Outsourced Nonprofit Tax Preparation for CPA Firms

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 nonprofit tax professionals in India across the whole 990 cycle, from tying the return to the financial statements and working the Schedule A public support test to functional expense allocation, the narrative schedules, and state charitable registrations.

If a nonprofit 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:

• The 990 series: nonprofit tax preparers
• Review: tax reviewers
• Taxable subsidiaries: business tax preparers
• The books behind the return: staff accountants, bookkeepers

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 990 volume spikes ahead of the May and November deadlines 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 nonprofit tax seat before you commit. Nonprofit tax preparer seats, and senior seats such as a tax reviewer who runs the senior and quality review, are quoted on request.

For a dedicated hire, Accountably prices the seat, not the return, which is what makes a fee-sensitive nonprofit book work. White-label work is billed per return for tax work; other work is priced by scope, agreed on your discovery call.

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, a nonprofit tax hire in India through Accountably still costs your firm less than a comparable 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 nonprofit tax preparation is the practice of handing your exempt organization clients' Form 990 work to a team outside your firm instead of hiring more in-house preparers. That team prepares the 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, 990-PF, and 990-T, works the Schedule A public support test, allocates functional expenses, and drafts the narrative schedules, all inside your tax software and ready for your review.

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

• Form 990 with every required schedule, the governance disclosures, and program service accomplishments
• The Schedule A public support test on a rolling five-year basis
• Schedule B contributor reporting and Schedule D supplemental financial statements
• Functional expense allocation across program, management, and fundraising, with the basis documented
• Schedule O and program service narratives drafted for your review
• Form 990-PF for private foundations and Form 990-T for unrelated business income
• State charitable registration renewals and annual filings

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. A nonprofit tax hire in India costs your firm less than a comparable US hire, 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 returns. 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, QuickBooks for the client's ledger, and Karbon, TaxDome, and Suralink for workflow and client documents.

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 standards to your schedule conventions and review procedures.

If there is a specialized system in your clients' 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, or 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.

It depends on the organization's gross receipts and total assets:

• Gross receipts normally $50,000 or less: Form 990-N, the e-Postcard
• Gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000: Form 990-EZ, or the full Form 990
• Gross receipts of $200,000 or more, or total assets of $500,000 or more: Form 990
• Every private foundation, regardless of size: Form 990-PF
• Gross income of $1,000 or more from a regularly conducted unrelated trade or business: Form 990-T, in addition to the annual return

The 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, and 990-N are due by the 15th day of the 5th month after the organization's tax year ends, which is May 15 for a calendar-year organization. Form 8868 gives an automatic 6-month extension for the 990, 990-EZ, and 990-PF, moving a calendar-year deadline to November 15. The 990-N can't be extended.

A late 990, 990-EZ, or 990-PF draws a penalty for each day it is late, at a higher daily rate for organizations with larger gross receipts. The bigger risk is revocation: an organization that doesn't file for three consecutive years loses its tax-exempt status automatically, with no appeal, and has to apply to be reinstated.

Your team confirms the right form for every client before preparation starts and tracks the original and extended due dates, so the Form 8868 is ready for your firm to file when a return can't be finished in time.

Yes, on a senior seat. The Schedule A public support test is worked on a rolling five-year basis as part of preparation and recomputed at quality review. A public charity generally passes when at least one-third of its total support comes from the general public and governmental units, so where the result is close, the facts and circumstances analysis is prepared and the position is flagged for your partner rather than filed quietly.

On a 990-PF, the work covers the excise tax on net investment income, the minimum distribution requirement (built on a minimum investment return of 5 percent of the foundation's noncharitable-use assets), the self-dealing rules, and investment income reporting.

On a 990-T, the team identifies which revenue streams are unrelated, reports each unrelated trade or business on its own Schedule A (Form 990-T), allocates direct and dual-use expenses, and flags activities that may qualify for an exception.

Whether an activity is related or unrelated, and every other position on the return, stays your firm's call. See nonprofit tax preparers for the seat levels.

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

• The preparer builds the return and its schedules inside your templates and SOPs, tying every figure to the workpapers and the trial balance.
• A senior reviewer checks the Schedule A public support test, Schedule J compensation, related-organization reporting on Schedule R, and any 990-PF or 990-T treatment.
• A quality reviewer recomputes the public support test, checks Schedule B reporting, confirms the governance and disclosure items are complete, and reads the narratives against the numbers.
• A final review confirms the return is ready for your signature, with every open question flagged in writing.

Your firm keeps the signature, the e-file under its own EFIN, the final judgment on positions such as unrelated business income and reasonable compensation, and approval of every narrative and governance response.

Yes. A 990 file puts Schedule B contributor data and compensation figures on the same return. Your firm sets the access. We ask for preparer-level access only, with no e-file or bank release rights. Contributor lists stay inside your tax software.

Files are 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.