Jobs / Finance and accounting / 13-2082.00
Tax Preparers
Prepare tax returns for individuals or small businesses.
- US jobs
- 76,480
- Median wage
- $54,920 a year
- Job family
- Finance and accounting
Can agents do the work of tax preparers?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Finance and accounting:
- Task levelPartialOn Vals AI's Finance Agent benchmark, where agents research SEC filings to answer an analyst's questions, the best model scores 64.4%. Adjacent spreadsheet tasks score higher (83.1% on SpreadsheetBench). No task-level benchmark in our collection tests bookkeeping or audit work inside accounting systems.
- Project levelPartialOn APEX-Agents, which includes investment-banking tasks written by professionals, the best agent passes 73.5% of tasks on the first try (all domains). OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's GDPval deliverables, from occupations that include accountants and financial managers, won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in finance and accounting, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026Unrated
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Compute taxes owed or overpaid, using adding machines or personal computers, and complete entries on forms, following tax form instructions and tax tables.
- Use all appropriate adjustments, deductions, and credits to keep clients' taxes to a minimum.
- Furnish taxpayers with sufficient information and advice to ensure correct tax form completion.
- Interview clients to obtain additional information on taxable income and deductible expenses and allowances.
- Prepare or assist in preparing simple to complex tax returns for individuals or small businesses.
- Review financial records, such as income statements and documentation of expenditures to determine forms needed to prepare tax returns.
- Check data input or verify totals on forms prepared by others to detect errors in arithmetic, data entry, or procedures.
- Explain federal and state tax laws to individuals and companies.
- Answer questions and provide future tax planning to clients.
- Consult tax law handbooks or bulletins to determine procedures for preparation of atypical returns.
- Calculate form preparation fees according to return complexity and processing time required.
- Schedule appointments with clients.
Other job titles for this occupation (22)
CPA (Certified Public Accountant) · Enrolled Agent · Income Tax Preparer · Tax Accountant · Tax Advisor · Tax Associate · Tax Consultant · Tax Preparer · Tax Professional · Tax Specialist · Corporate Tax Preparer · Credentialed Tax Expert · Credentialed Tax Professional · Income Tax Advisor · Income Tax Consultant · Income Tax Expert · Licensed Tax Consultant · Preseason Tax Professional · State and Local Tax Associate (SALT Associate) · Tax Evaluator · Tax Expert · Tax Preparer Assistant