How to Train Seasonal Tax Staff Before the First Return

9/24/2026

The first return a seasonal preparer works on should not be the first time they see your software, your review notes or this year's law changes. In most firms it is. The new hire arrives the week intake opens, gets a login and a stack of files, and learns by producing review points. The reviewer, who is also the busiest person in the building, does the training one correction at a time.

There is a better order. Train before the season, in a fixed sequence, against a written standard, and test before live files. This post lays out a pre-season training plan for new and returning seasonal staff and then explains which of our courses fits which kind of hire.

Our earlier post on hiring seasonal tax preparers covers recruiting, classification and retention. This one starts the day after the offer is accepted.

Start With the Arithmetic

Seasonal staff are a fixed cost against a short productive window. Every hour of training is paid for out of that window, and every hour of review a poorly trained preparer generates is paid for by your most expensive people. Training is not the cost here. Review is.

The goal of pre-season training is therefore narrow: reduce the review hours per return a seasonal preparer generates in their first month. Everything in the plan below is judged by that test. Content that does not reduce review points can wait.

Sort Your Hires Before You Train Them

Seasonal staff do not need the same training. Sort them into three groups and build a path for each.

Returning seasonal staff. They know your software, your process and many of your clients. They need the current year's changes, any process changes, and a refresher on due diligence and security. Their training is short, and it should be, because the whole point of rehiring them is that their fixed cost is low.

Experienced preparers new to your firm. They know tax but not your way of working. They need your software if it is different from what they used, your review standard, your client communication rules and the current year's changes. The risk with this group is not technical gaps. It is habits from their previous firm.

New preparers. Career changers, recent graduates and people who have completed coursework but not a season. They need technical grounding in the return types they will prepare, plus everything the other two groups need. Their scope in the first season should be narrow, and their training should match the scope, not the whole return universe.

The Pre-Season Training Plan

The plan below runs in order. Each block has an output that proves it was done.

Block 1: Credentials and compliance basics

Before anyone touches a client file:

Anyone who prepares or assists in preparing federal returns for compensation needs a valid preparer tax identification number, renewed each year. Confirm it is current and the name matches.
State requirements. Several states regulate paid preparers, including California, Oregon, Maryland and New York, with registration, testing or other conditions that vary by state and by credential. Check the rules in every state where your staff prepare returns.
E-file role. Explain who in the firm is the electronic return originator, what the ERO's obligations are under IRS Publication 1345, and what seasonal staff may and may not do in the e-file process.
Section 7216 restricts how preparers use and disclose return information, and violations carry penalties. Staff should know that client information is used only to prepare the return unless a valid consent exists.
The firm's written procedures. Circular 230 expects practitioners with principal authority for a firm's tax practice to take reasonable steps to ensure the firm has adequate procedures for compliance. Hand those procedures over in writing.

Output: credentials verified and recorded; confidentiality and security terms signed.

Block 2: Data security

Tax preparers are covered by the FTC Safeguards Rule and must have a written information security program. Seasonal staff are a known weak point, because they are new to your systems and leave at the end of the season.

Cover:

How client documents come in (portal only) and what to do with an emailed attachment
Identity verification before discussing a return by phone
Multi-factor authentication on every system they use
No local storage, no personal cloud accounts, no client data on personal devices
Phishing that impersonates the IRS, software vendors and clients
What to do, and whom to tell, if they think something went wrong

IRS Publication 4557 (Safeguarding Taxpayer Data) and Publication 5708 (Creating a Written Information Security Plan) are useful source material. Give staff the firm's plan, not just the publications.

Output: a short quiz or walkthrough, and access rights granted only to the clients they will work on.

Block 3: Software

Train on the software with practice returns, not on live files.

Build three or four practice returns that represent the firm's typical work: a wage earner with dependents, a retiree with Social Security and distributions, a Schedule C, a client with brokerage activity.
Have each trainee prepare them from source documents, start to finish, including diagnostics.
Show the firm's settings: which worksheets must be completed, where notes go, how prior-year data rolls forward, how the return is routed for review.
Teach diagnostics as information, not noise. A cleared diagnostic should be understood, not suppressed.

Output: practice returns completed and reviewed against an answer key.

Block 4: The current year's changes

Every preparer, including returning staff, needs a dated briefing on what changed. For returns filed in 2027, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21) is the center of that briefing. Points that affect intake and preparation include:

New deductions for qualified tips, qualified overtime, interest on loans for qualifying new personal vehicles, and an additional deduction for individuals 65 and older, each for 2025 through 2028 and claimed on Schedule 1-A whether or not the client itemizes
A higher state and local tax deduction cap with an income-based phase-down ($40,400 for 2026, reduced above $505,000 of modified AGI, but not below $10,000)
A charitable deduction for non-itemizers starting with tax year 2026 (up to $1,000, or $2,000 married filing jointly)
The requirement, beginning with 2025, that a taxpayer claiming the child tax credit or additional child tax credit have a valid SSN, not only the child
Changes to the child and dependent care credit for 2026
Higher Form 1099 thresholds ($2,000 for 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC payments made after December 31, 2025; more than $20,000 and more than 200 transactions for 1099-K), which mean clients receive fewer forms for the same income
Expired energy and clean vehicle credits that clients may still ask about

Two rules for this block. Source every point to IRS guidance, and date the briefing document. Then decide firm positions on any unsettled questions in advance, so every preparer applies the same answer instead of inventing one under pressure.

Output: a dated briefing document and a short test on the changes most likely to appear in your client base.

Block 5: Due diligence

Paid preparer due diligence applies to returns claiming the earned income credit, the child tax credit and related credits, the American opportunity credit, or head of household status. These returns are often assigned to seasonal staff, and the penalty is assessed per failure, per benefit, per return. The IRS states it at $650 per failure for returns filed in 2026, and Rev. Proc. 2025-32 sets it at $665 for returns filed in 2027.

Train the four requirements: complete and submit Form 8867, compute the credits on the worksheets, meet the knowledge requirement by asking follow-up questions when information looks inconsistent or incomplete and documenting them at the time, and keep the records for three years. Use role-play for the knowledge requirement. A new preparer needs to practice asking a client how a child came to live in the home without sounding accusatory.

Output: each trainee completes Form 8867 and the supporting notes for a practice credit return.

Block 6: The review standard

This block does more to reduce review hours than any other, and it is the one firms most often skip.

Write the standard down. What does a "ready for review" return look like? Prior-year comparison done, all source documents tied to the return, diagnostics cleared, open questions listed, due diligence notes complete.
Show real review notes from last season (with client details removed). The most common review points are the curriculum.
Define scope and escalation. Which return types this preparer handles, and what they escalate rather than attempt: a second state, a K-1 with unusual items, a foreign account, a client asking for advice.
Define client communication rules. Seasonal staff do not give advice, quote results before review, or interpret notices. They route those.

Output: a signed-off scope sheet for each preparer, and a first live file assigned only after the practice returns pass.

Block 7: The paired first week

Training ends where production starts, but not abruptly. For the first few live returns, pair the seasonal preparer with an experienced one, review quickly, and give feedback the same day. Track review points per return for each new preparer through the first month. If the number is not falling, the training missed something, and you will know which block.

A Sample Timeline

When	Returning staff	Experienced, new to firm	New preparers
November	Confirm return; PTIN check	Offer accepted; PTIN and state check	Technical coursework begins
December	Law-change briefing; security refresher	Software training; review standard	Technical coursework continues; software basics
Early January	Due diligence refresher; process changes	Law-change briefing; due diligence; practice returns	Security; due diligence; practice returns
First week of season	Live files	Paired live files	Paired live files, narrow scope

The new-preparer column is the reason to start early. Technical grounding takes weeks, and it cannot be done during the season.

Which Course Fits Which Hire

Firm-specific training (software, procedures, review standard) has to come from the firm. Technical training does not. This is where our courses fit, matched to the groups above.

New preparers who will work individual returns. Start with the Advanced I Individual Income Tax Preparation Course. It is focused on individual income tax preparation, which is where most seasonal preparers begin. Preparers who will take on more complex individual returns can continue with the Advanced II Individual Income Tax Preparation Course.

Preparers who will work Schedule C and entity returns. The Small Business I Income Tax Preparation Course covers business income tax preparation, with Small Business II as the next step.

Career changers who want a broader foundation. The Comprehensive Income Tax Course with State Supplement is designed as a comprehensive course with a state component, and the Chartered Tax Professional Certificate Program is a certificate path for people building a longer-term tax career. Our tax preparer certification courses page lists the options together.

Every preparer, including returning staff. Tax Practitioner Regulations, Penalties and Security addresses the three subjects in Blocks 1, 2 and 5 that apply to everyone regardless of return type.

For a full list of individual return options, see the 1040 training courses page.

Common Mistakes

Training during the season. Every training hour in February is taken from production and review at the worst possible time.

One curriculum for everyone. Returning staff sit through basics they do not need; new preparers get a briefing that assumes knowledge they do not have.

No written review standard. Without it, each reviewer trains to a different standard and new staff cannot tell what "done" means.

Skipping security because the role is temporary. Temporary access to client data is still access to client data.

Assuming the law-change briefing is optional for returning staff. Experienced preparers are most likely to apply last year's rule with confidence.

No measurement. If you do not track review points per return, you cannot tell whether training worked.

After the Season

Collect feedback from seasonal staff in the final week, while it is fresh. Ask which training blocks helped, what they wished they had known, and which review points kept recurring. Update the training plan, the review standard and the practice returns before next season. Then invite the best of this year's seasonal staff back early. Their second season is when the training investment pays off.

Get the Technical Training Started Now

The firm-specific blocks can run in December and January. The technical foundation for new preparers cannot wait that long. If you have new hires who will prepare individual returns, enroll them in the Advanced I Individual Income Tax Preparation Course as soon as the offer is accepted, and pair it with our individual tax return checklist during practice returns.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to train a seasonal tax preparer?

It depends on the hire. Returning seasonal staff may need only a few days: a current-year law briefing, process changes, and refreshers on due diligence and security. Experienced preparers new to the firm need more time for software, the firm's review standard and client communication rules. New preparers need weeks of technical grounding before any of that, which is why their training should start in the fall rather than the week intake opens. The test of readiness is not hours spent but whether practice returns pass review against an answer key.

What should seasonal tax preparer training include?

A complete plan covers credentials (PTIN and any state requirements), the e-file role, confidentiality and data security, the firm's tax software with practice returns, a dated briefing on the current year's law changes, paid-preparer due diligence for the credits and filing status it covers, the firm's written review standard, scope and escalation rules, and client communication limits. It should end with a paired first week of live returns and tracking of review points per return so the firm can see whether the training worked.

Do seasonal tax preparers need a PTIN?

Yes. Anyone who prepares, or assists in preparing, federal tax returns for compensation must have a valid preparer tax identification number, and PTINs must be renewed each year. Confirm the number is current and that the name matches before the preparer works on any client file. Separately, several states, including California, Oregon, Maryland and New York, regulate paid preparers through registration, testing or other requirements, with rules and exemptions that vary by state and credential. Check the requirements in every state where your staff will prepare returns.

Should seasonal staff prepare returns with the earned income credit?

They can, but only after due diligence training and with review that checks the diligence, not only the numbers. Returns claiming the earned income credit, child-related credits, the American opportunity credit or head of household status require the preparer to complete Form 8867, compute the credits, ask and document follow-up questions when information looks inconsistent, and keep records for three years. The penalty applies per failure, per benefit, per return, and in some circumstances the employing firm can be penalized too. Train with practice files and role-play before assigning live credit returns.

What is the best way to teach current-year tax law changes to staff?

Write a dated briefing document sourced to IRS guidance, focused on the changes most likely to appear in your client base, and test staff on it. For returns filed in 2027, that briefing will center on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: new deductions for tips, overtime, new-vehicle loan interest and seniors, the higher SALT cap, the non-itemizer charitable deduction, the CTC SSN requirement and higher 1099 thresholds. Decide firm positions on unsettled questions in advance. Returning staff should attend too, because experienced preparers are the most likely to apply last year's rule.

Which course should a new tax preparer take first?

For a new preparer who will work individual returns, the Advanced I Individual Income Tax Preparation Course is the natural starting point, with Advanced II for more complex individual work. Preparers headed for Schedule C and entity returns should look at Small Business I and II. Career changers who want a broader foundation can consider the Comprehensive Income Tax Course with State Supplement or the Chartered Tax Professional Certificate Program. Every preparer benefits from Tax Practitioner Regulations, Penalties and Security, which addresses preparer rules, penalties and data protection.