Skip to content
LokalMatch
Get quotes

Corporate Tax Accountants

Corporate Tax Accountants: directory of firms

Corporate tax work in the United States is really two jobs done by the same team. One is the return: the federal filing, the state filings, the elections and the supporting computations. The other is the provision — the tax figure that appears in the financial statements, which is prepared to a different timetable, audited by someone else, and wrong in a way that is far more visible.

Browse corporate tax accountants by city, and see what to check before you hire.

Find corporate tax accountants by city

This kind of work is often limited to licensed or registered professionals. Ask for their licence or registration number before you share any details.

Directory only

LokalMatch doesn’t take requests for corporate tax accountants in the US and doesn’t pass your details to anyone. Firms are listed as a directory: compare them and contact the ones you choose directly. LokalMatch doesn’t recommend any firm.

Paid listings and paid requests aren’t switched on for this service in the US.

On this page

The complexity is rarely federal. It is the states. A company with employees in four states, customers in thirty and warehouses in two is filing income or franchise returns in some of those places, registering for sales tax in others, and apportioning income between them under rules that differ in each. The GAO has documented how far this has spread: as of June 2021, all forty-five states with a statewide sales tax and the District of Columbia had adopted requirements governing sales tax collection by remote sellers.

Above a certain size the oversight layer appears too. Public companies are audited by firms registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and the SEC treats auditor independence as being as important as whether revenues and expenses are properly reported. That has direct consequences for which firm may do your tax work.

The pieces of a corporate tax function

  • The federal income tax return for the corporation or the consolidated group, with its elections, schedules and disclosures.
  • The state and local returns: income, franchise, gross receipts and margin taxes, each with its own base and apportionment formula.
  • The tax provision for the financial statements, including current and deferred balances and the reconciliation to the statutory rate.
  • Indirect tax: sales and use tax registration, collection, filing and the exemption certificates that support non-collection.
  • Credits and incentives, including research credits and state-level programs tied to hiring or capital investment.
  • Controversy: responding to federal and state examinations and managing notices across multiple jurisdictions.

Who audits the numbers: the PCAOB and the SEC

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is a nonprofit corporation established by Congress to oversee the audits of public companies in order to protect investors and further the public interest. It registers the accounting firms that prepare audit reports for issuers and for SEC-registered brokers and dealers, sets auditing standards, inspects registered firms' audits and quality control systems, and investigates and disciplines firms and their associated persons for violations.

The PCAOB is not independent of the SEC. The SEC has oversight authority over the Board, including approval of its rules, standards and budget, and the Board reports to the Commission annually.

The SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant is blunt about the stakes for independence: ensuring auditor independence is as important as ensuring that revenues and expenses are properly reported and classified, and it notes that discovering an independence issue at the last minute can affect an otherwise timely filing and call the reliability of the reports into question. In practice, that shapes which services your audit firm may also sell you.

State nexus and sales tax obligations after Wayfair

Before 2018, a state generally needed your physical presence to make you collect its sales tax. The Supreme Court's decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair replaced that physical presence test with an economic one for sales and use tax purposes, and the states moved quickly.

The GAO found that as of June 2021, all forty-five states with a statewide sales tax and the District of Columbia had adopted requirements governing sales tax collection by remote sellers. It also found the requirements vary in numerous respects, including effective dates, exemptions for small businesses below certain thresholds, and how those thresholds are calculated.

For a corporate tax team this means the nexus question is now a continuous monitoring task rather than a one-time analysis. Sales volumes into a state, remote employees, inventory held in a fulfilment centre and marketplace facilitator rules can each change the answer within a single year.

The corporate tax calendar, quarter by quarter

  • Close cycle: the provision is prepared alongside each reporting period and reviewed by the external auditor.
  • Estimated payments: federal and state instalments computed from projections, adjusted as the year's results emerge.
  • Return preparation: the federal return and the state filings, with extensions where information is genuinely incomplete.
  • Information returns: Forms W-2 and 1099 issued in January, subject to the electronic filing rules that apply from ten or more returns.
  • Indirect tax: sales tax returns filed monthly, quarterly or annually depending on each state's assignment.
  • Year-round: nexus monitoring, notice handling and documentation of positions while the facts are still fresh.

In-house tax department or outside firm

  • In-house staff know the business and are available daily, but a single person cannot cover federal, multi-state, indirect and provision work equally well.
  • An outside firm brings specialist depth and bears the research burden, but bills for context you already have.
  • The common middle path: in-house ownership of data, calendar and indirect tax, with the firm handling the return, the provision review and technical positions.
  • If the same firm audits your financial statements, independence rules constrain what tax services it may also provide.
  • Whichever structure you choose, one named person should own the filing calendar. Shared ownership of a deadline is no ownership.

Where corporate tax positions come apart

  • Positions taken without contemporaneous documentation, so the file cannot be defended years later when the examiner arrives.
  • States the company has been operating in for years without registering, where the unfiled period does not close.
  • Elections missed or filed late, which can be irreversible and rarely show up until the return is being reviewed.
  • Deferred balances rolled forward without being reconciled to the underlying differences.
  • Sales tax charged but never remitted, or exemption certificates accepted and never collected on file.
  • A provision built in a spreadsheet only one person understands, which becomes an audit finding the moment they leave.

What drives corporate tax fees

  • The number of legal entities and the number of jurisdictions each of them files in.
  • Whether a consolidated return is involved, and how clean the intercompany accounting is.
  • Whether the engagement includes the provision, which runs on the audit's timetable and not the return's.
  • Foreign operations, which bring additional reporting and a materially different skill set.
  • Open examinations or unfiled state years, which are remediation projects rather than compliance work.

Corporate Tax Accountants: frequently asked questions

Does my corporation need a CPA to prepare its return?

No federal rule requires a CPA to prepare a corporate return; anyone paid to do it must hold a PTIN. A CPA becomes necessary when financial statements need attest work, and a credentialled practitioner is necessary if you want representation before the IRS.

What is a tax provision, and why is it separate from the return?

The provision is the tax expense reported in your financial statements, prepared on the accounting timetable and subject to audit. The return is the filing with the tax authorities, prepared later and on different rules. The two are reconciled, not identical.

Do we owe sales tax in states where we have no office?

Possibly. Since the Supreme Court's Wayfair decision, states may impose collection obligations based on economic activity rather than physical presence, and the GAO reports that all forty-five states with a statewide sales tax plus the District of Columbia have adopted such requirements. Thresholds and effective dates differ by state.

Who oversees the firm that audits us?

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board registers, inspects and disciplines the firms that audit public companies and SEC-registered brokers and dealers. The SEC in turn oversees the PCAOB and approves its rules, standards and budget.

Can our auditor also do our tax work?

Some services are permitted and others are not, and the boundary is governed by independence rules the SEC takes seriously. Settle the question with both firms before work starts, because an independence problem found late can jeopardise a filing.

How many information returns can we file on paper?

As of tax year 2023, filers with ten or more information returns in aggregate must file them electronically. The count aggregates across return types, including Forms W-2 filed with the Social Security Administration.

Sources

  1. PCAOB — About the PCAOB
  2. SEC — Office of the Chief Accountant
  3. GAO — Remote Sales Tax: Initial Observations on Effects of States' Expanded Authority (GAO-22-106016)
  4. IRS — E-file information returns
  5. IRS — PTIN requirements for tax return preparers
  6. IRS — Business structures

Written by the LokalMatch editorial team. Last reviewed September 22, 2026. How we write and check our guides

Find corporate tax accountants by city

Alabama

Show 10 cities

Alaska

Show 1 cities

Arizona

Show 23 cities

Arkansas

Show 9 cities

California

Show 186 cities

Colorado

Show 20 cities

Connecticut

Show 14 cities

Delaware

Show 1 cities

District of Columbia

Show 1 cities

Florida

Show 82 cities

Georgia

Show 20 cities

Hawaii

Show 3 cities

Idaho

Show 8 cities

Illinois

Show 31 cities

Indiana

Show 22 cities

Iowa

Show 11 cities

Kansas

Show 9 cities

Kentucky

Show 4 cities

Louisiana

Show 9 cities

Maine

Show 1 cities

Maryland

Show 18 cities

Massachusetts

Show 27 cities

Michigan

Show 24 cities

Minnesota

Show 20 cities

Mississippi

Show 3 cities

Missouri

Show 13 cities

Montana

Show 4 cities

Nebraska

Show 4 cities

Nevada

Show 10 cities

New Hampshire

Show 2 cities

New Jersey

Show 19 cities

New Mexico

Show 4 cities

New York

Show 17 cities

North Carolina

Show 23 cities

North Dakota

Show 3 cities

Ohio

Show 17 cities

Oklahoma

Show 10 cities

Oregon

Show 13 cities

Pennsylvania

Show 10 cities

Rhode Island

Show 4 cities

South Carolina

Show 9 cities

South Dakota

Show 2 cities

Tennessee

Show 19 cities

Texas

Show 79 cities

Utah

Show 19 cities

Virginia

Show 16 cities

Washington

Show 27 cities

Wisconsin

Show 12 cities

Wyoming

Show 2 cities

What affects the fees corporate tax accountants charge

Fees depend on the work involved and how the professional bills. We only publish fee ranges when they’re backed by real LokalMatch data or reliable sources. Until then, here’s what usually changes the fee:

  • Scope and complexity of the work
  • How the professional bills: hourly, flat fee or retainer
  • Experience and seniority of the person doing the work
  • Deadlines and how urgent the work is
  • Third-party costs such as filing, registration or government fees

How to compare corporate tax accountants before you hire

  • Check that they are licensed or registered for this work where you live, on the regulator’s public register.
  • Look for experience with matters like yours, and ask who will actually handle your file.
  • Ask how they charge before any work starts, and get the terms in writing.
  • Compare two or three professionals before you decide.
  • Be wary of anyone who guarantees a particular outcome.

Questions to ask corporate tax accountants before you hire

  • Are you licensed or registered for this work, and with which body?
  • Have you handled matters like mine before?
  • Who will do the work, and who will I deal with day to day?
  • How do you charge: hourly, a flat fee or a retainer?
  • What is included in your fee, and what costs extra?
  • Will you confirm the scope and fees in a written engagement letter?
  • Do you carry professional liability insurance?

Licences and registration

This kind of work is often limited to licensed or registered professionals, and the rules depend on where you are. Ask which body they’re registered with, and check their status on that body’s public register before you hire.

Guides about corporate tax

Related professional services