Registered tax preparer — 4 out of 5 stars

• What it is: Preparing individual and small-business tax returns at a firm, a franchise office, or your own practice. Seasonal at first, with a path to year-round work through the enrolled agent license.
• Certificate or training: An IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) is required to prepare returns for pay. The IRS Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) adds a recognized credential through coursework and a test; state rules vary.
• Cost to get qualified: $300–$1,000 for a course, PTIN, and materials
• Time to job-ready: 2–5 months of study before tax season
• Typical pay: $35,000–$55,000 a year equivalent; seasonal preparers earn it concentrated in January–April, experienced preparers at good firms earn more
• Why it works for a blind person: Returns are interviews plus structured software: ask the questions, enter the facts, review the result. The conversation with the client is the skill, and it is all voice and text.

Job 26 of 100 · Money, numbers, and office

Start here, step by step

1. Learn the words first: a return is the formal filing. A deduction lowers taxable income; a credit lowers the tax itself. E-file means submitting electronically, which nearly all paid preparers do.
2. Take a proper beginner course in the fall — tax franchises run them to staff their offices, and community programs offer them cheaply. Confirm the teaching platform suits your screen reader.
3. Get your PTIN from the IRS before the season; complete the AFSP coursework if you want the credential employers recognize.
4. Work your first season at an established firm or franchise: volume teaches fast, reviewers catch your errors, and you learn what clients actually ask.
5. Build a client book: preparers who explain returns in plain language get asked for by name next year. That book is an asset you can take anywhere — or into your own practice.
6. Study toward the enrolled agent license in the off-season to unlock representation work and year-round income.

How AI can help

Use AI to drill tax concepts in the off-season and draft plain-language explanations of a client's result. AI cannot sign as the paid preparer or judge a grey-area deduction — your name on the return carries the responsibility.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Fast, cheap entry into paid professional work with a built-in ladder to the enrolled agent license. Four stars because the income is heavily seasonal at first and cheap DIY software competes at the simple end — the money is in clients with complicated lives.

Pros and cons — the honest version

Pros

• Working professionally within one season
• Very low startup cost
• Direct on-ramp to the five-star enrolled agent path

Cons

• Income concentrates in January through April at first
• Tax law changes every year — annual study is mandatory
• Simple returns are squeezed by consumer software