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No single best engine for 2026 — match Drake, Intuit Accountants (ProConnect, Lacerte, ProSeries), or UltraTax to your book, then add XyloDocs for communication.
ProConnect API and Drake Tax software API searches usually mean “text my clients.” You need a communication platform beside the engine — not a missing public API.
Yes — ProConnect's Intuit Link portal handles document collection and review. Here's exactly what it does, where it stops, and how XyloDocs fills the gaps.
Form 8867 is required on returns claiming EIC, the Child Tax Credit family, AOTC, or Head of Household. Because the §6695(g) penalty applies per credit per return, one return can carry four separate penalties. Here are the four requirements and how to document them.
Publication 1345 governs every Authorized IRS e-file Provider. If taxpayers log into a site your firm operates, you may be an Online Provider — which adds six specific security standards including EV SSL and weekly external vulnerability scanning.
Form 8879 authorizes an ERO to apply a taxpayer PIN to an e-filed return. It is never filed with the return, must be signed before transmission, and kept three years. Electronic signatures are allowed only with specific identity verification and data capture.
A PTIN identifies the individual preparer, an EFIN identifies the firm authorized to e-file, and an ETIN identifies whoever transmits data to the IRS — usually your software vendor. Here is which you need, how to get each, and the sharing rules that put EFINs at risk.
A Written Information Security Plan is required for every US tax preparer under the FTC Safeguards Rule. Here are the nine required elements, the small-firm exemption, the 30-day breach clock, and how to build a WISP from the free IRS template.
IRC §7216 makes it a criminal offense to use or disclose taxpayer return information beyond preparing that return. Here is what is permitted, when written consent is required, and how the rule applies to cloud and AI tools.