The accountant shortage is real, and for tax firms, that means keeping client work moving is more challenging than ever. Offshore tax prep seems like a logical solution to fill the gaps, but what does it really look like in practice?
This isn’t a list of pros and cons, and I won’t be giving you a bullet-point rundown of potential benefits. Instead, I’m here to paint a real picture—one that gives you the insights needed to decide if outsourcing tax prep to an offshore team truly aligns with your firm’s needs and goals.
By the end, you’ll have a clearer view of whether outsourcing tax prep to a third-world country makes sense for your firm, your clients, and the quality of service you’re committed to delivering.
We all know where the real value lies—tax advisory. But with the constant demands of compliance work, it’s tough to carve out time for what clients actually want versus what they need. Yes, clients are required to pay taxes, but what they truly want is someone who can help them minimize their tax liability.
And who’s in a better position to provide that than the professional already filing their taxes?
Chances are, you’re already offering tax advice—without charging for it. It’s a common scenario, and many tax firm owners face this because of lingering myths around advisory services that keep them stuck in low-margin compliance work.
So, how does offshoring tax prep fit into this?
Simple. With a trusted offshore tax prep partner, you can offload the time-intensive preparation work and free up your schedule to focus on advisory services.
Thinking about your onshore staff? Bring those eager to learn into your advisory practice, while assigning compliance-focused staff to oversee and coordinate offshore work.
Without an offshore team, your entire onshore staff will stay bogged down in lower-paying compliance work. But with the right balance, you can elevate your firm, prioritize advisory, and deliver what clients really value.
If you’re considering offshoring tax preparation, you’ll run into Section 7216 of the Internal Revenue Code—a law that restricts tax preparers from sharing taxpayer information without explicit client consent. This measure is all about protecting sensitive financial data and ensuring client privacy.
In short, without a signed 7216 consent form from your client, offshoring is off the table. Meaning? You need your clients on board with the idea of an offshore team.
And let’s be real, this isn’t always easy. Clients have valid worries about who’s handling their financial data. But as their trusted advisor, you’re in the ideal position to clarify the process, address any concerns, and give them confidence that their data remains secure.
To speak confidently to clients about data privacy, it’s essential that you’re well-versed in the protective measures yourself.
At Credfino, one of our core safeguards is RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol).
RDP allows our offshore team to access U.S.-based systems directly—keeping data securely within U.S. servers. With firewall rules and controlled access in place, RDP ensures that client information is handled securely, as if your team were sitting right in the U.S.
Schedule a call to get started with offshoring tax prep.
Need some help navigating these conversations? Check out this blog on narrative to put clients at ease about offshoring.
Employee burnout often comes down to one thing: constant overwork. And with the ongoing shortage of tax pros, many firms feel caught in a bind. You can’t hire enough skilled talent, but you also don’t want to turn away clients—especially when each client contributes to your firm’s profitability.
When your tax firm is in growth mode, strategic decisions are a must. Offshoring tax preparation is one approach that lets you scale without breaking the bank. Think about it: for the cost of one onshore employee, you can often get two offshore tax pros.
Now, concerns around quality are valid, and that’s where doing your due diligence on the right offshore partner comes into play. A trusted offshore partner can help you strike that ideal staff-to-work ratio, keeping client work on track and maintaining service quality—all without exhausting your onshore team.
A successful tax season isn’t just about getting returns filed on time; it’s about having the right systems and support in place to keep everything running smoothly.
This means streamlined processes for data collection, automated reminders for clients, no missed deadlines, and a team that isn’t burning out. With an offshore team, you gain flexibility and scalability, allowing your onshore staff to focus on higher-value advisory work rather than getting bogged down in repetitive compliance tasks.
Offshore teams can handle much of the data collection, document review, and preparation work, all while aligning with your existing workflows.
This added layer of support helps you boost efficiency, maintain quality assurance checks, and ensure client communications are consistent, enabling a balanced workload across the board.
An offshore tax prep team can seriously speed up your turnaround times by keeping the workflow moving even when your onshore team’s off the clock. Here’s the deal: with the right offshore setup, your team can work across time zones, so while you’re winding down, they’re ramping up, tackling data entry, document verification, and initial prep.
This way, when your onshore team starts their day, the groundwork is already done, allowing them to focus on review and client interactions rather than getting bogged down in the basics.
By standardizing processes and running a lean workflow with an offshore team, you eliminate bottlenecks, keep work moving smoothly, and—ultimately—deliver returns faster. It’s a win for your firm, and clients will feel the difference too.
Credits – A Thankyou mail from one of our clients
An offshore tax prep team can bring a sense of “we’ve got this” to tax season by keeping your workflow steady and on target. Here’s how it works: with an offshore team handling the heavy lifting—data entry, document management, and prepping returns—you free up your onshore crew to focus on higher-value tasks without getting overwhelmed. The offshore team ensures all the foundational work is done, organized, and ready for review, which means your team isn’t scrambling to catch up.
By tackling the volume work consistently, the offshore team keeps things flowing smoothly, creating a pace you can rely on. And because offshore teams often work in different time zones, they’re already moving tasks forward while you’re getting some rest, which makes coming into work the next day feel like there’s a plan in motion.
The end result? Work feels more controlled, deadlines are met, and you’re not racing against the clock
Offshore Accounting and offshore tax prep work only for those who choose right offshore partner
I have presented a pretty picture of offshoring tax preparation because that’s the picture I know off. Our clients by end of the tax season have nothing but praise.
Here’s how we structure our offshore tax team to keep your tax season running like clockwork:
1/ Tax Preparer
2/ Tax Reviewer
3/ Tax Planning & Research Analyst
4/ Virtual Assistant for Admin Tasks
5/ Customer Success Support
That’s a dedicated 5-person team on every account. (And if you’re handling high-volume returns, we add more preparers and reviewers as needed, with a Tax Manager overseeing all deliverables.)
For firms on a growth trajectory, we also offer:
We’re not just an outsourced tax team.
We’re the “we’ll do whatever it takes to make offshoring work and make tax season seamless” partner.
Ready for an offshore team that’s built to support your goals this season?
Tax firms planning 1040 outsourcing to India often come across myths like quality of work, legality concerns etc. This blog is all about facts!
Tax firms planning 1040 outsourcing to India often come across myths like quality of work, legality concerns etc. This blog is all about facts!
When offshore tax preparation doesn’t work, it’s rarely one-sided. The challenges often stem from both the tax firm and the staffing partner.