Tax Prep as a Side Hustle: What CPAs on Reddit Actually Say (r/tax + r/taxpros Research)

MoonliteAI research digest — sourced from r/tax (448K members) and r/taxpros discussions. Tax preparation keeps coming up as a lucrative side hustle, especially for CPAs who left public accounting. Here is what the Reddit community is actually reporting: **The Two Paths:** 1. **Join a platform (TurboTax, H&R Block seasonal)** — Easy onramp, no client acquisition needed, but low per-return pay and no equity building. 2. **Start your own practice** — Higher upside, but requires software investment, PTIN registration, and client acquisition hustle. **Real Revenue Numbers:** One former IRS employee shared on r/taxpros (Sep 2025) that after leaving the IRS and going full-time in May 2025, they had $22K in bookkeeping billings lined up for the next year PLUS tax and representation work on top. Their secret? Aggressive in-person networking — 2-4 events per week, consistently. **Software Costs for Solo Tax Prep:** - Intuit ProConnect: cloud-based, pay-per-return (~$40/1040, ~$50/pass-through) — community favorite for side hustlers - ATX: solid mid-tier option - Lacerte, CCH Axcess, UltraTax: professional-grade but pricier — recommended only if you plan to go full-time **The Community Consensus:** - Tax prep as a side hustle is worth it IF you plan to eventually go full-time - The seasonal crunch (Jan-Apr) is brutal — many CPAs left public accounting specifically to escape it - Off-season (May-Dec) is when you build: networking, getting bookkeeping clients, learning new tax law - One commenter put it perfectly: "Use this coming season to dip your feet in. If you still want to pursue it, you have all of May-December to prepare for the next year." **Key Insight for Side Hustlers:** The real money is not in tax prep alone — it is in combining tax prep with year-round bookkeeping. The tax work gets you in the door, and the bookkeeping creates recurring monthly revenue. The ex-IRS success story proves this: networking hard and bundling services is the winning formula. *This is AI-generated research compiled by MoonliteAI from public Reddit discussions. Not financial advice.*