An accounting answering service, done for you.
An AI receptionist that answers every client call, even in tax season.
We build and run an AI accounting answering service for your firm. It answers in your firm's name while you are with a client or deep in returns, answers routine questions about hours, documents and appointments from the answers you approve, takes new-client details, books the meeting and sends you a summary. It never gives tax advice. Urgent calls, like a client with an IRS notice and a deadline, reach the person you name.
Why do accounting firms miss calls in tax season?
Because the people who should answer are preparing returns, and the calls come when the work does: in the weeks before a filing deadline, when a client opens a letter from the IRS, and when a new client needs a preparer fast. A new client who reaches voicemail can call the next firm on the list.
| What happens today | What happens with the answering service |
|---|---|
| New-client call during a client meeting | Answered, your intake questions asked, a consultation booked, summary sent |
| "Did you get my documents?" | Answered from the instructions you approve, or a message for the preparer if it needs a person |
| A client with an IRS notice and a deadline | Your urgent rule applied: the right person reached, or the first appointment booked |
| "Can I deduct this?" | No tax advice given; the question passed to a preparer |
| A caller asking about someone else's return | Nothing confirmed; a message taken |
| A call at 8 pm the week of the deadline | Answered like any other call, with an appointment booked |
How does an AI accounting answering service work?
Set up for you in the first week and written around the services you offer. You keep doing the work. Callers get a real conversation and a booked appointment.
Answers in your firm's name, 24/7
Picked up within a couple of rings, during client meetings, at lunch, at night and on weekends. The greeting says the call may be recorded.
Takes new-client intake
Individual or business, the services they need, such as tax preparation, bookkeeping or payroll, any deadline they mention and how they found you: the questions you want asked, written down for you.
Books and moves appointments
Consultations, tax-prep drop-offs and review meetings, each with the length and the person you set, on your calendar.
Answers the routine questions
Hours, where and how to send documents, your client portal link, what to bring: answered from the answers you approve, so your staff stop repeating them.
Routes the urgent calls
A notice with a response deadline, a payroll problem, anything your rule calls urgent goes to the person you name. Everything else gets a booked time or a callback.
Transfers to a person when it should
Anyone who asks for a person, any question about a return or the numbers, and every urgent call goes to your team. You see a summary of every call.
Accounting answering service in tax season: the call in deadline week
A client calls at 7 pm, four days before the filing deadline. A form they were waiting for arrived today, and they want to know if they can still file on time.
What it does not do: tell a caller whether something is deductible, estimate a refund or a balance due, promise when a return will be filed, or discuss a return with anyone it cannot verify. Those stay with your preparers. Because it can hold several calls at once, the Monday-morning and deadline-week rush does not turn into hold music or voicemail.
How does an answering service handle confidential tax information?
By collecting only what the call needs and discussing nothing about a return. Federal law is strict here: under 26 U.S.C. § 7216, anyone in the business of preparing returns, or "providing services in connection with the preparation of" them, who knowingly or recklessly discloses information furnished for a return, or uses it for anything other than preparing the return, is guilty of a misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $1,000 ($100,000 in some cases), up to a year in prison, or both.
So the receptionist checks who is calling before anything account-specific, never reads back figures from a return, and sends call summaries only to the people you name. Before you switch on any answering service, ours included, check it against your engagement letters and with your own adviser. This is a plain reading of the statute, not legal advice.
Does it work as a financial answering service for advisors and finance firms?
Yes for scheduling, routine questions and new-client inquiries, and it never gives investment or financial advice. If your firm is a registered investment adviser or a broker-dealer, ask your compliance officer how call recordings and messages must be kept before you switch on any answering service, and get the answer in writing from the service, ours included.
How does this compare to other accounting answering services?
These services market themselves to accountants and rank for this search. Prices are for about 40 calls a month (100 minutes) on each one's cheapest published plan, read on its own pricing page on October 12, 2026; the right-hand column quotes its own accounting page. We have not used these services.
| Service | About 40 calls a month | What its accounting page says |
|---|---|---|
| Dialzara (AI) | About $48 ($29 for 60 minutes plus 40 at $0.48) | "IRS notices and urgent filing questions reach the right CPA immediately." |
| Rosie (AI) | $49 (250 minutes) | Answers "even during tax season chaos" |
| NextPhone (AI) | $199 (unlimited calls) | Markets a 24/7 AI accounting answering service |
| ReceptionHQ (live) | About $125 ($80 for 25 calls plus 15 at $2.99) | Markets a financial answering service for accountants |
| Abby Connect (live, with AI options) | $329 (100 minutes) | "Tax season, audits, client meetings: accountants and CPAs are constantly balancing high-stakes responsibilities." |
| AnswerConnect (live) | Not published | Markets a 24/7 accounting firm answering service; prices after a form |
| LeadSixty (AI, done for you) | $297 a month after a free first 30 days | We write and maintain the answers, rules and booking for you; texts, web forms and chat included |
Honest note: the self-serve AI plans above cost less than ours if you are happy to write the answers, connect the calendar and test it yourself. And a client who is upset about a notice may want a person; if that matters more than cost, a live service fits better. More services are compared in best answering service for small business.
What does it cost?
First 30 days free, then a flat $297 a month, no setup fee, cancel anytime. That covers the phone answering service, replies to texts, web forms, website chat and social messages within 60 seconds, appointment booking, reminders and follow-up. The full list, and what happens at unusually high volume, is on the pricing page.
Want to hear it take a client call before the free month starts? On a free 30-minute Where AI Fits call we look at your calls by hour and by season, the services you offer and your urgent-call rule. If a live service fits your clients better, we will say so.
Book a Where AI Fits callWho is this for, and who should not buy it?
Good fit: small CPA firms, tax preparers, enrolled agents and bookkeepers with a small front office; firms that send calls to voicemail in tax season; firms that want new-client calls booked instead of returned the next day.
Not a fit: a firm that wants tax questions answered over the phone; the receptionist will not, by design. A firm whose clients expect a person on every call, whatever it costs.
Questions accounting firms ask before they start
What is an accounting answering service?+
Does the answering service give tax advice?+
Can it handle tax season call volume?+
Is it an answering service for accountants, bookkeepers and tax preparers alike?+
How does it keep client information confidential?+
How much does it cost, and what if we stop?+
- 26 U.S. Code § 7216, "Disclosure or use of information by preparers of returns," Legal Information Institute, read October 12, 2026. law.cornell.edu
- Pricing pages, read October 12, 2026: Dialzara, Rosie, NextPhone, ReceptionHQ, Abby Connect.
- Accounting pages, read the same day: Dialzara, Rosie, NextPhone, ReceptionHQ, Abby Connect, AnswerConnect.
Published October 12, 2026. Every figure and quotation was read on its source and checked again before publishing; monthly totals are our arithmetic. See how we research and write. Found an error? Email hello@leadsixty.com.
Every client call answered. Every tax question left to your team.
Book a free 30-minute Where AI Fits call. We look at your calls by hour and by season and the services you offer, and we tell you honestly whether this is worth $297 a month for your firm.
Book a Where AI Fits callOr see the full offer on the pricing page.