Nominations open for Top Tax Advisor awards

Nominations are open for the 2026 Top Tax Advisor Awards, a new category created by Insightful Accountant for it’s annual awards program honoring tax and accounting professionals.

For 2026, a maximum of 25 Tax Advisors will be recognized as the Top Tax Advisors, and one of the 25 will also be recognized as the 2026 Tax Advisor of the Year.

Tax Advisor Award requirements for 2026

There are three requirements for recognition in the Top Tax Advisor Awards group:

1. To be considered for these awards, applicants must be active Tax Advisors who are residents of the United States (or its territories).
2. Tax Advisors must:
   • Have an active tax practice consisting of one or more personal or business tax clients, including preparation of tax estimates, tax returns, or tax planning strategies, at any time during 2025 (from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025), even if the assistance was related to a prior tax year, or
   • Serve as an agent for TurboTax Live or TurboTax Live Full-service (part-time-full-time, independent contractor or employee) who has assisted 12 or more TurboTax Live Clients at any time during 2025 (from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025), even if the assistance was related to a prior tax year.
3. Tax Advisors must hold a current Intuit Academy Tax-Level 1 Certification with an issuance date no earlier than November 1, 2024. They must be prepared to upload a copy of the certificate of completion/certification as documentation of such current certification.

While nothing requires Intuit Academy participants to earn ProAdvisor certification, nothing prevents ProAdvisors from participating in the Intuit Academy tax training and credentialing.

Awards process

The new Tax Advisor Awards process is being conducted as part of Insightful Accountant’s Top Advisor Awards for 2026. A single application form for the US Awards (Top 100, Up-n-comer, and Tax Advisor) simplifies documenting the related requirements, as many of the same objective measures apply across the award’s criteria.

The 2026 Top Advisor Awards are currently underway, and a tax advisor can apply directly for the awards. Applicants have until 11:59 PM Pacific on March 3, 2026, to complete their formal applications.

A third party can also nominate tax advisors. The nomination period for tax advisors by a third party will end at 11:59 PM Pacific on December 9, 2025. All nominees will be advised by email within minutes of their nomination. Such nominees can then begin their formal applications.

Applicants are not required to complete their applications in one sitting; they can supplement their applications on a come-and-go basis, allowing them to enter training and certifications as earned, or record apps as used (referred to vendors or implemented for clients).

Qualified applicants will appear on a ballot during a four-week voting period, starting approximately two weeks after the close of applications.

The Top 25 Tax Advisors will be announced no later than mid-May 2026. The Tax Advisor of the Year will be announced before July 1, 2026, along with other top award recipients within the various 2026 Top Advisor Awards.

A centralized Awards Portal allows individuals to apply for these awards or nominate advisors from a single website.

Nominate or apply for the 2026 Top Tax Advisor Awards

Intuit®, QuickBooks®, and the QuickBooks ProAdvisor program have participated in a sponsoring advisor capacity every year since the inception of the awards. Insightful Accountant actively monitors the nomination and application process to determine candidate qualification and equivalency and coordinates with Intuit officials and the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program should questions come about.