For most accounting firms, the year is lopsided. A few frantic months of tax preparation bring more enquiries than the team can answer, followed by quiet stretches. In the rush, the same questions arrive hundreds of times: what do you charge, what documents do I need, can you meet my deadline, do you take new clients. Staff answer them between client meetings, phone calls go to voicemail and new enquiries wait days. Every unanswered enquiry is a potential client who filed with someone else. A website chat can absorb the repetitive questions, sort enquiries by type and capacity, and book onboarding calls, so the team's time goes to preparing returns. This guide explains how an accounting firm can use chat in tax season: what to answer, how to intake by client type, how to be honest about capacity and deadlines, how to handle documents securely and how to prepare before the rush.
Tax rules, deadlines and professional obligations differ by country. This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Keep the assistant's answers to information you have approved, and follow your regulator's rules on client communication and data.
The questions that flood in
| Question | What the assistant can say |
|---|---|
| How much do you charge? | Your published fees or starting prices, and what affects them |
| What documents do I need? | Your checklist by client type |
| Are you taking new clients? | Your current capacity, honestly |
| Can you file by the deadline? | Your cut-off dates for submitting information |
| Can you help with back taxes or an audit? | Whether you offer it, and how to book a consultation |
| Do you do business, self-employed or rental income returns? | The client types you serve |
| Is my information secure? | How you handle documents, and where to upload them |
These are informational and repeatable. The assistant answers from your documents and hands over anything specific to a person's tax situation.
Intake by client type
| Client type | What to ask | Route to |
|---|---|---|
| Individual employee | Number of income sources, homeowner or renter, dependants | Standard preparer |
| Self-employed or freelancer | Business type, revenue range, expenses tracked? | Self-employed team |
| Rental property owner | Number of properties, records available | Property specialist |
| Small business owner | Business type and year-end, bookkeeping status | Business team or a consultation |
| Behind on filings or facing a notice | Which years, any notices received | Senior adviser; urgent flag |
| New to the country or complex situations | Countries involved, income types | Specialist consultation |
A few questions suffice to route the enquiry. Avoid asking for figures or personal financial details in chat.
What the assistant must not do
- Give tax advice or say what a person owes or will receive.
- Interpret tax rules for someone's individual case.
- Promise refunds or outcomes.
- Collect tax identifiers, bank details or documents in chat.
- Quote a fixed price for a return it has not seen.
Tell visitors that these are handled securely after they become a client. See AI transparency and disclosure for wording.
Be honest about capacity and deadlines
In tax season you cannot accept everyone. Say so early, and put current capacity and cut-off dates in the assistant's documents: 'We are accepting new individual clients until March 15. After that, we can offer extension filings.' Update the document as capacity changes. Honesty about capacity avoids disappointed clients and lets you steer late enquiries toward extension or next-season services. Consider a waiting list for overflow, and a polite referral message for enquiries you cannot serve.
Documents and security
- Never ask for tax documents or identifiers in the chat.
- Send clients to your secure portal or upload method after they engage.
- Give them the checklist in advance, in the confirmation email.
- Explain how you protect their information, in plain terms you can stand behind.
- Ask any tool vendor where data is stored and who processes it.
See the GDPR checklist for website chatbots for what to ask a vendor. This is general information, not legal advice.
Book onboarding calls
For clients who are a fit, the next step is an onboarding call or a document drop-off. Offer real times in the chat, confirm by email with the checklist and the secure upload link, and send a reminder. Crescelo's built-in booking offers slots from your opening hours and one slot length; set it to the length of your onboarding call, or use Calendly or Cal.com links per team. See AI appointment booking.
Prepare before the rush
| När | Action |
|---|---|
| Two months before | Update fees, capacity, checklists and cut-off dates in the assistant's documents |
| One month before | Test twenty questions; set alerts and booking hours |
| Season start | Watch conversations daily; update capacity |
| Cut-off dates | Change the messaging to extensions and late filing |
| After the season | Review what visitors asked; plan improvements |
A sample conversation
| Speaker | Meddelande |
|---|---|
| Visitor | Do you do self-employed tax returns and how much? |
| Assistant | Yes, we prepare self-employed returns. Fees start at $450 and depend on the complexity, for example the number of income sources and whether you have rental income. We are accepting new self-employed clients until March 10. Would you like to book a 20-minute onboarding call? After you book, we will send a checklist and a secure link for your documents. Please do not send documents or tax numbers in this chat. |
Measure it
| Metric | Why |
|---|---|
| Enquiries and response time in the peak | Coverage |
| Onboarding calls booked | Conversion |
| New clients by type | Mix and capacity |
| Questions the assistant could not answer | Content gaps |
| Hours of staff time saved on repeat questions | Value |
Common mistakes
- Letting the assistant say what someone will owe or be refunded.
- Accepting documents in chat.
- Not updating capacity, so visitors are promised what you cannot deliver.
- Skipping the checklist, so clients arrive unprepared.
- Ignoring after-season enquiries.
Worked example: a five-person firm in February
A five-person firm receives about 220 enquiries in February, compared with 30 in a normal month. In previous years the partners answered most of them between client meetings and lost roughly a third to slow replies. This year the assistant answers each one at once. It shares the fee guide and document checklist, explains that new individual clients are accepted until March 10, and books onboarding calls with the two preparers who still have space. Self-employed and rental clients are routed to the relevant preparer, and anyone with an unresolved notice is flagged for a partner. By the end of the month the firm has booked forty-two onboarding calls and declined the overflow politely with an extension offer. The partners spent their evenings on returns, not on replying to the same five questions.
| Item | Before (illustrative) | With chat |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiries answered within an hour | About half | Nearly all |
| Onboarding calls booked from the website | Few | 42 |
| Partner time on repeat questions | Hours daily | Minutes |
| Overflow handled | Ignored or late | Polite decline with an alternative |
Common mistakes
- Saying yes to everyone and then missing deadlines.
- Not updating the assistant when capacity changes.
- Allowing documents or tax identifiers to be typed into the chat.
- Failing to send the checklist, so clients arrive unprepared.
- Turning the assistant off after the season, when planning enquiries continue.
Frequently asked questions
Can a chatbot help with tax season enquiries?
Yes. It can answer questions about fees, documents and capacity, sort enquiries by client type and book onboarding calls. It must not give tax advice.
Should clients send documents in the chat?
No. Send them to a secure portal or upload method after they engage.
How do I handle capacity limits?
State them in the assistant's documents and update as they change, with a waiting list or referral message for overflow.
Can it quote fees?
It can share published starting prices and what affects them, not fixed prices for returns it has not seen.
Does it work after the season?
Yes. Update it for year-round services such as bookkeeping and planning.
Vad kostar det?
Plans start at $49 a month; booking is on the Growth plan. See the pricing page.
Try a tax-season conversation with your own fees and checklist in the playground, see the AI assistant feature and read AI intake for professional services.
Further reading
- Google Search Central: creating helpful, people-first content: What Google looks for in useful pages.
SVARA ALLA BESÖKARE. BOKA DEM SOM ÄR REDO.
Lägg in Crescelo på din webbplats på 15 minuter
Träna din assistent på dina prislistor, dokument och tjänstevillkor. Aktivera välgrundade svar dygnet runt och bokning av tider direkt i chatten utan krockar.