Millennials largely wrote off tax work. Gen Z has a reason to look again. A talent shortage is pushing up pay for tax professionals, and seasonal roles offer a low-commitment way in. The catch is timing, because the hiring push may already be fading.
Monster's 2026 Seasonal Hiring Index lists tax associates and tax experts among 13 job titles with significant seasonal posting activity in 2025. For tax accountants, the busy stretch runs from late January through April 15, driven by individual and corporate tax deadlines. ZipRecruiter puts the average U.S. pay for tax associates at $33.40 an hour, and tax experts at $45.67 an hour.
A talent gap is pulling employers toward newcomers
Employers are short on people. The U.S. faced a shortage of 340,000 tax accountants in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and recruiting remains hard. Personiv, a global finance and accounting outsourcing company, surveyed employers and found an average of 17 unfilled accounting and finance positions in 2026. A year earlier, the average was five. That's more than triple.
Monster's report makes a practical point about seasonal work: "Seasonal work is more than a short-term paycheck; it's often the start of a longer career journey." Many companies use seasonal roles as a testing ground for permanent hires, so a temporary tax position can double as a long job interview.
The hiring window may already be narrowing
Here's the thing about timing. Seasonal postings rose 44% between August and September last year, peaked in October, and then fell 24% by November. If that pattern holds, the prime hiring period for these roles has already passed for many candidates. Anyone waiting for the holidays to start applying risks arriving after the openings close.
Finding these jobs takes more effort than a generic search. In 2025, fewer than 3% of seasonal postings used "seasonal," "holiday," or "temporary" in the title. Searching by role, such as "tax associate," is likely to surface more openings than searching for "holiday jobs." Monster also recommends widening the search across roles and industries, since a seasonal opening can sit inside a posting that looks like an ordinary year-round job.
The higher-paying tier takes more preparation
Bigger paychecks in accounting come with higher entry requirements. Tax accountants typically need at least a bachelor's degree. A certified public accountant (CPA) license opens the door to better-paid roles, but it demands significant time and money. CPAs offer a range of services, including tax preparation and financial planning. Investopedia reported total compensation of up to $200,000 for CPAs with four years of experience. The "up to" matters here. That's a ceiling for experienced professionals, not a starting figure.
A tougher market for young job seekers
The broader labor market adds pressure. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 53.8% of people ages 16 to 24 were employed in July, and the youth unemployment rate was 9.1% that month. The transition from school to work has also gotten harder. A Kickresume survey found that only 12% of recent graduates landed full-time jobs before graduating this year, compared with nearly 40% of earlier graduates.
Automation is squeezing the rungs at the bottom of the ladder. Goodwill CEO Steve Preston told Fortune last year that automation is reducing entry-level opportunities, the roles where young workers have traditionally built experience. A seasonal tax job, even a temporary one, can supply that experience when other entry points are thinning.
For candidates with a degree and an interest in the CPA track, a seasonal tax role looks less like a stopgap and more like a foot in the door. The open question is whether employers keep converting seasonal hires into permanent ones once the current shortage eases, or whether they keep hiring for experience they can't find.
