How Many Tax Returns Should You Do Your First Year? (The Real Answer)

If you are in your first, second, or third year as a tax professional, you have probably asked yourself this question at least once: how many returns should I be doing by now?

Maybe you have done two returns. Maybe you have done twenty. Maybe you have not done any yet and you are starting to wonder if this whole thing was a mistake. I get it. I have been exactly where you are.

My first year as a tax professional, I did seven returns. Seven. My mom, my sister, and a few friends. My own father did not even want to file with me. And you know what? That was okay. Because those seven returns taught me more about running a tax practice than any course ever could. Every year after that, I grew my personal client base by about 300 percent. Not from anything fancy. Just from getting better at my craft and staying consistent with my marketing.

So let me save you some stress. There is no magic number you are supposed to hit. But there is a mindset shift that will determine whether you are still in this game five years from now or not.

Stop Comparing Your Season to Everyone Else’s

This is the biggest trap new tax professionals fall into. You see someone post that they have done 100 returns and you are sitting there with five, wondering what you are doing wrong. But what you do not see is that person’s full story. Maybe they bought into a franchise. Maybe they have been in the industry for a decade in a different role. Maybe they have a network of referral partners that took years to build.

Your first year is not supposed to look like someone else’s tenth year. Tax professionals who have been doing this for 20 years will tell you the same thing — they started with a handful of returns and built from there. One return became ten. Ten became fifty. Fifty became two hundred. The ones who made it are the ones who did not quit when the numbers were small.

The real comparison you should be making is with yourself. Did you learn more this month than last month? Did you get one more client than you had last quarter? Are you improving your process with every return you complete? That is the only scoreboard that matters right now.

Marketing Is Your Real Job in Year One

Here is something nobody tells you when you get your PTIN: your first year in the tax business is not really about doing returns. It is about learning how to market yourself.

Returns do not just show up at your door. You have to go get them. That means putting yourself out there — on social media, in your community, at networking events, wherever your ideal clients spend time. And here is the part most people miss: marketing is a long game. The person who sees your post today might not file with you this year. But they might remember you next year. And by year three, they are your client.

That is exactly how it worked for me. Consistency was the strategy. Not one viral post. Not one clever ad. Just showing up over and over again until people trusted me enough to hand over their W-2s.

If you are in your first three years, set aside dedicated time every single week for marketing. Get your Google Business profile set up and optimized. Ask every single client for a review when you are done with their return. Post consistently on social media — even when it feels like nobody is watching. They are. They are just not ready yet.

Quality Will Always Beat Quantity

One of the smartest things I have heard from a veteran tax professional is this: it is not the same doing 500 returns at $200 each versus doing 100 returns at $1,000 each. Read that again.

When you are starting out, it is tempting to chase volume because it feels like progress. But two returns done with excellence will generate more referrals than twenty returns done carelessly. Every client you serve well becomes a walking advertisement for your business. Every client you rush through becomes a reason someone else will never call you.

Take your time with every return. Educate your clients. Explain what you are doing and why. When people feel taken care of, they tell their friends. And in the tax business, word of mouth is still the most powerful marketing channel there is.

Use AI to Stretch Your Marketing Further

If the idea of marketing every week on top of doing returns and running your business feels overwhelming, this is where AI tools can give you a real edge. You do not need to be a tech person to use them.

Tools like ChatGPT can help you draft social media posts, write client emails, or create content ideas for the week in minutes instead of hours. You can tell it something like: “Write me three Facebook posts for a tax professional targeting small business owners who haven’t filed yet” — and you will have a solid starting point in seconds.

You still need to add your voice and make it yours. But AI takes the blank page problem off the table. Instead of staring at your phone trying to think of something to post, you spend five minutes editing a draft and you are done. That is time you can put back into actually serving your clients or studying for your EA exam.

The First Year Is the Foundation, Not the Finish Line

Every experienced tax professional started somewhere. Some started with one return. Some started with fifty. The number did not determine who made it and who did not. What mattered was whether they kept going.

If you are sitting at two returns right now, you are not behind. You are building. You are learning how to run a real business, serve real clients, and market yourself in a competitive industry. That is not failure — that is foundation.

Stay consistent. Keep marketing. Get better with every single return. And do not let someone else’s highlight reel make you forget that your journey is just getting started.