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Offshore staff for US CPA firms: tax season capacity without the seasonal hiring scramble

By , Co-founder and CEO, Offshored. Published . Last updated .

Bookkeeping, tax preparation support, accounts payable and receivable and practice administration, handled by a dedicated team member in the Philippines who works only for your firm, in your software, on your US business hours.

Offshored provides dedicated offshore bookkeepers, accountants, tax preparation support and accounts payable and receivable specialists to US CPA firms from US$1,350 to US$2,400 a month on Eastern, Central and Mountain hours (US$1,500 to US$2,650 on Pacific hours), all-inclusive. Each team member works full time for one firm only, inside that firm's own systems and under the supervision of its CPAs, and is employed in the Philippines by Australian Pathways OPC.

Every CPA firm knows the shape of the year: January to April is the squeeze, extensions carry it into October, and the bookkeeping for business clients never stops. Adding capacity with a seasonal local hire means recruiting in December, training in January and losing the person in May. This page sets out the roles that work offshore for a CPA firm, the 2027 deadlines that capacity has to meet, what stays with your CPAs, how client data and IRS Section 7216 are handled, what it costs in US dollars and a scenario for a typical firm. Prices are Offshored's published US bands; the 2026 US cost benchmark shows the BLS figures behind the savings.

  1. Why firms hire offshore before January: the 2027 deadlines and the graduate pipeline
  2. The roles that work offshore for a CPA firm
  3. Client data, Section 7216 consent, your WISP and the AICPA Code
  4. What offshore staff cost a CPA firm, in US dollars
  5. A scenario: a six-CPA firm in Ohio
  6. Questions CPA firms ask before hiring offshore
The season

Why firms hire offshore before January: the 2027 deadlines and the graduate pipeline

The capacity problem has two fixed parts: the calendar and the supply of graduates. Both are measurable.

2027 due dateWhat is due (calendar year 2026 returns)
Monday, March 15, 2027Partnerships file the 2026 calendar year Form 1065 and S corporations file Form 1120-S (the 15th day of the third month after year end), with Schedule K-1 copies to partners and shareholders.
Thursday, April 15, 2027Individuals file the 2026 Form 1040 or 1040-SR and pay any tax due; calendar year C corporations file Form 1120 (the 15th day of the fourth month).
Wednesday, September 15, 2027Partnerships and S corporations that timely requested the automatic six month extension on Form 7004 file Form 1065 or Form 1120-S.
Friday, October 15, 2027Individuals with an automatic six month extension (Form 4868) file the 2026 Form 1040; extended calendar year Form 1120 returns are due the same day.

Sources: IRS Publication 509, Tax Calendars, for use in 2027 (draft dated August 24, 2026; the IRS publishes the final version each December) and the IRS FAQ What is the due date for business income tax returns? (page last reviewed September 23, 2026), which states the third month and fourth month rules and that a due date falling on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday moves to the next business day. None of the four 2027 dates above falls on a weekend or a District of Columbia legal holiday. Disaster relief announced by the IRS can extend a deadline for affected areas.

On the supply side, the AICPA's 2025 Trends report (AICPA news release, October 27, 2025) reports that 55,152 students earned a bachelor's or master's degree in accounting in the 2023 to 2024 academic year, 6.6 percent fewer than the year before, after falls of 9.6 percent in 2022 to 2023 and 7.4 percent in 2021 to 2022; master's degrees in accounting or taxation fell to 14,335. In the same release, 75 percent of the public accounting firms that hired in 2024 said they expected to hire a similar number or more in 2025, and only 18 percent expected to hire fewer. More firms chasing fewer graduates is why the January to April hire is hard to make locally, and why a permanent offshore seat that is trained before the season starts is the alternative this page describes.

Roles

The roles that work offshore for a CPA firm

These are the four roles US accounting practices fill offshore most often. Each is a full-time, dedicated person who learns your workpaper standards, your review notes and your software, and stays with you after the season.

Offshore bookkeeper

Runs the monthly close for your business clients: bank and credit card reconciliations, transaction coding in QuickBooks Online or Xero, sales tax workpapers, fixed asset schedules, 1099 vendor data and the year end tie out that hands a clean trial balance to your tax team. The full role is on the US bookkeeper page.US$1,500 to US$2,000 a month on Eastern, Central and Mountain hours; US$1,650 to US$2,200 on Pacific hours

Offshore accountant and tax preparation support

Prepares workpapers and first drafts of Forms 1040, 1065, 1120-S and 1120 in your tax software (UltraTax CS, Lacerte, ProSeries, Drake Tax or CCH Axcess) from the organizer and source documents, ties the return to the trial balance, maintains depreciation schedules and clears review notes. Your signing CPA reviews, finalizes and signs. The full role is on the US accountant page.US$1,700 to US$2,400 a month on Eastern, Central and Mountain hours; US$1,900 to US$2,650 on Pacific hours

Accounts payable and receivable specialist

For your client accounting services practice: bill entry and approval routing in Bill.com or QuickBooks Online, vendor statement reconciliations, client invoicing, payment application and collections follow up, aging reports for the partner meeting. The full role is on the US AP and AR page.US$1,500 to US$2,000 a month on Eastern, Central and Mountain hours; US$1,650 to US$2,200 on Pacific hours

Practice administrator

Sends engagement letters and organizers, chases missing documents through your client portal (TaxDome, Canopy or SafeSend), tracks e-signatures and e-file acknowledgments, schedules partner meetings and keeps the status of every return current in your workflow tool. The US virtual assistant page describes the band.US$1,350 to US$1,700 a month on Eastern, Central and Mountain hours; US$1,500 to US$1,900 on Pacific hours

A payroll administrator (T2) or a financial controller for a larger client accounting services practice (T4, US$2,150 to US$3,400 a month) are the next hires firms make; every band is on US pricing.

What stays with your CPAs

Your offshore team member does not sign returns as the paid preparer, does not represent clients before the IRS, does not sign attest reports and makes no final judgment calls on a position. They prepare, you review and decide. The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct keeps the member responsible for the work of a third-party service provider (ET section 1.300.040), which is exactly how a dedicated offshore role is set up: your procedures, your review, your signature.

Workflows and software

Your team member gets a user seat in your tax and accounting platforms (UltraTax CS, Lacerte, ProSeries, Drake Tax, CCH Axcess, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Bill.com), your practice management or workflow tool (TaxDome, Canopy, Karbon) and your document portal, under the permissions you set, usually through your hosted desktop or a VPN so that nothing leaves your environment. Software licenses stay with your firm, so an extra seat is usually the only added cost. We document the handover in a shared procedure and your account manager checks in through the first weeks.

Compliance and data handling

Client data, Section 7216 consent, your WISP and the AICPA Code

Tax return information is the most regulated data a small business handles, so the compliance questions come first on every call with a CPA firm. Here is how the arrangement sits against your obligations. This is general information, not legal advice; your own counsel or state board guidance governs.

  • Internal Revenue Code Section 7216 and the consent for an offshore preparer. Under Treasury Regulation 26 CFR 301.7216-3, a tax return preparer in the United States needs the taxpayer's written consent before disclosing tax return information to a tax return preparer located outside the United States, and for Form 1040 series returns the consent to disclose the Social Security number is permitted only when both the US firm and the recipient outside the United States maintain an adequate data protection safeguard as defined in Revenue Procedure 2013-14; otherwise the SSN is masked before the information leaves. The IRS Section 7216 information center carries the regulations, the revenue procedure and the mandatory consent language, and the regulation text is at 26 CFR 301.7216-3. Most firms place the consent in the engagement letter before the season starts; the consent is yours to obtain and keep.
  • Your written information security plan. Federal law administered by the FTC under the Safeguards Rule requires every professional tax preparer to create and maintain a written information security plan, as the IRS repeats in its Taxes-Security-Together checklist and in Publication 4557, Safeguarding Taxpayer Data. Add the offshore arrangement to the service provider section of your WISP: how access is granted, what the contract requires and how you monitor it. The six points under "How Offshored handles it" below are written so you can paste them into that section.
  • AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. The Code asks a member to inform the client, preferably in writing, before disclosing confidential client information to a third-party service provider (ET section 1.150.040), to have a contractual confidentiality agreement with that provider (ET section 1.700.040) and to carry out due diligence on the provider while remaining responsible for the work (ET section 1.300.040). The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct is the source for all three. Offshored's US Terms of Service carry the data security and confidentiality commitments, and a separate non-disclosure agreement is available on request.

How Offshored handles it

  • Screened before you meet them. Every candidate has a pre-screening interview with Offshored's recruitment team in Manila and an NBI clearance (the Philippine national police check) before being presented to you.
  • Confidentiality in the employment contract. The employment contract with Australian Pathways OPC, the Philippine company that employs each team member, carries a confidentiality clause that continues after employment ends and an intellectual property clause: the work product belongs to your firm. The US Terms of Service set out the data security commitments, and you can require a separate non-disclosure agreement.
  • Your systems, your access. Your team member logs in to your own platforms with the permissions you set, over a VPN or directly, depending on your IT setup. Files stay on your systems, you can see what is accessed, and you can revoke access at any moment. Offshored holds no client data on its own infrastructure.
  • Controlled devices. On Offshored supplied laptops the USB ports and personal cloud drives are blocked. Where your policy requires it, a virtual desktop or your own managed device keeps everything inside your environment.
  • Clean exit. Every client system login is removed on the team member's last day, and the confidentiality obligation continues after employment ends.
  • Two privacy regimes. Team members are bound by the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012 as well as the confidentiality terms you set. A breach is grounds for dismissal and can be prosecuted in the Philippines. The data security page lists the controls in full.

The data security page, the US legality guide and the US Terms of Service set out the same commitments in full.

Price band

What offshore staff cost a CPA firm, in US dollars

RoleMonthly fee, Eastern, Central and Mountain hoursMonthly fee, Pacific hours
Practice administratorUS$1,350 to US$1,700US$1,500 to US$1,900
Offshore bookkeeper, or accounts payable and receivable specialistUS$1,500 to US$2,000US$1,650 to US$2,200
Offshore accountant and tax preparation supportUS$1,700 to US$2,400US$1,900 to US$2,650

One monthly fee per full-time team member covers recruitment and vetting, employment in the Philippines by Australian Pathways OPC, salary, the night shift differential for US hours (10 percent of the regular wage under Article 86 of the Philippine Labor Code, included and never billed separately), 13th month pay, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG contributions, Philippine income tax withholding, paid leave and the 11 US federal holidays, HMO health insurance after the six month probation, payroll, HR and an account manager, and replacement at Offshored's cost. Offshored Pty Ltd invoices in US dollars on the 15th of each month, due on the 30th, with no recruitment, placement, setup or exit fees, no lock-in contract and 30 days' notice. Extra hours you approve are not billed; they convert to paid leave. Every band is on US pricing, and the 2026 US cost benchmark sets ten roles against BLS wages.

Converted from A$1,900 at the Wise mid-market AUD to USD rate of 0.7017 read on October 23, 2026, rounded up to the next US$50. Eastern time fees are shown; Pacific time fees are 10 percent higher before rounding. The rate is fixed between reviews and is reviewed on the first business day of each quarter (next review Monday, January 4, 2027); a change applies only to new quotes, never to a running contract.

What that saves against a local hire

The BLS OEWS, May 2025 national median annual wage for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks (SOC 43-3031) is US$50,670, and for accountants and auditors (SOC 13-2011) it is US$83,680 (released May 15, 2026, read from the BLS Public Data API on October 23, 2026). Adding the employer cost of benefits at the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 private industry share (wages 70.0 percent of total compensation, so total cost is wage divided by 0.700, Table 1) gives US$72,386 for a bookkeeper and US$119,543 for an accountant. Against the midpoint of the Offshored Eastern hours band, a CPA firm saves 71.0 percent on a bookkeeper (US$21,000 a year against US$72,386) and 79.4 percent on an accountant (US$24,600 a year against US$119,543). The practice administrator band saves 73.1 percent against the US$47,540 median for administrative assistants (SOC 43-6014). The full method and all ten roles are on the 2026 US cost benchmark.

Scenario

A scenario: a six-CPA firm in Ohio

Illustrative scenario

Say a firm with six CPAs and four onshore staff prepares 900 individual and 180 business returns a year and runs monthly bookkeeping for 60 business clients. Every January the firm posts a seasonal preparer role, fills it in late February if at all, and the partners review until midnight through March. The business client bookkeeping slips during the season and is caught up in May.

In early December the firm hires one offshore accountant through Offshored at US$2,050 a month on Eastern hours and one offshore bookkeeper at US$1,750 a month. Recruitment takes two weeks for each: a scoping call, a shortlist of screened candidates with US tax or bookkeeping experience, interviews over video on the firm's own hours, a Memorandum of Understanding. Both work 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Eastern inside the firm's hosted desktop. The firm adds the Section 7216 consent to its January engagement letters and the arrangement to its WISP.

By mid February the accountant is turning first drafts of 1040s and 1120-S returns to the reviewing CPA within two days of the organizer landing, the bookkeeper keeps all 60 business clients current through April, and the partners stop reviewing after dinner. After October 15 the same two people run extension tie outs and year end planning, so there is no May goodbye and no December scramble. This is an illustration of a typical setup, not a client case study.

FAQ

Questions CPA firms ask before hiring offshore

Can an offshore team member prepare tax returns for a US CPA firm?

Yes, as a preparer working under your supervision in your tax software. Your team member prepares the workpapers and the first draft of the return from the organizer and source documents; the signing CPA at your firm reviews, finalizes and signs as paid preparer. Before any tax return information reaches the team member, your firm obtains the written taxpayer consent that 26 CFR 301.7216-3 requires for a preparer located outside the United States.

Do we need client consent to use offshore staff?

For tax return information, yes: Treasury Regulation 26 CFR 301.7216-3 requires the taxpayer's written consent, in the format Revenue Procedure 2013-14 prescribes, before disclosure to a tax return preparer outside the United States. For other confidential client information, the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (ET section 1.150.040) asks you to inform the client, preferably in writing, before using a third-party service provider. Most firms handle both in the engagement letter.

How are Social Security numbers handled?

Your firm decides. The regulation permits consent to disclose an SSN to a preparer outside the United States only where both the firm and the recipient maintain an adequate data protection safeguard under Revenue Procedure 2013-14; without that consent the SSN is masked in anything the team member sees. In either case the data stays inside your own hosted desktop or portal, the team member works through your permissions, Offshored supplied laptops block USB ports and personal cloud drives, and every login is removed on the last day.

What hours will our team member work during tax season?

Your business hours, Monday to Friday, 40 hours a week, on a permanent night shift in Manila; the 10 percent night shift differential under Article 86 of the Philippine Labor Code is included in your fee. Extra hours you approve during the season are not billed and convert to paid leave for your team member. The engagement is month to month with 30 days' notice, so capacity added for the season can be reduced after it, although most firms keep the person year round for bookkeeping, extensions and planning work.

How much do offshore bookkeepers and accountants cost a CPA firm?

Offshored's US bands are US$1,350 to US$1,700 a month for a practice administrator, US$1,500 to US$2,000 for a bookkeeper or an accounts payable and receivable specialist and US$1,700 to US$2,400 for an accountant, all-inclusive, on Eastern, Central and Mountain hours; Pacific hours bands are US$1,500 to US$1,900, US$1,650 to US$2,200 and US$1,900 to US$2,650. There are no recruitment, placement or setup fees, no lock-in contract, and Offshored Pty Ltd invoices in US dollars.

How quickly can someone start before the season?

One to two weeks from your signed brief to a shortlist of screened candidates with US tax or bookkeeping experience. You interview them by video call on your own hours and the start date is agreed at offer stage, depending on the candidate's notice period with their current employer, so a brief in early December puts a trained person in the seat before the first organizers come back in January.

More questions? The US FAQ covers US hours, fee inclusions, USD invoices, notice periods, W-8BEN-E, holidays and hiring timelines. Related US pages: offshore staff for property management companies, offshore bookkeeper, offshore accountant, accounts payable and receivable specialist and the US FAQ. Australian accounting firm? Read offshore staff for Australian accounting firms.

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