Industry
Tax Preparers & CPA Firms
We fix the manual work in tax practices: CPA firms, enrolled agents, and independent tax preparers. Chasing clients for W-2s and 1099s, keying numbers from PDFs and phone photos into tax software, rebuilding intake forms and engagement letters every season, and answering 'where is my return?' by hand. AI reads what clients send. Rules do the checking. Your preparers make every tax decision and sign every return.
Where the time goes
What usually eats hours here
- W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, and 1098s requested one email at a time, then tracked in a spreadsheet of who has sent what
- Numbers keyed by hand from PDFs and phone photos into the tax software before preparation can even start
- A new tax client intake form, engagement letter, and organizer rebuilt or re-sent every season
- Returns stalled for weeks on one missing document nobody remembered to chase
- Clients calling and emailing 'where is my return?' because status lives in someone's head
- Extensions, e-file rejections, and IRS or state notices tracked in a shared inbox and a calendar
Examples, not client case studies
What this can look like
These are illustrative examples, not promises of results. Every project starts with your own workflow.
Tax season document collection
Before
In January, staff email every returning client a generic list of documents. Replies trickle in as attachments, photos, and forwarded bank emails to whichever preparer the client knows. Someone renames and files each one and ticks off a spreadsheet. By March, dozens of returns are waiting on a single missing 1099 that nobody has chased.
After
Each client gets one link with a checklist built from last year's return: the same employers, brokerages, and forms, plus anything new they report. Uploads are recognized, filed to the right client and tax year, and ticked off automatically. Reminders go out on a schedule you set, only for what is still missing. Preparers see which returns are complete and ready to start.
W-2 and 1099 data extraction into return prep
Before
A preparer opens each W-2, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, and 1099-B, reads the boxes, and types them into the tax software, then re-checks totals against the source when something doesn't tie. Poor photos mean calling the client for a better copy.
After
Tax documents are read as they arrive and the box values extracted with a confidence score, then checked against last year's return and against each other (a missing employer, a brokerage that disappeared, a total that doesn't add up). Clean data is staged for the preparer to review and bring into the return. Anything unclear goes to a person with the source document shown next to it.
Rules vs AI
Where AI belongs in a tax practice, and where it doesn't
A wrong number on a return carries penalties and your signature, so the line between what a model does and what a rule does is drawn before anything is built.
AI: reading tax documents
Recognizing a W-2, 1099, K-1, 1098, or brokerage statement, matching it to the client and tax year, and extracting the box values. Every field carries a confidence score.
Rules: every check
Documents ticked off the client's checklist, totals compared with last year's return, missing forms flagged, due dates and extension deadlines tracked. Explicit, readable, auditable.
AI: drafting for review
Document-request reminders, status updates, and answers to routine client questions drafted from your templates and the client's record. A person reads and sends.
People: every tax decision
Filing status, deductions, credits, entity questions, positions on anything unusual, and signing the return. The system prepares the file; your preparers decide.
Workflows
The workflows we build most often for tax preparers
- Tax client intake: one intake form that creates the client in practice management, billing, and the tax software, with a document checklist tailored to their situation
- Tax document collection and chasing: a secure upload link per client, checklists built from last year's return, automatic reminders for what's still missing
- Tax organizers and engagement letters: sent at the start of each season, filled from the client record, signed electronically, and tracked
- W-2, 1099, and K-1 data extraction: box values read, checked, and staged for review before they reach the return
- Tax season status tracking: one view of every return (waiting on client, in prep, in review, ready to sign, e-filed, rejected) with automatic 'where is my return?' updates
- Extensions, e-file rejections, and IRS or state notices: logged, assigned, and tracked against deadlines instead of living in a shared inbox
Systems
Systems this work usually touches
We build around the tax and practice software you already run. These are the categories that come up most in tax practice workflows.
- Professional tax preparation software and its import formats
- Practice management and workflow tracking
- Client portals and secure file exchange
- E-signature tools for engagement letters and e-file authorizations
- Billing and payment collection
- The shared inboxes, texts, and phone photos where client documents actually arrive
Taxpayer data
How taxpayer information is handled
Tax documents and returns stay in the systems your practice already trusts for them. We access only what the project needs, and you control that access. Taxpayer information is never used to train outside models or shared beyond your project. Every automated action is logged with what changed, when, and why, so a reviewer can trace any number on a return back to its source document.
Tax preparers carry specific obligations for taxpayer data, including the IRS requirement for a written information security plan and the rules on using and disclosing return information. Those obligations set the boundaries of the design, and we build so your compliance is easy to show.
FAQ
Tax Preparers & CPA Firms: common questions
What AI tools make sense for tax preparers?
The biggest time savings in most tax practices aren't in the return itself; they're in everything around it: collecting documents, chasing what's missing, keying numbers from PDFs, and answering status questions. That's where AI and automation fit best. Tax judgement, positions, and signing the return stay with your preparers.
Will AI prepare or sign tax returns for our clients?
No. AI reads documents and extracts values; rules check them; your preparers review, decide, and sign. Anything the system isn't confident about goes to a person with the source document shown. That line is drawn in the design and written down.
Can you automate tax document collection?
Yes, and it's usually the first workflow we build. Each client gets one secure link with a checklist built from last year's return, uploads are recognized and filed automatically, and reminders go out only for what's still missing.
Does this work with our tax software?
We build around what you already run and confirm the connection or import method for your specific tax and practice software in the design phase, before anything is built. Where a system has no API or import, we say so and show the options.
Is this for CPA firms or independent tax preparers?
Both. CPA firms, enrolled agents, and seasonal tax practices all spend the same hours on intake and document chasing. A practice with a few preparers and a few hundred returns already spends enough time there for one workflow to pay for itself. The free assessment tells you honestly whether yours does.
When should we start to be ready for tax season?
Ideally in the off-season, so intake, organizers, and document collection are tested before January. Building a workflow mid-season is possible but riskier; if that's where you are, we'll usually start with the one step that's costing the most hours right now.
Get started
Show us what slows your practice down in tax season.
Document chasing, data entry from W-2s and 1099s, client intake, or status questions: tell us which one costs your team the most hours, and we'll scope it.
We'll reach out at a time that works for you. No cost, no obligation.