How to market a CPA firm to owners who need tax planning

If you are working out how to market a CPA firm, know the field first: in 2023 the US had 55,052 CPA establishments with paid employees. [1]

Decide which business owners you want to serve

Pick the owner segments your firm knows best before you write any marketing copy.

Choose the owners you want and say so plainly on your site. Good fits for tax planning are higher-income practices and firms, such as dental and medical practices, law firms, real estate investors and established contractors. Pick a short list from those, then write your pages and examples for that owner in the words they use about their own work.

The SBA Office of Advocacy's 2026 US profile counts 36,186,089 small businesses (firms with fewer than 500 employees), 99.9% of all US businesses: 29,811,495 have no employees, 5,720,093 have 1 to 19 and 654,501 have 20 to 499 (based on 2022 Census data). General example: about 82% of US small businesses have no employees (29,811,495 / 36,186,089). [2]

Between March 2024 and March 2025, 1,249,999 US establishments opened and 1,179,362 closed, a net gain of 70,637; small businesses accounted for 1,068,489 of the openings and 1,034,813 of the closings (BLS Business Employment Dynamics, in the SBA Office of Advocacy 2026 US profile). General example: small businesses made up about 85% of openings (1,068,489 / 1,249,999). [2]

Census counted 30,427,808 US nonemployer establishments in 2023, including 33,853 in Offices of Certified Public Accountants (NAICS 541211) and 102,543 in Tax Preparation Services (NAICS 541213) (Nonemployer Statistics 2023). [3]

Put your credentials where owners can see them

Display the credentials your preparers hold on your site and in your materials.

Name the credential behind every preparer on your site, whether that is CPA, enrolled agent or an Annual Filing Season Program record. Say that each preparer holds a current PTIN, and show the firm's CPA license where an owner comparing firms can find it without asking.

Among 2026 PTIN holders (data as of September 1, 2026), 209,076 are CPAs, 71,966 are enrolled agents and 26,256 are attorneys; the IRS issued 72,049 Annual Filing Season Program records of completion for 2026. Some preparers hold more than one credential. General example: CPAs make up about 24% of the 886,338 current PTIN holders. [4]

Every paid federal return preparer needs a current PTIN. All PTINs expire December 31 each year, renewal opens in mid-October for the next year, and the fee to obtain or renew a PTIN for 2027 is $18.75, the same as for 2026 (IRS). General example: a firm renewing PTINs for 6 preparers for 2027 pays $112.50 in PTIN fees. [5]

The IRS Annual Filing Season Program is voluntary for non-credentialed preparers: they complete 18 hours of continuing education, including a six-hour federal tax law refresher course with a test, renew their PTIN and agree to Circular 230 duties, and receive a record of completion. PTIN holders without it or another credential can prepare returns but cannot represent clients before the IRS (rule in force for 2026). [6]

BLS reports that every state requires 150 semester hours of college coursework for a CPA license, 30 hours more than a usual four-year bachelor's degree, and that each state's board of accountancy licenses CPAs (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, checked October 27, 2026). [7]

Show owners you protect their data

Write down your security plan and describe it plainly to prospects.

Write a short data-security statement in plain words and put it on the site. Base every line on your written information security plan, so the statement matches what the firm actually does. Review both whenever your systems or staff change.

Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the FTC Safeguards Rule, tax and accounting professionals of any size count as financial institutions and must implement and maintain a written information security plan (WISP); IRS Publication 5708 (Rev. 8-2024) gives a template. [8]

How to market a CPA firm to tax planning clients

Build your outreach around the filing dates owners already track.

Plan outreach around the dates owners already dread, like the spring entity deadlines and the penalties that follow a late return. Send your message well before the crunch, while an owner still has time to act on it. Once a deadline passes, follow up with the owners who filed an extension.

For a partnership return (Form 1065) or S corporation return (Form 1120-S) required to be filed in 2026, the late-filing penalty is $255 for each month or part of a month late, up to 12 months, times the number of partners or shareholders (Rev. Proc. 2024-40; IRC 6698 and 6699). For returns required to be filed in 2027 the amount is $260 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). General example for 2026: a 4-partner LLC that files 2 months late owes $2,040 ($255 x 4 partners x 2 months). [9][10][11]

When an income tax return is filed more than 60 days after its due date, including extensions, the late-filing penalty is at least the smaller of $525 or 100% of the tax required on the return for returns required to be filed in 2026, and the smaller of $535 or 100% of the tax for returns required to be filed in 2027 (IRC 6651(a); Rev. Proc. 2024-40 and 2025-32). General example for 2027: a corporation return showing $400 of tax and filed more than 60 days late has a minimum penalty of $400; one showing $10,000 of tax has a minimum of $535. [9][10]

For payee statements required to be furnished in 2027, the penalty for not furnishing a correct statement is $340 per statement, or $60 per statement if corrected within 30 days of the due date; for businesses with average gross receipts of $5,000,000 or less over the last 3 years, the yearly maximums are $1,397,000 and $244,500 (IRC 6722; Rev. Proc. 2025-32). General example for 2027: a small business that corrects 10 statements within 30 days owes $600 ($60 x 10). [10]

Make accuracy part of your pitch

Explain the standards your preparers follow and why they matter to owners.

Tell owners who prepares their return and who reviews it before it is filed. The preparer rules below apply to every paid preparer, so explain in plain words how your review process meets them. Keep the wording specific to your firm.

A paid preparer who does not meet the due diligence rules for head of household status, the child tax credit, the American opportunity tax credit or the earned income credit owes $650 per failure on returns filed in 2026 and $665 per failure on returns filed in 2027, with no yearly limit (IRC 6695(g); Rev. Proc. 2024-40 and 2025-32). General example for 2027: 3 such failures on returns filed in 2027 cost $1,995 ($665 x 3). [9][10]

A paid preparer who endorses or otherwise negotiates a client's federal refund check owes $650 per check for returns or claims filed in 2026 and $665 per check for those filed in 2027, with no yearly limit (IRC 6695(f); Rev. Proc. 2024-40 and 2025-32). General example for 2027: negotiating 2 refund checks costs $1,330 ($665 x 2). [9][10]

Under Internal Revenue Code section 6011(e)(3), a preparer (or firm, counted in aggregate) that reasonably expects to file 11 or more covered individual, trust or estate income tax returns in a calendar year must e-file them, though a client may choose paper (IRS, rule in force for 2026). General example: two preparers in one firm expecting 6 returns each total 12, so both must e-file. [12]

Paid preparers electronically filed 86.7 million individual tax returns in fiscal year 2025, out of 271.4 million federal returns and supplemental documents the IRS processed that year (IRS Data Book 2025). [13]

Plan your capacity for growth

Look at hiring and workload numbers before you take on more owner clients.

Before you market harder, work out how many new owners the team can take on without slipping on existing clients. Hire or train staff well ahead of the April crunch. If capacity is tight, narrow your niche list instead of stretching the team.

BLS estimated 1,449,500 accountants and auditors employed in the US in May 2025, with a mean annual wage of $94,750 and a median of $83,680 (OEWS, SOC 13-2011). [14]

BLS projects accountant and auditor jobs to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, from 1,595,200 to 1,674,600, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 115,300 openings a year (Employment Projections 2025 to 2035). General example: 79,400 added jobs over ten years is about 7,940 a year on top of replacement openings. [7]

Tell us about your firm

Tell us what kind of work your firm takes on and where, and we look at whether owner inquiries fit.

I run a tax firm and want more clients

General information from the official sources listed below, checked October 27, 2026. Not tax or legal advice.

Sources

  1. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2023/cbp23us.zip U.S. Census Bureau (checked October 27, 2026)
  2. https://advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/United_States.pdf advocacy.sba.gov (checked October 27, 2026)
  3. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2023/historical-datasets/nonemp23us.zip U.S. Census Bureau (checked October 27, 2026)
  4. https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/tax-professional-management-office-federal-tax-return-preparer-statistics Internal Revenue Service (checked October 27, 2026)
  5. https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/frequently-asked-questions-ptin-application-renewal-assistance Internal Revenue Service (checked October 27, 2026)
  6. https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/annual-filing-season-program Internal Revenue Service (checked October 27, 2026)
  7. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (checked October 27, 2026)
  8. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5708.pdf Internal Revenue Service (checked October 27, 2026)
  9. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-24-40.pdf Internal Revenue Service (checked October 27, 2026)
  10. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf Internal Revenue Service (checked October 27, 2026)
  11. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1065 Internal Revenue Service (checked October 27, 2026)
  12. https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/frequently-asked-questions-e-file-requirements-for-specified-tax-return-preparers-sometimes-referred-to-as-the-e-file-mandate Internal Revenue Service (checked October 27, 2026)
  13. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p55b.pdf Internal Revenue Service (checked October 27, 2026)
  14. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (checked October 27, 2026)