IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Record of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | January 2024
- Enrolled Agent (EA) | Internal Revenue Service | March 2022
Education
Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM | August 2011 – May 2015
Sofia Hernandez
(555) 214-8830
[email protected]
Tampa, FL
Profile
Tax preparer with nine years of experience serving sole proprietors, LLCs, and S-corporations across the retail and food-service industries. Fluent in CCH ProSystem fx Tax and Intuit QuickBooks, with strong command of Schedule C cost-of-goods adjustments, Section 179 elections, and quarterly estimated-payment calculations. Clients routinely carry forward identified deductions worth well over $55,000 in aggregate per filing season, and every federal extension deadline from 2016 through 2024 was met without a single late-filing penalty. Clear, plain-language explanations of IRS rule changes keep small-business owners confident heading into each April.
Professional Experience
Small Business Tax Preparer, Suncoast Tax & Business Advisors, Tampa, FL | January 2020 – Present
- Prepared 210 to 240 federal and Florida state returns per filing season, covering individual, S-corporation, and partnership filings for clients in food service, retail, and e-commerce.
- Screened every new client intake form against 14 deduction categories, identifying home-office, vehicle, and Section 179 credits that reduced aggregate client tax liability by $73,200 across the 2023 filing season.
- Built a standardized Excel workbook template that cross-references QuickBooks profit-and-loss exports against bank statements, cutting reconciliation discrepancies flagged during manager review by more than half.
- Conducted 60-to-90-minute intake interviews with sole proprietors to document side-income streams, cost-of-goods-sold figures, and payroll expenses before opening each return in CCH ProSystem fx Tax.
- Explained changes introduced by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and subsequent IRS guidance to clients unfamiliar with accounting terminology, translating regulatory language into plain-English action items.
- Checked arithmetic and data-entry completeness on 35 returns drafted by two seasonal associates each April, catching classification errors before submission to the IRS e-file system.
- Coordinated October extension filings for 28 business clients, ensuring all balance-due payments posted to IRS EFTPS by the September 15 partnership and S-corp deadline and the October 15 individual deadline.
Tax Preparer, Oaktree Financial & Tax LLC, Clearwater, FL | October 2016 – December 2019
- Managed a caseload of 130 individual and Schedule C returns per season using ATX Total Tax Office, maintaining a clean e-file acceptance record across all four seasons from 2016 through 2019.
- Reviewed W-2s, 1099-K merchant-processing statements, and Schedule K-1 pass-through documents for accuracy before populating return fields, catching misclassified income on 11 returns in the 2018 season alone.
- Applied Earned Income Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit, and premium tax credit calculations for qualifying households, recovering a combined $61,800 in refunds for lower-income clients during the 2017 season.
- Interviewed clients who experienced major life changes, including new-business launches, rental-property acquisitions, and divorce, to determine amended filing status and updated depreciation schedules.
- Maintained organized digital folders in Microsoft SharePoint for each client’s source documents, keeping receipts, prior-year returns, and correspondence accessible for the firm’s enrolled agent during IRS correspondence reviews.
- Fielded tax-law questions from clients via the firm’s scheduled phone consultation calendar, averaging four client calls per day during the peak February-through-April window.
Tax Preparation Assistant, Gulf Bay Accounting Services, St. Petersburg, FL | January 2015 – September 2016
- Supported three senior preparers in assembling 85 individual federal and state returns per season, entering W-2 and 1099-INT data into ATX and flagging missing documentation before the preparer’s review.
- Organized and digitized source documents for the full client roster each January, scanning roughly 1,400 pages of receipts, bank statements, and prior-year notices into the firm’s document-management portal.
- Drafted a one-page deduction checklist in Microsoft Word that the firm adopted firm-wide, reducing overlooked vehicle-expense and home-office claims during initial client intake.
- Completed IRS Publication 4012 training modules and passed the firm’s internal quality-review test with a score of 97 out of 100, qualifying to independently prepare straightforward 1040 returns by February 2015.
- Verified totals on 40 returns prepared by a senior associate, cross-referencing Form 1040 line entries against supporting schedules and catching three arithmetic discrepancies before e-filing.
Key Skills
- Federal and state small-business return preparation (Schedule C, 1120-S, 1065)
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax workflow and ATX Total Tax Office
- Intuit QuickBooks file review and journal-entry correction
- Section 179 and bonus-depreciation election analysis
- Quarterly estimated tax calculation and payment scheduling
- Deduction eligibility screening (home office, vehicle, health insurance)
- Financial-record analysis: profit-and-loss statements, expense receipts, mileage logs
- Federal and state tax law interpretation and client education
- Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, multi-year comparison workbooks)
Certifications
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | November 2014
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Record of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | December 2022
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL | August 2010 – May 2014
Aisha Mohammad
(555) 604-2187
[email protected]
Louisville, KY
Profile
Caught $19,800 in missed deductions across 14 small-business client files during her first full tax season at Redrock Advisory Services, converting a bookkeeping background into immediate client value. Three years in retail accounting gave Aisha Mohammad a sharp eye for expense documentation, payroll records, and the paper trail that separates a clean return from a costly one. She works in CCH ProSystem fx Tax and ATX Total Tax Office and cross-references source documents against IRS instructions before a return ever leaves the desk. Clients leave with a plain-language explanation of every line that changed their liability.
Professional Experience
Tax Preparer, Redrock Advisory Services, Louisville, KY | January 2023 – Present
- Prepared 210 federal and Kentucky state individual returns across the 2023 and 2024 filing seasons, covering W-2 earners, retirees, and sole proprietors with Schedule C income.
- Identified $19,800 in previously unclaimed home-office, vehicle, and professional-development deductions across 14 small-business client files reviewed during intake, directly reducing those clients’ combined federal liability.
- Interviewed each client using a structured checklist to surface life changes, including marriage, home purchase, and side income, that shifted filing status or credit eligibility for 38 filers in 2024.
- Reviewed QuickBooks-exported profit-and-loss reports against bank statements for eight sole-proprietor clients before entering figures into CCH ProSystem fx Tax, catching three classification errors that would have overstated deductible expenses.
- Explained federal and Kentucky state tax law updates to clients in plain language, including the 2023 standard deduction increase and changes to the Child Tax Credit phaseout thresholds.
- Cleared all April 15 deadlines for assigned caseload in both 2023 and 2024 with zero returns requiring corrective amendments post-filing.
- Cross-checked arithmetic totals and data-entry fields on six returns completed by a part-time seasonal associate, flagging two transposition errors before submission.
Retail Accounting Coordinator, Thornberry Home Goods, Louisville, KY | March 2020 – December 2022
- Managed accounts payable processing for a 12-location specialty retailer, coding and posting 300 to 350 vendor invoices per month across five expense categories in Intuit QuickBooks.
- Reconciled four corporate credit card accounts monthly, resolving an average backlog of 22 unmatched transactions per cycle inherited from the prior coordinator within the first quarter.
- Prepared weekly cash-flow summaries in Microsoft Excel for the controller, consolidating point-of-sale data from all 12 locations into a single workbook reviewed at every Monday operations meeting.
- Assisted the external CPA at year-end by compiling organized folders of payroll summaries, fixed-asset schedules, and lease documentation, cutting the CPA’s fieldwork time by roughly eight hours across the FY2021 and FY2022 closes.
- Tracked sales tax remittance obligations across Kentucky and three neighboring states, confirming that all quarterly filings reached the respective revenue departments before their due dates for FY2021 through FY2022.
- Trained two accounts payable clerks on the company’s invoice-coding policy and QuickBooks entry workflow, reducing duplicate-payment incidents to zero in the six months following training.
Customer Service and Sales Associate, Thornberry Home Goods, Louisville, KY | August 2018 – February 2020
- Handled 40 to 60 customer transactions daily on the floor and at point-of-sale, building the active-listening and client-communication habits that now carry directly into tax client consultations.
- Processed returns, exchanges, and gift-card redemptions with accuracy across a high-volume holiday season, maintaining a register-variance record of under $5 per shift across November and December 2019.
- Volunteered for inventory audit support three times per year, counting and reconciling physical stock against system records for a product catalog of roughly 2,400 SKUs.
Key Skills
- Federal, state, and local return preparation (individual and Schedule C small business)
- Source-document review: W-2s, 1099-NECs, 1099-DIV, and expense receipts
- Tax software proficiency (CCH ProSystem fx Tax, ATX Total Tax Office, Intuit QuickBooks)
- Deduction and credit identification across retail, freelance, and gig-economy filers
- Financial record analysis: income statements, payroll summaries, and depreciation schedules
- IRS and state filing calendar compliance (April 15, October 15, quarterly estimated payments)
- Client consultation and plain-language tax law communication
- Microsoft Excel for multi-client tracking and fee reconciliation
- Critical thinking and error detection in multi-form return packages
Certifications
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | November 2022
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Record of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | December 2023
Education
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Accounting Concentration
Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY | August 2014 – May 2018
Ryan Cooper
(555) 614-2983
[email protected]
Cincinnati, OH
Profile
Switched the firm from ATX Total Tax Office to CCH ProSystem fx Tax across two filing seasons at Ridgeline & Folsom LLP, retraining four preparers and rebuilding all standard return templates before the February 2022 launch. Ten years in individual and small-business tax preparation, with a specialty in Schedule C, Schedule E, and multi-state returns for freelancers and real estate investors in the retail and construction trades. Clients with complex depreciation schedules and mixed-income profiles consistently clear state and IRS review without amendment requests.
Professional Experience
Remote Tax Preparer, Ridgeline & Folsom LLP, Cincinnati, OH | February 2022 – Present
- Prepare 220 to 260 individual and small-business returns each filing season, covering federal plus up to four state filings per client, using CCH ProSystem fx Tax.
- Led the migration from ATX to CCH ProSystem fx Tax in early 2022, rebuilding 14 standard return templates and documenting workflow steps in a shared SharePoint guide used by all four preparers.
- Screen every client file for overlooked credits, including the Child and Dependent Care Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and energy-efficiency elections under Section 25C, recovering a combined $158,000 in client refunds across FY2023.
- Conduct video intake consultations for remote clients, gathering updated income sources, new rental properties, and significant life events that affect filing status before touching the return.
- Review W-2s, 1099-NECs, 1099-Ks, and Schedule K-1 packages against client-provided QuickBooks exports to flag income discrepancies before data entry, a step that surfaced 31 misclassified transactions in the 2023 season alone.
- Hit all April 15 and extended October 15 deadlines for the firm’s full active client roster each year from FY2022 through FY2024, with no penalty notices assessed to clients.
- Mentor one part-time seasonal associate on CCH data entry standards and the firm’s document-checklist protocol, reducing return-revision requests from that associate by roughly half in the associate’s second season.
Tax Preparer, Copperstone Tax & Financial Group, Dayton, OH | January 2019 – January 2022
- Handled 140 to 165 individual returns per season using ATX Total Tax Office, covering straightforward W-2 filers through clients with rental income, stock transactions, and self-employment income.
- Analyzed brokerage statements and Form 1099-B detail to apply correct cost-basis adjustments and wash-sale disallowances, a task that previously required senior-preparer review on every brokerage return.
- Explained federal and Ohio state tax law changes to clients each January via a one-page plain-language summary distributed through the firm’s client portal, which the managing CPA credited with cutting inbound phone questions by more than 40 calls per season.
- Identified home-office deductions, vehicle mileage elections, and qualified business income deductions for 38 Schedule C clients who had not claimed them in prior years, yielding an aggregate tax reduction of $46,500 across those returns.
- Verified completed returns drafted by two other preparers, checking arithmetic totals, carryforward figures, and e-file acknowledgment codes before the files moved to the partner review queue.
- Maintained organized digital folders in Microsoft SharePoint for all source documents, enabling the firm to pass a state-level preparer compliance review in March 2021 without a single missing-document citation.
Tax Preparation Assistant, Lakewood Community Financial Center, Columbus, OH | January 2015 – December 2018
- Supported three senior preparers in completing returns for 80 to 110 low-to-moderate income households each season under the VITA program guidelines, using TaxSlayer Pro.
- Conducted intake interviews in both English and basic conversational Spanish for clients with mixed household income types, documenting deductible expenses and dependent information on standardized intake sheets.
- Entered income, withholding, and deduction data into ATX Total Tax Office for straightforward 1040 returns, then cross-checked totals against IRS instructions before passing files for quality review.
- Tracked every assigned return in a shared Microsoft Excel workbook that logged intake date, status, and expected completion, keeping the team aware of the 47 open returns still pending during the final two weeks of the season.
- Completed IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) certification training each year from 2015 through 2018, passing the Advanced certification exam all four years.
Key Skills
- Federal, state, and local return preparation: individuals, sole proprietors, and S-corps
- Multi-state filing and apportionment (two or more state returns per client)
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax and ATX Total Tax Office platform administration
- Schedule C, Schedule E, and Form 4562 depreciation analysis
- Deduction eligibility screening: home-office, vehicle, and Section 179 elections
- Source-document review: W-2s, 1099-K, K-1s, brokerage statements, and expense logs
- Intuit QuickBooks file review and income-expense reconciliation for small-business clients
- Client intake consultation and plain-language explanation of law changes
- Microsoft Excel workbook design for return-status tracking and deadline management
Certifications
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | January 2015
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Completion | Internal Revenue Service | December 2023
- Enrolled Agent (EA) | Internal Revenue Service | September 2021
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Wright State University, Dayton, OH | August 2010 – May 2014
Liam O’Brien
(555) 314-7892
[email protected]
Columbus, OH
Profile
Promoted from part-time tax associate to lead seasonal preparer at Ridgeline Tax & Business Services after just two filing seasons, handling a caseload that grew from 80 to over 220 returns by FY2022-FY2024. Fluent in CCH ProSystem fx Tax for individual and small-business returns, with solid grounding in applicable federal and Ohio state deduction rules, filing status determinations, and credit eligibility analysis. Clients consistently leave with fully documented returns, a plain-language explanation of what changed year over year, and confidence that every allowable deduction was captured.
Professional Experience
Lead Seasonal Tax Preparer, Ridgeline Tax & Business Services, Columbus, OH | January 2022 – April 2024
- Prepared 228 federal, Ohio state, and local municipal returns across the 2023 filing season, covering individual filers, Schedule C sole proprietors, and rental property owners.
- Ran intake consultations for every assigned client, capturing updated income sources, new dependent situations, and major life changes that shifted filing status or bracket placement.
- Applied all qualifying deductions and credits to 43 self-employed clients, identifying home-office, vehicle-mileage, and Section 179 equipment deductions that produced a combined $84,600 in additional refunds across that group.
- Reviewed QuickBooks records for nine small-business clients, reconciling categorized expenses against bank feeds before pulling figures into Schedule C.
- Caught arithmetic discrepancies in 17 returns drafted by two junior associates during the 2022 season, flagging misapplied standard vs. itemized deduction selections before any returns were transmitted.
- Met every April 15 filing deadline and all October extension deadlines for the 2021 through 2023 tax years without a single IRS rejection attributable to data-entry error.
- Explained Ohio CAT tax implications and pass-through entity credits to four LLC clients who had previously filed as sole proprietors, correcting their filing approach for tax year 2022.
Tax Associate (Seasonal), Ridgeline Tax & Business Services, Columbus, OH | January 2021 – April 2021
- Completed 84 individual 1040 returns during the extended 2020 tax year filing season, working under the supervision of a licensed enrolled agent.
- Gathered and organized source documents, including W-2s, 1099-INT statements, mortgage interest forms, and charitable contribution receipts, reducing per-return setup time by standardizing a physical intake checklist.
- Entered income and deduction data into ATX Total Tax Office for each assigned return, verifying totals against the client’s supporting documents before final review.
- Assisted the firm’s enrolled agent in responding to three IRS CP2000 notices by pulling original return data, drafting written explanations, and assembling substantiation packets.
- Fielded client questions via the office scheduling line and walk-in hours, explaining refund timelines and standard deduction thresholds in plain language to first-time filers.
Bookkeeper and Office Administrator, Tanner & Wycliffe Property Management, Columbus, OH | March 2018 – December 2020
- Maintained general ledger entries for a portfolio of 14 residential properties using Intuit QuickBooks, posting monthly rent receipts, vendor invoices, and maintenance expenses.
- Prepared quarterly income and expense summaries in Microsoft Excel for the firm’s outside CPA, cutting document-assembly time by building a reusable template that pulled data directly from QuickBooks reports.
- Processed 1099-MISC forms for 22 independent contractors each January, cross-referencing payment totals against the QuickBooks vendor ledger to confirm accuracy before mailing.
- Tracked depreciation schedules for six commercial units and supplied the external CPA with asset-basis documentation each year during tax preparation season.
- Managed accounts payable for routine vendor relationships, ensuring property tax installments and insurance premiums were coded to the correct cost centers and paid ahead of due dates.
Key Skills
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax and ATX Total Tax Office return preparation
- Federal and state tax law interpretation (individuals and sole proprietors)
- Filing status and dependency determination
- W-2, 1099-NEC, 1099-DIV, and Schedule C source-document review
- Deduction and credit eligibility analysis (EITC, Child Tax Credit, education credits)
- Microsoft Excel for income reconciliation and multi-client tracking
- Intuit QuickBooks file review for self-employed clients
- Client interviewing and intake note documentation
- Critical thinking applied to identifying unreported income and overlooked deductions
Certifications
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) | Internal Revenue Service | December 2020
- Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Certificate of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | December 2023
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Ohio University, Athens, OH | August 2014 – May 2018
Ivy Wong
(555) 304-7821
[email protected]
Pittsburgh, PA
Profile
Specializes in state and local tax compliance for retail and e-commerce clients, where nexus determination and multi-jurisdiction filing calendars require close attention to each state’s unique rules. Trained on CCH ProSystem fx Tax under senior supervision and comfortable logging return data across roughly 15 jurisdictions per season. Supported three senior preparers through two full filing seasons at a regional CPA firm, keeping all assigned client files organized and flagged for review ahead of every quarterly SUT deadline.
Professional Experience
State and Local Tax Associate, Trentwood & Sable CPA Group, Pittsburgh, PA | January 2024 – Present
- Assisted two senior SALT specialists in preparing sales and use tax returns for 11 retail clients across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, covering all Q1 and Q2 2024 filing periods.
- Compiled nexus questionnaire responses for eight new clients, organizing answers into a shared Excel workbook that senior preparers used to confirm economic nexus thresholds before registration.
- Reviewed client invoices, exemption certificates, and purchase records to identify taxable versus exempt transactions, flagging six misclassified line items that prevented a combined $17,300 in potential underreported tax.
- Logged all assigned return statuses (draft, under review, filed, confirmed) into the firm’s CCH ProSystem fx Tax workflow, giving senior staff real-time visibility into a 40-return queue.
- Drafted plain-language email summaries for four clients explaining Pennsylvania’s destination-based sourcing rules after the state updated its remote-seller guidance in March 2024.
- Cross-checked arithmetic on 23 returns prepared by a co-associate before senior sign-off, catching three arithmetic discrepancies totaling $890 in incorrectly computed local tax.
- Tracked all Pennsylvania SUT quarterly due dates on a shared Outlook calendar and escalated any missing client documents to the assigned senior preparer at least 10 business days before each deadline.
Tax Preparation Intern, Sunridge Accounting & Advisory LLC, Pittsburgh, PA | January 2023 – April 2023
- Supported three preparers during the 2022 filing season by entering income, deduction, and credit data for 34 individual returns into ATX Total Tax Office under direct supervision.
- Verified totals on completed ATX forms against client-supplied W-2s and 1099-INT statements, documenting every discrepancy in a shared Excel log that the supervising CPA reviewed each morning.
- Helped organize and scan roughly 400 source documents across the 15-week internship, including receipts, mileage logs, and mortgage statements, maintaining a consistent naming convention in the firm’s document portal.
- Assisted a senior preparer in identifying eligible deductions for five Schedule C clients, referencing IRS Publication 334 to confirm home-office and vehicle expense rules.
- Routed four client inquiries about filing extensions to the appropriate senior preparer after documenting the client’s question and relevant account number in the firm’s intake form.
Key Skills
- State and local tax (SALT) nexus analysis support
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax data entry and jurisdiction setup
- Sales and use tax return preparation assistance
- Microsoft Excel pivot tables and formula-based tax trackers
- Source-document classification (W-2s, 1099s, depreciation schedules)
- Tax calendar maintenance and deadline tracking across multiple states
- Plain-language client communication and deduction note-taking
- Cross-checking return totals against state instructions and tax tables
- Intuit QuickBooks transaction review and expense categorization
Certifications
- IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) Certificate of Completion | Internal Revenue Service | October 2023
- CCH ProSystem fx Tax Fundamentals Certificate | Wolters Kluwer | February 2024
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA | August 2019 – December 2023