the Cost of Temporary Tax Accounting Services

We hired contract tax preparers to help out at our accounting firm. Instead of paying them hourly we paid them per return that they completed. We paid them $25 per return as a base. We paid more for more complicated returns and paid $50 for a business return.

I think this worked out well for both of us. The employee we hired on a contractual basis was paid per return so they had an incentive to work to the best of their ability. The days they did more work they were paid more and the days they didn't do as much work we weren't stuck paying them for nothing. They were very proficient and easy to work with. They definitely knew what they were doing but weren't afraid or embarrassed to ask us for help if there was something they were unsure on. The only problem we had was that they gave out their business card to our clients. While we didn't specifically ask them not to do this, we didn't really like the idea that they could possibly be stealing business from us in the future.

Be sure if you have a contract employee like this that you make it clear not to try to drum up business from your own business.