Accounting and tax
Spend tax season on returns, not chasing documents.
Start with document collection. Intake Autopilot sends each client one guided request for only the documents you need this year, then chases the missing ones on its own, so returns stop sitting in the waiting pile.
30 minutes, no cost. You’ll leave knowing your first step.
Sound familiar?
- “It’s March 20th and I’m still waiting on 1099s from a third of my clients.”
- “From February to April, half my inbox is clients asking if we got their W-2.”
- “Every month I write the same bookkeeping summary thirty times, by hand.”
In a tax or bookkeeping practice, most of the lost hours aren’t spent on the returns themselves. They go to asking clients for the same documents three times, answering status emails, and turning each month’s closed books into a summary a client will actually read. That’s why the route starts with intake: until the documents arrive complete, every return sits waiting, and many of the status emails are really about paperwork the client hasn’t sent yet. Once documents come in on time, the inbox is calm enough to automate the known answers, then the monthly reports, and last, writing down what your senior people know so the firm doesn’t depend on them being in the office.
If that’s your week, here’s where to start.
Start here
Step 1 · Onboarding
Collect every document without chasing
Solution Intake Autopilot
Start here because missing documents hold up everything else in tax season. A return can’t move until the W-2s, 1099s and K-1s are in, and fixing the inbox or the reports first would only speed up work that’s still waiting on paperwork. If your portal already sends document requests and reminders, we set those up properly before building anything new.
See how Intake Autopilot worksWhat it looks like
On a Tuesday night in late February, a returning client opens her intake link, sees that this year you only need her W-2, two 1099-INTs and a brokerage statement, and uploads two of them to your portal. Three days later she gets a polite reminder about the brokerage statement, and on Monday your checklist shows which returns are complete and ready to start.
100 hrs
back in tax season, across 300 returns
Illustration: 300 returns × 3 follow-ups each × 10 minutes per follow-up is 150 hours of chasing. Cut that by two-thirds and about 100 hours go back to preparing and reviewing returns in the busiest weeks of the year.
Every figure here is an illustration. On the call, I run it with your hours, your rates and your deal sizes.
Then add these, in this order
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Delivery
Fewer status emails in peak season
Solution Support Desk Copilot
Next comes the inbox, because once intake is running, most of what’s left in peak season is the same handful of questions about documents, deadlines, extensions and return status. Support Desk Copilot sorts them as they arrive, answers the known questions from your approved information, and drafts the rest with the client’s history attached. It starts draft-only, so nothing reaches a client until a person has approved it.
What it looks like
On April 9th, 140 emails arrive before lunch, already sorted. The questions about deadlines and how to upload have answers ready from your FAQ, and each question about a return’s status comes with a drafted reply and the client’s checklist attached, for your admin to check and send.
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Delivery
Monthly client summaries, drafted
Solution Reports on Autopilot
Bookkeeping clients expect a report every month, not just in tax season, so this is the steady year-round win once April is behind you. Reports on Autopilot drafts each summary from the closed books: what changed, what it means and what to watch next month. It’s tested side by side against last month’s hand-written summary before it goes live, and you review every draft before it’s sent.
What it looks like
On the 10th, after the books close, thirty draft summaries are waiting. Each one explains in plain English that revenue was up 8% on last month, payroll ran an extra cycle and the sales tax accrual looks low, and your bookkeeper spends about 20 minutes checking each one instead of an hour writing it.
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Delivery
Firm know-how in one place
Solution Company Brain
This comes last because it pays off most once the busy-season fixes have freed up time to write things down, and because it needs the most care about what goes in. Company Brain makes your procedures, checklists and review notes searchable in plain language, with a link to the source on every answer. Permissions are set before anything is indexed, client files stay out unless your WISP allows them, and it works best for firms of about five people or more.
What it looks like
A second-season preparer needs to know how the firm handles a client with a late K-1 and an extension. Instead of interrupting the partner in the middle of a review, she asks the brain and gets the firm’s extension procedure and the K-1 checklist, each linked to the document it came from.
Works with what you already use
Existing tools first. Custom software only when nothing simpler will work.
QuickBooks Online
Where most bookkeeping clients’ books live. Monthly summaries are drafted from its numbers, through its own connection where it allows or a standard export.
Xero
The other common ledger for bookkeeping clients. The same monthly summaries work alongside it.
TaxDome
Practice management, client portal and organizers. If it already sends document requests and reminders, those get set up properly before anything new is built.
Karbon
Practice management and shared team email. Intake status and drafted replies fit alongside the work you already track there.
Canopy
Practice management, client portal and document requests. The intake work fits alongside it rather than replacing it.
SmartVault
Document storage and a client portal. Client uploads still land there, and the intake work decides what to ask for and when to remind.
Liscio
Client portal and secure messaging. Client conversations and document requests stay where your clients already know to find them.
UltraTax CS, Lacerte or Drake Tax
Where the returns get prepared. None of this work touches the return itself. It gets complete documents to the preparer sooner.
Leave these for later
- An AI that prepares or reviews the return itself. Your tax software and your preparers already do that well, it puts the most sensitive data into a new tool that your WISP has to cover, and the time you lose in tax season goes to chasing, not preparing.
- A chatbot on your website that answers tax questions for prospects. Tax answers depend on each client’s facts, and a confident wrong answer carries real risk for the firm. Get the intake and inbox work running first.
- Switching practice management platforms to get AI features. If TaxDome, Karbon or Canopy is already in place, the work goes alongside it, and changing platforms close to tax season costs more time than it saves.
How client tax data is handled
Tax preparers are treated as financial institutions under the FTC Safeguards Rule, which requires a written information security plan, often called a WISP. The IRS points small practices to Publication 4557, Safeguarding Taxpayer Data, and to Publication 5708, its WISP template. Section 7216 of the tax code also restricts how preparers use and disclose tax return information, and some uses need the client’s signed consent: for example, sending return information to a provider outside the US, or using it for anything other than preparing the return. Before anything is connected, I go through your WISP with you: which tool, which plan, where the data is stored, whether the provider trains on it, and who can see it. No client data goes into a tool until the plan and settings fit your WISP. If you don’t have a WISP yet, writing one comes first, and Publication 5708 is the place to start. Whether a particular use needs a Section 7216 consent is reviewed during setup with your own advisor. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
Questions about AI for accounting and tax
Is it safe to use AI with client tax information?
It can be, if the tool, plan and settings fit your firm’s written information security plan and you’ve checked the Section 7216 rules for that use. A consumer chat app on default settings is usually not the right place for client data. I review the data handling before anything is connected, and no client data goes in until it fits your WISP.
How can a tax firm stop chasing clients for documents?
Send each client one guided request for only the documents you need this year, with automatic reminders for anything still missing. Start each client’s list from what you needed for their return last year, so nobody is asked for forms they don’t have. That list is set up during the intake audit. A live checklist then shows which returns are ready to start.
Can AI answer client emails asking about the status of their return?
It can draft those replies with the client’s status attached, for a person to check and send. General questions, such as deadlines, how to upload or what an extension means, can be answered from your approved information. It starts draft-only, so nothing reaches a client you haven’t approved.
Can AI write monthly bookkeeping reports from QuickBooks Online or Xero?
Yes, it can draft monthly client summaries from the numbers in QuickBooks Online or Xero, through the tool’s own connection where it allows or a standard export. You review each draft before it goes out, and the first month is tested side by side against a summary you wrote by hand.
Do I have to replace TaxDome, Karbon or Canopy to use AI?
No, the work fits alongside the practice management tool you already use. If it already has request reminders or AI features, we set those up properly first. Custom work only comes in where the tool you have can’t do the job.
When should a tax practice start an AI project?
Start in the summer or fall, so the intake is tested before January. Intake Autopilot is live in 2–4 weeks, and a quieter month gives you time to try it on a few clients before tax season starts.
What does it cost to get started?
It depends on where you start and how much setup that step needs. Each step is a one-time setup plus optional ongoing care, and you get a fixed quote before anything starts. I don’t publish prices, but on the free call I’ll tell you honestly whether the first step is worth it for your numbers.
Send me the document checklist you send clients every January. I’ll show you which items you can stop chasing.
30 minutes, no cost, no pressure.