Industries
Accounting answering service for CPA and tax firms
Short answer
An accounting answering service picks up your firm’s calls when you’re with a client, buried in returns in March or closed for the night. Ours is a 100% AI receptionist: it says it’s an AI, books appointments, takes messages and flags the calls that can’t wait, like an IRS letter with a deadline or a payroll that won’t run. It never gives tax advice, and you get a summary of every call.
Free setup · No contract · Cancel anytime
Example call: a letter from the IRS
Lindqvist Tax and Accounting · A letter from the IRS
Urgent
- AI
- Lindqvist Tax and Accounting, this is AI Receptionist, the firm’s AI assistant. How can I help?
- Caller
- I got a letter from the IRS about last year’s return.
- AI
- Are you a current client?
- Caller
- Yes, Ingrid did my taxes.
- AI
- Is there a response date on the letter?
- Caller
- The 28th.
- AI
- Your name and best number?
- Caller
- Dmitri Halloran, 555-0193.
- AI
- Thanks, Dmitri. I’ve sent this to Ingrid now, marked urgent. What the letter means is for her to explain.
Summary sent to you
- Urgent
- IRS letter about last year’s return, response due on the 28th.
- Caller
- Dmitri Halloran, current client of Ingrid, 555-0193.
- Done
- sent to Ingrid, marked urgent. No amounts discussed and nothing said about what the letter means.
When tax calls come at the wrong time
It’s the second week of March in Spokane. A client is across the desk with a shoebox of receipts, and the phone has rung four times in twenty minutes. A new client wants an appointment before the deadline. Someone wants to know where their refund is. A payroll client’s direct deposit didn’t go through, and another client has an IRS letter with a date on it. From your desk, all four calls look the same. Voicemail treats them the same too.
How the call goes
-
Client or new client
The first question sorts the call. A current client goes to their preparer’s list; a new one is a lead with an appointment to book.
The AI says: “Are you a current client of the firm, or would this be your first time working with us?”
-
What it’s about
Return, bookkeeping, payroll, a tax agency letter or fees: each has its own few questions.
The AI says: “Is this about a tax return, payroll or bookkeeping, or a letter you’ve received?”
-
Any letter, any date
If the caller has a notice from the IRS or the state, it asks who sent it and the response date printed on it. It doesn’t ask them to read out amounts or account numbers.
The AI says: “Is there a date on the letter by which you need to respond?”
-
Book, message or alert
Appointments are confirmed only once they’re saved in your calendar. Documents go to your secure upload. Urgent calls reach the right preparer at once.
The AI says: “I have Thursday at 10 a.m. with Ingrid. Shall I book it?”
-
Name and number, checked
It spells the name back and repeats the number, so the message reaches the right preparer with nothing to guess.
The AI says: “That’s H-A-L-L-O-R-A-N, at 555-0193. Is that right?”
The questions build on the after-hours triage protocol, which sorts any call into now, tomorrow or a message; the rest are in the call protocol library.
What counts as urgent
For a tax and accounting firm, these are the rules we start from. You set the final list.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| IRS or state notice with a response date close by | Urgent: preparer alerted now, with the date on the notice |
| Payroll client whose payroll or deposit didn’t go through | Urgent: put through to whoever handles payroll |
| Client who thinks a return was filed with a mistake | Message marked priority for their preparer |
| New client before the filing deadline, or a client asking for an extension | Appointment booked or a priority message; no promise that anything is filed |
| “Where’s my refund?” | Pointed to the IRS refund tracker, if you approve, plus a message |
| Documents, fees, office hours | Answered from your protocol or booked |
What it never says on these calls
- Tax advice of any kind, including “you can deduct that” or “you don’t need to file.”
- How much someone owes or whether a refund is coming.
- That a return or an extension will be filed by the deadline, unless your team has confirmed it.
- A fee you haven’t approved.
- A request for a Social Security number, bank details or amounts over the phone. Documents go through the channel you choose.
What you decide
- Your urgent list: which notices, deadlines and payroll problems interrupt your day, and whether an urgent caller is told when to expect a call, in your words.
- Who gets what: each preparer’s clients, payroll, bookkeeping and new business.
- Your calendar: appointment types, how long each one runs and which slots it can fill in tax season.
- What it answers on its own: hours, fees you publish, which documents to bring, where to upload them.
- Your season rules: extended hours from January to April and in the run-up to the October extension deadline, and what changes after.
- Spanish: clients can speak Spanish with the AI on the same line.
We set it up the way you want and you approve the final version.
Why this works for accounting firms
Our call protocols come from nearly two decades of running phone reception for small businesses, and few offices get a phone spike like a tax practice in March. It never promises what you don’t: no tax answers, no filing dates, so advice only ever comes from you. It asks what matters: the date on a notice decides whether a call can wait until Monday. The full method is on our method, and how a call is passed to a preparer is on call transfer.
What it costs
A firm that’s quiet in summer can start with no monthly fee on Pay As You Go and pay $0.99 per answered call. For tax season, the 50-Call Plan includes 50 calls for $29 a month and the 100-Call Plan includes 100 for $49. Compare them on pricing.
Free setup · No contract · Cancel anytime
Your month, by plan
Best fit: 50-Call Plan, $29.00
- Pay As You Go Best fit $29.70
- 50-Call Plan Best fit $29.00
- 100-Call Plan Best fit $49.00
What the month would cost on each plan: the monthly fee plus each call past the ones included.
Questions accounting firm owners ask
Why do you need an accounting answering service?
Because your busiest weeks for calls are also the weeks you can least afford to stop and answer them. An accountant answering service picks up every call, books the appointments and separates the IRS letter with a deadline from the routine questions, so you return the calls that matter first instead of working through voicemail.
Will it answer tax questions from clients?
No. It answers questions about your firm: hours, appointments, what to bring, where to upload documents and the fees you’ve published. Anything about a client’s taxes, from deductions to what a notice means, goes to a preparer as a message or a callback.
Can it tell clients where their refund is?
It can’t see refund status for anyone. If you approve it, it tells callers that the IRS has an online refund tracker, Where’s My Refund?, and takes a message in case they want a preparer to look at it with them.
Is it safe to give it personal information?
It’s set up not to ask for it. It takes a name, a number and the reason for the call, and never asks for Social Security numbers, bank details or amounts. Documents go through the secure channel your firm already uses.
Can it handle the January to April rush?
Yes. It answers several calls at the same time, so a Monday in March doesn’t mean a busy signal or a full mailbox. If someone already works your front desk, it can take only the calls they can’t get to; see overflow call answering.
Does it work for bookkeepers and financial planners too?
Bookkeeping and payroll practices use this protocol with their own urgent rules, such as a payroll tax deposit that’s due or a direct deposit that didn’t go out. Planners have stricter rules around investment calls; see the answering service for financial advisors and the other industries we answer for.
Answer every call this tax season
Press “Get started” and tell us who prepares for whom, what’s urgent and when your season starts. We build your protocol as part of your free setup, and you approve every line before your calls are forwarded; the steps are on how it works.
Free setup · No contract · Cancel anytime