the Cost of Temporary Tax Accounting Services

Our tax firm hired temporary tax accountants to help during tax season. We paid them a flat fee of $50 per tax return that the completed.

We've used temporary tax accountants for several years but this was our first year paying per tax return they completed as opposed to paying them hourly. I think it worked out better for everyone involved.

First of all, we didn't have to pay for slow days when the temporary workers weren't doing a lot of work, which worked out better for us. This also worked out better for the temp employees because on the days that they were really slammed and did a lot of work, they were paid accordingly. We found that the speed of their work greatly improved when they were paid per return. We also found that a lot of these temporary employees brought in their own business, as they knew they would only be paid for those returns they actually did.

I do think they might have rushed the returns more than they normally would, as they wanted to move on to their next return. They also weren't as willing to pick up some of the more difficult returns but overall I still think we came out ahead.

Paying per return can work out for both sides in this scenario. The best idea though is to have regular employees work on the more difficult returns that take more time.