Tax Accountant Expert

$75–150/hrrate as listed

AfterQuery contracts tax practitioners to write original tax preparation and planning problems and to grade AI model answers against federal and state rules. Work is remote, asynchronous, and paid hourly in an observed $75–150 range depending on depth of specialty.

Summary, eligibility guidance and screening preparation are prepared by Sidequest from the platform's posting. Check the source listing before applying.

What the work actually is

You write tax problems that a strong model should plausibly get wrong, then you show your work. A typical unit might be a multi-state individual return with a part-year residency wrinkle, an S-corp reasonable-compensation question, a partnership basis and 704(b) allocation trace, or an estimated-tax safe-harbor calculation where the prior-year AGI crosses the 150k threshold. Each item needs a defensible answer, a citation trail to the Code, regs, or IRS guidance, and enough distractor structure that a plausible-sounding wrong answer is genuinely available. The second half of the job is grading: reading model output, deciding whether it reached the right number by the right reasoning, and writing feedback that names the exact step where it went off — not "incorrect," but "applied the 2023 standard deduction to a 2024 fact pattern and then compounded it in the QBI limitation."

What the screen is looking for

AfterQuery's intake is AI-led and follow-up heavy. It probes whether your tax knowledge is load-bearing or memorized: expect to be pushed one layer past your first answer, asked where a rule has an exception, and asked what changes if a date or a filing status moves. Reviewers care that you can distinguish a settled answer from a position that depends on facts, elections, or an unsettled area — and that you say so rather than manufacturing certainty. Writing quality matters concretely, because your feedback text is the training signal.

Logistics

Fully remote and asynchronous; no standing meetings, deadlines are per-batch.
Contract work, hourly, invoiced against logged time; volume fluctuates with project pipeline.
Most contributors run 10–20 hours a week, though some batches allow more.
Observed pay band is $75–150/hr, with the top of the range typically going to CPAs or EAs with corporate, partnership, or international depth. Rates are as reported and not guaranteed.
A CPA, EA, or MST is preferred rather than required; demonstrated compliance experience carries real weight.

What they look for

Hands-on federal and state tax compliance experience (preparation, planning, or controversy)
Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, or a related field
Ability to cite and reason from the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury regs, and IRS guidance
Clear technical writing — explaining why an answer is wrong at the specific step
Depth in at least one of: individual, corporate, partnership, estate, or international tax
CPA license, EA designation, or master's in taxation (preferred, not required)

Included with this listing

Interview prep — 10 questions

Matched to what this platform's screening actually measures. Answer each out loud in 60–90 seconds: claim → concrete example → implication.

What it tests: Whether your experience is broad preparation work or narrow, and which specialty they can safely assign you content in.
A strong answer: Concrete counts and composition — e.g. roughly 180 1040s of which 40 had Schedule C or E, plus a dozen 1120-S and three multi-state partnerships — with a note on which entity types you'd write content for confidently.
Where people lose it: Saying "all types of returns" or "individual and business." The screener will ask for a specific partnership or multistate example immediately, and a vague opener makes the follow-up look like a caught bluff rather than a normal probe.