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Looking for a definition? Try the tax firm glossary.
An AI receptionist answers your office line in English or Spanish, books appointments, takes messages and gives return status after an identity check. What it does, and the lines it never crosses.
Tax season calls come in while your staff are with clients. This plan covers after-hours answering, messages that say why someone called, transfers that do not dead-end, and a morning call list.
The first call about an IRS letter decides how much time you have to respond. What to capture (the notice number, the date, what it says), why it is urgent, and what a phone agent must not say.
A reminder call the day before each appointment lets clients confirm, cancel or reschedule with one key, in English or Spanish. How it works, what to say, and the consent question to settle first.
Status calls are the most common call in tax season and the easiest place to leak client data. How to verify a caller with a texted code and date of birth, and what a phone agent may and may not say.
Engagement letters are simple to sign electronically, but Form 8879 has IRS rules. Here is what Publication 1345 requires, how to test any tool, and what XyloDocs charges after 100 free e-signatures.
After-hours calls pile up in tax season. This guide compares an AI voice agent with human answering services on what each does, Spanish coverage, handoff to staff, and the prices they list publicly.
On June 24, 2026, the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility told tax practitioners how to use AI. Alert 2026-19, Introductory Guidelines for Responsible AI Use in Federal Tax Practice, applies existing Circular 230 duties to generative tools: verify every fact, citation, and calculation; bill for the work actually done; keep taxpayer data on secure, firm-approved systems; and write the procedure down. A chatbot does not carry those duties for you.
On September 15, 2026, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration rated the IRS cybersecurity program not effective for fiscal year 2026. Report 2026-200-053 says three of six functions fell short: Identify, Protect, and Detect. Govern, Respond, and Recover were rated effective. The finding is an audit of the IRS under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act. It does not create a new rule for CPA firms. The taxpayer data on your own systems is still your responsibility, under the safeguarding duties you already have.
COSO did not publish a new control framework in February 2026. Achieving Effective Internal Control Over Generative AI takes the five components and 17 principles of the 2013 Internal Control — Integrated Framework and shows how they apply when a firm uses generative AI. The practical move for the rest of 2026 is an inventory of those uses, a risk note on each one that touches client data, and a named owner. The publication does not set a compliance date.