Finding an accountant

The specialism you actually need

Creators search for someone who understands Roblox, or Fortnite, or "the gaming industry". It is the wrong filter, and it makes a hard search harder.

Take the platform out of the description and what remains is: self-employment income, paid from a foreign company, in a foreign currency, sometimes with tax withheld at source before it arrives. That is not exotic. It is the same shape as a freelance translator paid by an American agency, or a contractor invoicing overseas clients.

Accountants who handle that comfortably are common in every country. Accountants who can name three Roblox monetisation mechanisms are rare, and being rare has not made them better at the foreign income part — which is the part that costs you money when it goes wrong.

The exception is genuine complexity: a company rather than a sole trader, staff, multiple countries, or revenue large enough that structure decisions matter. At that point you want a specialist, but the specialism is still international tax, not games.

Check they are registered, first

This step is quick, it is free, and it eliminates the failure modes that actually hurt — the unregistered preparer who disappears after filing, or the one whose credential lapsed years ago.

The registers below were checked on August 24, 2026 and were reachable at the time:

• United States — IRS: Guidance on choosing a tax professional, including credential types.
• United States — IRS: Verify that an enrolled agent's status is current.
• United States — NASBA: CPAverify — check a CPA license against participating state boards.
• United Kingdom — ICAEW: Find a chartered accountant.
• United Kingdom — ACCA: Find an accountant.
• Brazil — Conselho Federal de Contabilidade: The federal accountancy council, which maintains the register of contadores.
• Philippines — Professional Regulation Commission: The commission that licenses CPAs and verifies registration.

For three more countries we can tell you which body to look for but are not linking a URL we could not reach ourselves to confirm:

• Canada — the provincial CPA body for your province. CPA Canada links out to each provincial body; Québec's is the Ordre des CPA du Québec.
• Australia — the Tax Practitioners Board. The TPB maintains a public register of registered tax agents and BAS agents.
• Germany — the regional Steuerberaterkammer. Each Kammer maintains the register of Steuerberater for its area.

If your country is not listed, the search that works is your national tax authority's own site: most either maintain a register of authorized agents or name the body that does.

Seven questions, and what a good answer sounds like

Ask these before you commit. They take one email, and the answers separate someone who will help from someone who will charge you to learn.

1. "My income is paid from a US company in dollars. How do you handle the currency conversion?"

A good answer names the rule — an official rate table, a date-of-receipt rate, an average for the year — rather than saying "we'll work it out". Several countries publish a specific method, and using the wrong one is a real error.

2. "US tax was withheld before I was paid. What happens to it?"

The answer should distinguish between crediting foreign tax you were liable for and recovering tax that was over-withheld. Those are different procedures with different outcomes, and an accountant who treats them as the same thing will get it wrong for you.

3. "Have you filed a return with foreign-source self-employment income before?"

You want a plain yes with a bit of detail. Hesitation here is more informative than any credential.

4. "What is your fee, and what does it cover?"

A number and a scope, in writing, before work starts. If the answer is an hourly rate, follow up with "how many hours would you expect for this?" — an experienced person can estimate.

5. "What do you need from me, and in what format?"

A good accountant has a list ready. It also tells you what to start recording now: dated payout amounts in the original currency, statements of tax withheld, and receipts for costs.

6. "Who signs the return, and who is on the hook if it is wrong?"

In most systems you remain responsible for your own return regardless of who prepared it. An accountant who claims otherwise is either confused or selling something.

7. "Are you registered, and where can I verify that?"

Anyone legitimate answers this immediately and without irritation. Then verify it yourself anyway.

Red flags

• A fee that is a share of your refund. It rewards a bigger refund, not a correct one.
• Reluctance to put the fee in writing.
• A promise about the outcome before seeing your figures. Nobody can know your refund in advance.
• Asking you to sign a blank or incomplete return.
• Suggesting the money be paid into their account first. Refunds go to you.
• Encouraging you to pick a country or a treaty because it is cheaper. Treaty entitlement generally follows your tax residence — not your nationality, and not your preference. Dual nationals and people living outside their country of citizenship should get this determined properly rather than assume, because saving clauses and dual-residence tie-breakers can change the answer. Forms like the W-8BEN are signed under penalty of perjury. What that form actually asks.

What to bring to the first conversation

You will get a better answer, faster and cheaper, if you arrive with:

• A dated list of every payout, in the original currency, for the year.
• Any statement showing tax withheld before payment.
• A list of costs you think are deductible, with receipts.
• Your other income for the year — a salary underneath changes the answer materially.
• Whether you have registered as self-employed, and when.

Most of that is a spreadsheet you can maintain in a minute a month. Reconstructing it in April is the expensive way.

When you probably do not need one

Paying for advice you do not need is its own mistake. If your income is small, your situation has not changed since last year, nothing was withheld, and your country's filing requirements are ones you have already met once, doing it yourself is reasonable — and the calculators here will get you the numbers.

The moment that changes is when a threshold comes into view, when withholding appears, or when the money gets large enough that a mistake costs more than the fee. Those are the years to pay someone, and the ones where they earn it.

November 1, 2026 is a good example: the reclassification of DevEx payments as royalties changes which treaty article applies to non-US creators, and the first return after it is a sensible one to have checked. What changed. Backup withholding at 24% on an entire payout is the kind of mistake that pays for a lot of advice.