Outsourced Individual Tax Return Preparation

Accountably is a staffing and recruiting agency that helps US CPA, EA, and accounting firms hire talent from India across tax, accounting, payroll, and finance. Accountably offers offshore staffing services, placing full-time offshore employees from India who work inside your firm's workflow, on your software and SOPs.

Accountably places tax professionals in India across the whole individual return, from the 1040 and its schedules to multistate filings, extensions, and amended returns.

If an individual tax role can be performed remotely, Accountably can fill it with A-players from India.

Here are some examples of the roles we can fill:

• Preparation: tax preparers for Form 1040 and the common schedules, senior tax preparers for complex individual work
• Review: tax reviewers who run senior review and clear review notes
• State returns: SALT specialists for part-year and nonresident returns
• Pass-through returns: business tax preparers who produce and tie out the K-1s your 1040 clients receive

Accountably's staffing model is fully managed: we handle the employment contract, payroll, tax compliance, benefits administration, and salary disbursement for every hire, so you get the talent without the administrative overhead.

This matters most for firms that don't have an established entity or employer of record (EOR) infrastructure in India.

You direct the day-to-day work; Accountably handles everything on the back-end.

Our staffing model also includes onboarding support, equipment coordination if needed, and ongoing HR support for as long as the engagement runs.

Dedicated hires and build-operate-transfer teams go through the same vetting and shortlisting process; a white-label team is staffed and run by its assigned manager.

The core difference between dedicated offshore talent and a white-label delivery team is who directs the work. With dedicated offshore talent, your preparer works inside your workflow and you direct the work like any member of your team; with a white-label delivery team, Accountably's manager runs the team, with its own reviewers, and you review the finished returns.

Recruiting differs between the models. Dedicated hires go through the same recruiting process as build-operate-transfer teams, while a white-label team is staffed and run by its assigned manager.

Dedicated offshore talent is the right fit if you have round-the-year tax work and want full-time staff inside your workflow.

A white-label delivery team makes more sense if your 1040 volume spikes in busy season and you'd rather review finished returns. Firms serious about long-term offshore control can also choose build-operate-transfer.

If you're not sure which fits your situation, mention it on the discovery call, and the team will walk you through all three options.

Accountably quotes every tax seat before you commit. Tax seats start from about $14 an hour, which comes to roughly $2,400 to $2,500 a month for a full-time seat. Senior seats, such as a tax reviewer who runs senior review over your preparers, are quoted on request.

The rate can vary by role and seniority, so you will get the specific figures on your discovery call, where we will walk you through the total cost for the role you need to fill.

But even with Accountably's fee included, an individual tax hire in India through Accountably can still save your firm up to 46% compared to an equivalent US hire.

For firms that don't have an existing international payroll setup or in-country legal infrastructure, the staffing model removes that work entirely. Accountably handles the employment contract, payroll processing, tax compliance, and benefits administration for your hires.

You direct the work. Accountably owns the employment relationship.

Also, with Accountably you pay nothing until you hire. The search, sourcing, shortlisting, and your interview stages all happen before any fee is due. If Accountably does not place someone, you owe nothing. A dedicated hire has a 60-day minimum commitment.

The 45-day replacement guarantee is included. If a placement does not work out within 45 days, Accountably finds a replacement at no additional charge.

Outsourced individual tax return preparation is the practice of handing your clients' Form 1040s to a team outside your firm instead of hiring in-house preparers. The 1040 is the cover return, and the detail lives in the schedules behind it. That team builds both inside your tax software, ties every figure back to a source document, and passes the return through review before it reaches your partner.

For a CPA or EA firm, the work usually covers:

• W-2 income, with standard or itemized deductions on Schedule A
• Interest and dividends on Schedule B
• Self-employment and gig income on Schedule C, with self-employment tax on Schedule SE
• Brokerage 1099-B activity reconciled to Form 8949 and Schedule D, with cost basis and wash sales tracked
• Rentals, royalties, and K-1 pass-through income on Schedule E
• Pension and IRA distributions from 1099-R, and the taxable portion of Social Security benefits
• Multistate part-year and nonresident returns, with the credit for taxes paid to other states
• Amended returns on Form 1040-X and extensions on Form 4868

Outsourced means the work is done by a team outside your firm. Offshore means that team is in another country. With Accountably it is both: your preparer sits in India and works inside your workflow like any other member of your team.

The main difference is cost. An individual tax hire in India can save your firm up to 46% compared to a US-based equivalent, due to the lower cost of living in India compared to the US.

With dedicated offshore talent, your firm manages the day-to-day work. Your preparer reports to your managers, follows your workflows and processes, and works as part of your team, just like any other remote employee.

Accountably doesn't direct their daily work or assign client files. You have complete control over their responsibilities and schedules. Think of Accountably as the hiring and administrative partner, not a management layer.

If you'd rather review finished returns than direct the work, a white-label delivery team comes with Accountably's own manager and reviewers.

Yes, tax preparers in India working with US firms work in the same tools your team already relies on: UltraTax CS, CCH Axcess, Lacerte, Drake Tax, and ProConnect Tax for the return, and TaxDome, Karbon, and Suralink for workflow and document requests.

During vetting, Accountably screens explicitly for your stack rather than assuming tool familiarity and runs the assessments you already use.

Onboarding then ramps your preparer on your firm's software and SOPs, from your workpaper conventions to your review checklist.

If there is a specialized system in your environment, we identify transferable skill paths and flag any ramp time upfront so you can make an informed decision.

Accountably puts every candidate through a rigorous screening process before presentation.

Every candidate goes through Accountably's vetting process, which includes:

• Skills assessment: technical evaluation specific to the role requirements
• Experience validation: Accountably verifies work history
• Software experience: we check every candidate's experience in the tax software your firm files from, such as UltraTax CS, CCH Axcess, Lacerte, Drake Tax, and ProConnect Tax
• Cultural fit: Accountably screens for alignment with US business practices, work style, and your specific firm culture
• Motivation check: Accountably rules out candidates who are just looking for short-term contracts or salary bumps
• Background checks: we run background checks, and every hire works under an NDA

You only see candidates who meet all these criteria. Experienced hires start with onboarding on your software and SOPs. Newer hires first complete our 6-week US tax and accounting program.

Every file goes through preparer, senior, quality and final review before it reaches you:

• The preparer builds the 1040 and every schedule, tying each figure on Schedule A through E and Form 8949 back to a source document.
• A senior reviewer checks basis, multistate allocation, and credit treatment, the spots where individual returns most often go wrong.
• A quality reviewer confirms the workpapers are structured, every entry traces, and the return would survive a second look.
• A final review readies the return for your firm's sign-off.

Because the process lives in writing rather than in one person's head, quality stays consistent no matter who does the work.

Your firm signs and e-files each return under its own EFIN. Your Accountably team prepares the 1040 and the workpapers and runs the review underneath, and the final judgment on tax positions and the client relationship stay with you.

How aggressive a deduction is, how a gray-area position reads, and how to advise the client stay in your firm's hands, where the relationship lives.

Yes. Your firm needs each client's signed consent before any tax return information reaches our team in India. We give you consent wording to adapt with your own adviser, and we don't start on a client's files until you confirm the consent is on file.

Yes. A 1040 file holds a household's identity, income, and bank details, so it is handled under SOC 2-aligned controls by background-verified staff who work under NDAs.

Access is role-based and runs over a secure VPN, files move by encrypted exchange, audit logs record activity, and nothing is stored on a personal machine.

See data security and compliance for the full set of controls.