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Accounting and CPA firms
AI Receptionist for Accounting and CPA Firms
An AI receptionist for an accounting firm answers the overflow calls of tax season, books appointments, takes document-status questions as messages for the right preparer, runs a short intake for new clients and sends every IRS-letter call to a person. Set up this way, it gives no tax advice and never asks for a Social Security number.
How much tax-season work runs through professional preparers?
About half of it. The IRS filing season statistics count 75.3 million e-filed returns from tax professionals by May 8, 2026, out of 141.0 million e-filed returns in total. Most of that work lands in the same few months, which is when a firm's phones are hardest to answer.
Does section 7216 cover what callers tell a receptionist?
It can. Treasury regulations define tax return information as any information, including a name, address or identifying number, furnished in connection with preparing a return (26 CFR 301.7216-1). An accounting firm may use it to provide that client other accounting services (301.7216-2(h)); most other uses, such as marketing unrelated products, generally need written consent first.
How should an accounting firm handle calls about an IRS letter?
Route them to a person. The receptionist asks for the CP or LTR number in the corner of the letter and the response date, then transfers the call or books a call back. The IRS tells taxpayers to review a notice carefully and act by the due date when it asks for a response.
Which calls reach an accounting firm, and which ones need a preparer?
Most calls in season are routine: booking, rescheduling, "did you get my forms", and new clients asking whether you take them on. A smaller share are urgent and need a preparer: IRS letters, deadline questions and anything that sounds like advice. The receptionist handles the routine ones and routes the rest.
| Call type | What the receptionist does | Goes to a person when |
|---|---|---|
| Tax-season overflow | Picks up when every line is busy or after hours, answers office questions from what you wrote, and records the reason for the call. | The caller needs a preparer's judgment or an answer about their own return. |
| Appointment booking | Books, moves or cancels tax-prep meetings, document drop-offs and review calls on your calendar. | The caller wants a time on a calendar the receptionist does not book. |
| Document-status questions | Repeats your upload and drop-off instructions and takes the question as a message for the preparer. | Always for the answer itself: the receptionist cannot see your portal or files. |
| New-client intake | Records whether it is an individual or a business, the services wanted, the tax years involved and any deadline, then books a consultation. | The caller has unfiled years, a notice or an audit, so a preparer screens before booking. |
| IRS or state tax letter | Asks for the notice number and the response date, then transfers the call or books a call back. | Every time. The receptionist does not explain notices. |
| Deadlines and extensions | Repeats the office dates you publish, such as your last day for taking new returns. | The caller asks whether to file an extension, or what a late filing will cost them. |
| Billing and engagement letters | Takes the question as a message or transfers it to the number you set. | A dispute or a question about scope. |
What should a new-client intake collect, and what should it leave out?
Collect what a partner needs to decide whether to take the work and who should call back. Leave identifiers and figures out of the phone call: no Social Security or employer identification numbers, income amounts or bank details. Those belong in your engagement process and secure portal, not in an emailed call summary.
| Intake field | Why it matters | How to ask it |
|---|---|---|
| Individual or business | Individual returns, partnerships, S corporations and nonprofits go to different people. | "Is this for your personal taxes, a business, or both?" |
| Services wanted | Return preparation, bookkeeping, payroll or help with a notice are different engagements. | "What would you like help with this year?" |
| Tax years | Unfiled prior years change the scope and the fee conversation. | "Which tax years is this for, and are any earlier years still unfiled?" |
| Deadline or notice | A notice with a response date jumps the queue. | "Is there a deadline, or have you received anything from the IRS or the state?" |
| Previous preparer | Tells the partner whether prior returns and workpapers will be easy to get. | "Did someone prepare your return last year?" |
| How they found you | Referral sources are worth thanking and tracking. | "How did you hear about our firm?" |
| Name, number and email | The call back and the appointment confirmation. | "Can I get your name, the best number and an email for the confirmation?" |
Why should IRS-letter calls always go to a person?
Because the caller needs judgment, a deadline is usually running, and some callers are describing a scam rather than a real notice. The receptionist's job is to capture the notice number and the date, keep the caller calm, and get someone from your office on the line, or a call back on the calendar, quickly.
- Capture the two facts that matter. The IRS prints the notice type as a CP or LTR number in the corner of the letter, and asks taxpayers to act by the due date when a response is needed (IRS, understanding your notice or letter).
- Watch for impersonation. The IRS says it generally mails a bill first and does not call to demand immediate payment by gift card, prepaid debit card or wire transfer (IRS, how to know it's really the IRS). A caller who describes that kind of call can hear the IRS's own words from your script, and the call still goes to your office.
- No explanations. The receptionist does not say what a notice means, whether the client owes, or what to send back.
What does a good IRS-letter call sound like?
A good call gets the notice number, the date and whether your firm prepared that return, then puts the caller through to your office or books the earliest call back. The script below is an illustrative example we wrote to show the structure. It is not a recording, and the firm and people are made up.
Example: a letter about last year's return (illustrative)
Caller: "I got a letter from the IRS saying I underreported income. Do I have to pay this?"
AI: "I'm sorry, that's a stressful letter to open. I can't advise on what you owe, but I can get you to someone in our office. In the top corner of the letter, is there a number starting with CP or LTR?"
Caller: "It says CP2000."
AI: "Thank you. Does the letter give a date to respond by?"
Caller: "It says within 30 days of the date on the letter, which was last Tuesday."
AI: "Got it. Did our firm prepare the return for that year?"
Caller: "Yes, Priya did."
AI: "I'll connect you to our office now. If nobody's free, I'll take your details and book the first open call back."
Result: The call is transferred to the number you set. If nobody had answered, the receptionist would have taken a message and offered the earliest open slot. The summary records the notice type, the letter date, that the firm prepared the return, and that the client is worried about paying.
What does section 7216 mean for how a receptionist handles client information?
Section 7216 limits how tax return preparers use and disclose information clients give them for a return. Even a caller's name and number can count. For a receptionist that means collecting the minimum, sending summaries only to your firm, and not using call details for marketing without the written consent the regulations describe.
General information, not legal or tax advice. VantaWeb is not a law firm or a tax preparer. Read the sources and decide with your own counsel how they apply to your firm and your vendors.
The statute. 26 U.S.C. 7216(a) makes it a misdemeanor for a person in the business of preparing returns, or of providing services in connection with preparing them, to knowingly or recklessly disclose information furnished for a return, or use it for any purpose other than preparing or assisting in preparing a return. The regulation summarizes the penalty as up to one year in prison, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, and notes a related civil penalty of $250 per disclosure or use under section 6713 (26 CFR 301.7216-1(a)).
What counts. Tax return information is "any information, including, but not limited to, a taxpayer's name, address, or identifying number, which is furnished in any form or manner for, or in connection with, the preparation of a tax return of the taxpayer" (301.7216-1(b)(3)). Details from a booking call for tax preparation may qualify.
Who counts. The regulation's definition of a tax return preparer includes a person "engaged in the business of providing auxiliary services in connection with the preparation of tax returns" (301.7216-1(b)(2)(i)(B)), and 301.7216-2 sets out the disclosures and uses allowed without consent (26 CFR 301.7216-2). Ask your counsel how these rules reach the vendors that handle your calls.
Consent. Unless section 7216 or 301.7216-2 allows it, a preparer "may not disclose or use a taxpayer's tax return information prior to obtaining a written consent from the taxpayer", the consent must be knowing and voluntary, and conditioning services on it generally makes it involuntary (26 CFR 301.7216-3(a)). The IRS keeps guidance in its section 7216 information center.
Other accounting services. A preparer lawfully engaged in the practice of accountancy may use a client's tax return information, or share it within the firm, to provide that client other accounting services, such as books and records, working papers or accounting statements, consistent with its legal and ethical responsibilities (26 CFR 301.7216-2(h)).
For your receptionist. Keep the phone intake to the fields above and send summaries only to your own firm's address. Using call details for your own accounting work with that client can fall under 301.7216-2(h); follow-up emails that market other products or services generally need the written consent the regulation describes, unless another 301.7216-2 exception applies.
Does it connect to Karbon, TaxDome or Canopy?
No. VantaWeb does not connect to Karbon, TaxDome or Canopy, and it does not create clients, jobs or tasks in any practice-management system. Each call ends with a written summary emailed to your firm, and your staff record the request where they record everything else.
Keeping the receptionist outside your practice-management system also keeps client files out of its reach: it knows only the office details you give it. If a vendor says its receptionist reads document status from your portal, ask to see what it can access, and check that against the consent rules above.
What does VantaWeb offer accounting firms?
VantaWeb offers Anna, the phone receptionist described on this page, plus a website with an AI chat widget and lead forms that save to a dashboard. For a firm the receptionist covers overflow in season, appointment booking, new-client intake and routing IRS-letter calls to your office.
Plans and what each includes are on the pricing page. Read how seasonal overflow answering works when every line is busy, how after-hours answering covers evenings in March and April, and how the booking agent fills a preparer's calendar.
Accounting firm answering service FAQ
Can an AI receptionist answer tax questions for my clients?
No. It answers the office questions you write down, such as hours, what to bring, how to upload documents and any fees you publish. Questions about deductions, penalties, what a notice means or what to tell the IRS are recorded for a preparer, and the caller is told someone will call back.
Can it tell a client whether we received their documents?
No. It cannot see your client portal, your files or your email. It can repeat the upload and drop-off instructions you give it, and it records the client's question as a message so the preparer who has the file can answer it.
Can it book tax appointments during busy season?
Yes. It checks your Google Calendar, or VantaWeb's built-in scheduling if you do not use a calendar app, for open times while the caller is on the line and books the one they pick. A client who calls back from the same number can move or cancel it.
Does VantaWeb connect to Karbon, TaxDome or Canopy?
No. VantaWeb does not connect to Karbon, TaxDome or Canopy and does not create clients, jobs or tasks in them. Each call ends with a written summary emailed to your firm, and your staff record it in your practice-management system.
What does VantaWeb cost for an accounting firm?
The pricing page lists the current plans, what each includes and how voice minutes are counted. Appointment booking depends on the plan and its add-ons, so check that page before filing season.
Sources
- IRS, Filing season statistics for week ending May 8, 2026 (accessed October 17, 2026).
- IRS, Understanding your IRS notice or letter (accessed October 17, 2026).
- IRS, How to know it's really the IRS calling or knocking on your door (accessed October 17, 2026).
- 26 U.S.C. 7216, Disclosure or use of information by preparers of returns, via the Legal Information Institute (accessed October 17, 2026).
- 26 CFR 301.7216-1, 301.7216-2 and 301.7216-3, eCFR (accessed October 17, 2026).
- IRS, Section 7216 information center (accessed October 17, 2026).