For CPA and accounting firms
A custom tax workflow platform built around how your firm actually runs returns: document intake, preparer capacity, review sign-offs, e-signature, and a deadline board that needs no meeting. Fixed price. You own the code.
Between February and April a mid-size firm moves several hundred returns through intake, preparation, review, and delivery, while chasing documents from clients who send them one photo at a time. The master spreadsheet that tracked it all in January is out of date by the second week of March, because six people are updating it and nobody trusts it.
Generic tax workflow management software helps, then charges per user, imposes its own stages, and integrates with what its vendor chose. Firms end up working around the tool as much as with it.
We build the platform around the firm. We sit with the people who run tax season, map the lifecycle as it actually happens, and build tax workflow software that matches it. The same engagement engine already runs 500+ engagements for a multi-office CPA firm, with DocuSign, a client portal, and automated document filing built in.
Six stages, each visible to the people who need it, each with the sign-off your firm requires.
01
Organizers and document request lists generated per client from last year's return. A portal upload that files each document to the right client and year automatically. A missing-items view per client that drives the follow-up, with reminders the firm controls.
02
Returns assigned by preparer with a live view of hours committed against hours available, by person and by week. Partners rebalance in February instead of discovering the problem on April 10th.
03
Every return shows its stage: not started, in preparation, waiting on client, ready for review. Status changes are logged with who and when, so nobody has to ask.
04
Preparer, reviewer, and signer steps with notes tracked to clearance. A return cannot move to delivery with an open review note. Signer sees exactly what changed since their last look.
05
Engagement letters and 8879s sent for e-signature from the platform. Delivery tracking shows sent, viewed, signed, and filed. The client sees the same status in the portal.
06
Federal and state due dates by entity type, extension filed and extended due date tracked per return, and a deadline board that answers "what is due this week and who owns it" without a meeting.
Clients log in, see exactly which documents are still outstanding, upload them from a phone, and sign engagement letters and 8879s without a printer. Every upload files itself to the right client and year.
Staff stop answering "did you get my W-2" emails, and the partner stops being the person who knows where things stand.
The platform does not prepare returns. It manages everything around them and exchanges client lists and status with the tax software you already use. Integration count is part of the fixed scope.
A tax workflow platform for one service line typically runs $40,000 to $55,000 and ships in 8 to 12 weeks, in time for next season if we start by autumn. A firm-wide platform with a client portal and several integrations runs $55,000 to $80,000. Fixed scope, fixed price, written proposal first, and the firm owns the code and the data from day one.
Put your own numbers into the process cost calculator, or see the full tiers on the pricing page.
It is the system that tracks every return from the moment the organizer goes out to the moment the e-file acknowledgement lands: which documents are still missing, who is preparing, who is reviewing, what is due when, and what has been extended. It replaces the tracking spreadsheet and the daily "where are we on the Smiths" conversation.
No. Lacerte, UltraTax, CCH Axcess Tax, Drake, and ProSeries prepare the return. The workflow platform manages everything around the return: intake, assignment, status, review, delivery, and deadlines. It sits alongside your tax software and exchanges status and client lists with it through exports, imports, or an API where the vendor provides one.
Those products give every firm the same workflow model and charge per user each month. A custom platform is built around your firm's actual process, review structure, and client mix, integrates with the tools you already run, and has no per-seat fees. You own it outright. We wrote an honest comparison of when each choice makes sense.
Yes. Tax is one lifecycle on the same engagement engine that runs audits, reviews, compilations, and recurring bookkeeping. Most firms run the whole book on one platform so partners see one capacity view in March instead of three.
A tax workflow platform for one service line typically runs $40,000 to $55,000 and ships in 8 to 12 weeks. A firm-wide platform with a client portal and several integrations runs $55,000 to $80,000. Both are fixed-price with a written scope. Optional hosting and support plans run $1,500 to $3,000 per month.
Audit side of the practice? See audit workflow software. Comparing against off-the-shelf tools? Read the honest comparison.
Twenty minutes on how a 1040 or 1120-S moves through your firm today is enough for a rough scope and a price range. Start before autumn and it is live for next season.
Start the conversation