Example agent design
Tax Return Readiness Agent for CPA Firms
A tax return readiness agent checks each client's documents against last year's return and the organizer, tracks expected K-1s, drafts the missing-items request for staff approval, and hands the preparer a source-linked packet. This is a starting design. An AI Blueprint adapts it to your goals and the systems it will connect to.
- Owner
- The tax senior who confirms readiness; preparers, reviewers, and partners keep the return
- Reads
- Portal and intake-mailbox uploads · Last year's return and organizer answers · Engagement status from the workflow tool · Extraction output the firm already licenses
- Never writes
- A signed or filed return, Form 8879, or an e-file, or anything in the tax software on its own. It makes no tax determination and sends no client message without staff approval.
- Typical cost
- AI Blueprint $4,500–$7,500, credited toward the build. Typical first build $35,000–$75,000. Agent Operations after launch $2,500/mo for one production agent. See the first engagement
The workflow
Tax readiness today and with the agent
Planning comparison only. Scope, timing, and outcomes vary by data, workflow, approvals, adoption, and implementation conditions.
- Starting a return
- TodayPreparers start returns that turn out to be incomplete.
- With the agentEach return is marked ready, blocked with a reason, or not started before a preparer picks it up.
- Expected K-1s
- TodayTracked from memory.
- With the agentBuilt from last year's return, with arrivals and corrected copies logged.
- Client follow-up
- TodayGeneric reminder blasts.
- With the agentA specific request listing exactly what is missing, held for staff approval.
- Status
- TodayChased through email and spreadsheets.
- With the agentUpdated in the workflow tool as ready for preparation or blocked with a cause.
- Corrected forms
- TodayCorrected 1099s arrive after preparation starts.
- With the agentCorrected and duplicate uploads are flagged for the preparer.
How it runs
Five steps from upload to ready for preparation
An illustrative solution design, not a reported client result. The agent prepares, checks, and routes; people decide, prepare, review, sign, and file.
Ingest and classify uploads
The agent fingerprints each file from the portal or intake mailbox, flags duplicates, corrected forms, and unreadable scans, and classifies W-2s, 1099s, 1098s, and K-1s, using existing extraction output where the firm has it.
Check completeness against last year
It compares what arrived with last year's payers, entities, and accounts and the organizer answers, then lists expected items not received, items not expected, and the K-1s still outstanding.
Flag variances, not conclusions
Year-over-year changes above firm thresholds become review flags for the preparer, never tax positions, so every substantive determination stays with the preparer.
Staff approve the client request
The agent drafts a specific missing-items request and holds it in the review queue. Staff approve before anything reaches the client, and a tax senior confirms readiness.
Human approval point
Build the packet and route
It saves a bookmarked source binder and an input worksheet that links each value to its page, then updates the workflow tool to ready for preparation or blocked with a cause.
Systems
The systems it reads
SurePrep and CCH Axcess Scan extract document data into the tax software. The readiness agent works around them and uses their output; discovery maps what the firm's licenses already cover.
- Portal and document system
- Client uploads from SmartVault, ShareFile, or the firm's intake mailbox in Microsoft 365.
- Tax software
- Last year's return from UltraTax CS, CCH Axcess, CCH ProSystem fx, or Lacerte.
- Extraction tools
- Output from SurePrep or CCH Axcess Scan, where the firm already licenses them.
- Workflow tool
- Engagement status and assignments in Karbon or XCM, updated to ready or blocked with a cause.
Technologies ITECS evaluates and integrates through supported import, export, or API methods confirmed in discovery; listing a product does not imply a formal partnership or a native connector.
Controls
Read-heavy and write-controlled by design
- Read-heavy
- Reads the systems listed above through access scoped to this workflow.
- Write-controlled
- Writes nothing listed under Never writes in the spec at the top of this page. Anything it drafts waits at the approval points below.
- Approval points
- Staff approve every client request before it goes out, and a tax senior confirms readiness before a return reaches a preparer.
- Audit trail
- Each run keeps its inputs, sources, output, and the reviewer's decision.
In this design
- Year-over-year changes above firm thresholds become review flags for the preparer, never tax positions.
- Return and client information is processed and stored in the US only, under no-training terms and written Section 6713 and 7216 confidentiality terms, and the agent is recorded in the firm's written security plan as an overseen service provider.
- Whether a client's consent is needed under Section 7216 stays with the firm's counsel.
- No agent signs, files, or posts anything. Returns, Form 8879, e-files, engagement letters, and entries stay with the named professional.
- ITECS does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice through its agents, and no design promises an outcome. The agent drafts and flags; the firm's CPAs review the work and make every determination.
Deployment fit
Where this design can run
- Hosted AI Agents
- Runs in a governed Linux environment ITECS operates, on frontier models through enterprise API agreements, connected to the client portal, the document system, the workflow tool, and the tax software through controlled integrations, with human review and an audit trail.
- Private AI Servers
- Runs on local models on a server inside your network, for client return information that should not leave it. The same build ladder applies; server hardware is quoted after a sizing call.
Typical first engagement
Start with an AI Blueprint
The AI Blueprint sets the actual build rung and its fixed-fee not-to-exceed. The rows below show the typical path and the catalog range for each step.
- FirstAI BlueprintAgent Discovery & Technical Specification. Credited toward the build.$4,500–$7,500
- Typical first buildIntegrated / Line-of-Business AgentIt is an integrated build because it reconciles portal uploads, last year's return, the organizer, and the workflow tool, with an audit trail and a reviewer workflow.$35,000–$75,000
- After launchAgent Operations, one production agent$2,500/mo
Prices from the published AI pricing catalog.
Customize this design
Bring your goals and your systems. The AI Blueprint decides the scope and the systems, not this example, and ends with a fixed-fee not-to-exceed for the build.
FAQ
Tax Return Readiness Agent FAQ
Will the agent prepare, sign, or file returns?
No. It classifies documents, checks completeness against last year, drafts follow-ups for staff approval, and hands preparers a source-linked packet. Preparers, reviewers, and partners keep each judgment and signature.
We already pay for SurePrep or CCH Axcess Scan. Why add this?
Those tools extract document data into the tax software. The readiness agent works around them, using their output to flag which returns look complete for a tax senior to confirm, track K-1s, draft requests, and update the workflow tool, and discovery maps what the firm's licenses already cover.
Does it make tax determinations?
No. Year-over-year changes above the firm's thresholds become review flags for the preparer. The agent never states a tax position or decides a treatment.
How does the design handle Section 7216?
Section 7216 limits how preparers use and disclose return information. The design runs with US-only processing, no training on firm data, and written confidentiality terms, and the firm's counsel decides whether client consent is needed.
Is this tax or accounting advice?
No. ITECS does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice through its agents. The agent applies rules the firm approved and drafts or flags for review; the firm's CPAs make every determination, and no design promises an outcome.
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