Accounting firms ✦ Tax prep ✦ Dedicated

Tax return
preparation assistant

Returns prepared to review stage — data captured, workpapers built, reconciliations done, queries listed — so your registered agent reviews and lodges instead of typing.

Book my 30-minute call →or run the numbers for your role →
Looking for this kind of work yourself? Apply at staffingsolutions.ph — this page is written for businesses hiring.
$14/hrFrom, + GST · full-time
Up to 70%Vs. a local hire
To review stageAgent lodges
~2 wksBrief → first day

Tax season is a capacity problem with a fixed deadline

Every practice knows the shape of it: a flat year, then three months where the work exceeds the people, and the choice is between turning clients away, working sixty-hour weeks, or hiring someone local who will be underused in April.

Preparation to review stage is the part that scales. Capturing the data, building the workpapers, reconciling what needs reconciling, and listing what needs a decision — all of that is process. The judgement is in the review.

A dedicated preparer means your registered agents spend the season reviewing and advising rather than data-entering, and the practice takes on more work without the seasonal hiring problem.

What they prepare

  • Individual returns — Income, deductions, offsets and rental schedules captured from client documents, with prefill reconciled and discrepancies queried.
  • Company and trust returns — Financials converted to return format, reconciliations prepared, distributions and franking captured.
  • Workpapers — Standard workpaper sets built and evidenced so your reviewer sees the chain, not just the number.
  • Rental property schedules — Income, expenses, interest apportionment and depreciation schedules prepared from the client's documents.
  • Capital gains workings — Cost base, dates, and CGT calculations prepared with source documents attached for review.
  • Query lists — A single list per client of the missing documents and the open decisions, chased and tracked.
  • Deadline tracking — Rolling status per client, so the practice knows what is ready, what is waiting and what is late.

Preparation only — the registration line

Preparing a return for a fee, signing it and lodging it are regulated activities requiring Tax Practitioners Board registration. The practical model is preparation to review stage under your registered agent, who takes responsibility for the return.

  • Lodgement and signingYour registered agent reviews, signs and lodges. No exceptions and no workarounds.
  • Tax positions and adviceAnything answering "should the client claim…" is escalated, not decided.
  • Client communication on positionsChasing documents is fine. Explaining a deduction position to a client is not.
  • Agent portalNo access to ATO Online services for agents.
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Questions

Frequently asked

Do they have Australian tax knowledge?
We match people with genuine Australian tax preparation experience for this role — it is not a general bookkeeping skill set. Expect them to know the shape of an individual return, rental schedules and prefill reconciliation. Expect them not to know your firm's positions on borderline deductions, which is exactly what should be escalated anyway.
Can we scale them up for tax season only?
Better to keep them year-round and shift the work. A person who does bookkeeping and BAS prep for nine months and return prep for three is far more useful — and far more likely to still be there next season — than a seasonal arrangement.
How do we control quality on returns?
The workpapers. If your reviewer is checking a visible chain of workings with source documents attached, errors surface in review rather than after lodgement. A preparer who hands you a completed return with no workings is a risk regardless of where they sit.
How much does it cost?
From $14/hr + GST full-time — up to 70% less than a local hire, with no placement fee. Run your numbers →
Full-time, part-time or fewer hours?
Forty hours a week is our standard engagement and twenty is common. Below that we look at fifteen, ten or even five hours to get a role started, priced accordingly — a smaller engagement costs a little more per hour because the recruiting and management effort is the same. Plenty of clients begin at ten hours and grow the role once they see what comes off their desk.
Is there a minimum term?
Three months, then month to month. It's the same runway you'd give a new local hire to learn your systems, your clients and your standards — and the team members who get a fair run are the ones who stay for years. There are no exit penalties at any point, and if the issue is the person rather than the role, the first-week refund and free replacement cover that separately.
How do you handle confidentiality?
The same way you'd treat any remote team member. Every placement signs an NDA and a confidentiality clause before day one, and they work inside your systems — your email, your CRM, your file storage — so you control what they can see and can revoke access instantly. No client data is stored on our side.