How to hire a tax professional

How to hire a tax professional, step by step

Here's a step-by-step tax professional hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a tax professional job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new tax professional
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a tax professional do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The tax professional hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A tax professional's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, tax professionals from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of tax professional salaries for various roles:

   Type of Tax Professional	Description	Hourly rate
   Tax Professional		$14-55
   Auditor	An auditor is responsible for reviewing financial statements and making sure that the reports align with the accounting principles and legislative standards. Some of the important duties of an auditor are verifying the company's account statements, ensuring that the business is free from fraud and other unusual activities, providing recommendations to boost operations' performance, and creating financial reports for the board... Show more	$16-40
   Account Auditor	The account auditor is the person tasked to conduct audits in sales accounts handled by the company. As with an auditor, this person checks all financial statements, investigates each entry, making sure everything is accounted for correctly... Show more	$25-52

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Strong Customer Service
   • Customer Service
   • Individual Tax Returns
   • IRS
   • Taxable Income
   • State Tax Returns
   • Income Tax Returns
   • Audit Support
   • Business Growth
   • Tax Advice
   • Client Retention
   • Tax Planning
   • Tax Season
   • Tax Software

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Advise clients on most efficient ways to manage, organize, and utilize proprietary data in FactSet's integrate platform.
   • Manage the training and use of new FactSet products and enhancements with various client bases including portfolio management and performance teams.
   • Answer phone, provide clients with immediate taxation information and up-today tax policy.
   • Provide professional taxation consulting services for taxpayers.
   • Assist and educate taxpayers regarding complicate IRS audit/examination processes.
   • Calculate and input information for depreciation assets in QuickBooks software.

   More tax professional duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your tax professional job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A tax professional can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, tax professionals' average salary in south carolina is 63% less than in rhode island.
   • Seniority. Entry-level tax professionals 73% less than senior-level tax professionals.
   • Certifications. A tax professional with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a tax professional's salary.

   Average tax professional salary

   $60,241yearly

   $28.96 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level tax professional salary

   $31,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 23, 2026

   Average tax professional salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New Hampshire	$96,859	$47
   2	Oregon	$93,028	$45
   3	Connecticut	$92,777	$45
   4	Nevada	$92,277	$44
   5	Maine	$90,056	$43
   6	New Jersey	$89,857	$43
   7	California	$89,586	$43
   8	Washington	$86,924	$42
   9	New York	$86,212	$41
   10	Massachusetts	$83,397	$40
   11	District of Columbia	$75,691	$36
   12	Texas	$73,106	$35
   13	New Mexico	$69,377	$33
   14	Pennsylvania	$69,244	$33
   15	West Virginia	$64,781	$31
   16	Maryland	$64,400	$31
   17	Minnesota	$64,031	$31
   18	Tennessee	$63,838	$31
   19	Wisconsin	$60,590	$29
   20	Georgia	$60,441	$29

   Average tax professional salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	IBM	$105,051	$50.51	16
   2	Ernst & Young	$97,338	$46.80	2,454
   3	Intuit	$95,621	$45.97	23
   4	Northern Trust	$95,206	$45.77
   5	Siemens	$88,499	$42.55	3
   6	Bank of America	$83,865	$40.32
   7	Moss Adams	$78,706	$37.84	35
   8	BDO USA	$76,610	$36.83	218
   9	Jefferson Wells USA	$71,523	$34.39	4
   10	Rutgers University	$71,467	$34.36
   11	Deloitte	$69,751	$33.53	2,205
   12	RubinBrown	$67,541	$32.47	58
   13	Miller Kaplan	$67,409	$32.41	5
   14	AAON	$66,469	$31.96
   15	Deloitte Tax	$59,352	$28.53
   16	Paro	$59,342	$28.53
   17	The Medicus Firm	$58,534	$28.14
   18	MCI World	$58,439	$28.10
   19	1 800 Postcards, Inc.	$58,352	$28.05
   20	Kforce	$55,889	$26.87	140

4. Writing a tax professional job description

   A job description for a tax professional role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a tax professional job description:

   Tax professional job description example

   The US Payroll Tax Case Management Analyst role sits within the GES organization and is based in Newark, DE. In this role, you will be responsible for managing the timely and accurate resolution of employee Payroll Tax inquiries. The ideal candidate for this position will have a strong service-orientation and ownership mentality, have demonstrated ability to problem-solve and analyze, and be able to quickly troubleshoot and resolve issues impacting both employees and payroll processes. You will be joining the team at a pivotal time as we recently completed the transition of our Payroll function to Oracle's HCM Cloud platform.
   **Responsibilities**
   
   + Troubleshoot employee Payroll Tax issues and communicate with employees in a timely, courteous and professional manner to deliver excellent payroll support
   
   + Manage employee Payroll Tax cases, perform in-depth research and resolve cases efficiently and thoroughly, meeting both volume and quality service measurement standards
   
   + Maintains internal controls that have been established and follow standard operating procedures
   
   + Maintains knowledge of federal, state, and local legal requirements by studying existing and new legislation
   
   + Performs other job-related duties as assigned
   
   **Education & Experience Required**
   
   + Four year college degree or equivalent experience
   
   + 2+ years of experience as a payroll tax analyst, Payroll analyst or payroll manager
   
   + Oracle HCM Payroll experience (preferred)
   
   + Excellent collaboration & teamwork skills
   
   + Excellent communication skills
   
   + Strong problem-solving skills
   
   + Flexible and adaptable to changes in procedures, processes, systems, etc.
   
   JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the oldest financial institutions, offers innovative financial solutions to millions of consumers, small businesses and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under the J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Our history spans over 200 years and today we are a leader in investment banking, consumer and small business banking, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management.
   
   We recognize that our people are our strength and the diverse talents they bring to our global workforce are directly linked to our success. We are an equal opportunity employer and place a high value on diversity and inclusion at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. In accordance with applicable law, we make reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as any mental health or physical disability needs.
   
   The health and safety of our colleagues, candidates, clients and communities has been a top priority in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. JPMorgan Chase was awarded the "WELL Health-Safety Rating" for all of our 6,200 locations globally based on our operational policies, maintenance protocols, stakeholder engagement and emergency plans to address a post-COVID-19 environment.
   
   As a part of our commitment to health and safety, we have implemented various COVID-related health and safety requirements for our workforce. Employees are expected to follow the Firm's current COVID-19 or other infectious disease health and safety requirements, including local requirements. Requirements include sharing information including your vaccine card in the firm's vaccine record tool, and may include mask wearing. Requirements may change in the future with the evolving public health landscape. JPMorgan Chase will consider accommodation requests as required by applicable law.
   
   Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veterans

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find tax professionals for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your tax professional job on Zippia to find and attract quality tax professional candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as efinancialcareers, financialjobsweb.com, careerbank, financial job bank.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with tax professional candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new tax professional

   Once you've selected the best tax professional candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new tax professional. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a tax professional?