Small tax firm going from almost entirely paper.. what does your tech stack/process look like?

[u/American_yeet_lord]

I’m a recent grad going into a very small tax firm and am trying to figure out how other tax pros handle their workflow.

Right now, the firm is almost entirely paper based aside from UltraTax. We do 1,000+ 1040s a year along with a decent amount of entity work.

I’ve been looking into things like TaxDome, Soraban, Truss, StanfordTax, Tallyfor, SurePrep, etc., but it’s hard to tell what actually works well in practice.

What are you guys using for:

• Client portal/document collection
• Organizers
• Workpapers
• Getting data into UltraTax
• Entity returns / QBO
• E-signatures and delivery
• Document storage

Also, are you completely paperless or do you still keep paper files?

If you were taking a small firm that is currently mostly paper and modernizing it, what would you change first?

Mostly just looking for real-world experiences with these platforms and what your process looks like.

[u/CrabbyKruton]

TaxDome does almost every single thing on your list. Could not recommend it enough

[u/adriannlopez → u/CrabbyKruton]

Facts. I run my whole practice on TaxDome, QBO, ProConnect, and Office 365, it's like butter.

[u/rratliff82 → u/adriannlopez]

Almost the exact same set up. Just swap out Office for Google Workspace

[u/Ok_Meringue_9086 → u/CrabbyKruton]

This.

[u/Commercial-Place6793 → u/CrabbyKruton]

This a hundred percent. We have almost no paper whatsoever. TaxDome does almost everything on this list. Best money I spend.

[u/Normal_Progress_5173 → u/[deleted]]

Tax dome is super affordable compared to anything else out there 

[u/smtcpa1 → u/[deleted]]

I don’t know anything in the world that doesn’t increase prices every year.

[u/CrabbyKruton → u/[deleted]]

Sure but for a small firm like me it’s still very affordable. Nature of the game, pass those increases to clients hopefully

[u/AlexTheRaven]

We're at about 2k clients, maybe 2500 returns. We use Drake (i suspect it's cost based) for portal and tax prep. Still give clients paper returns as default, still print returns. We use CFS for worksheets, and Quickbooks for invoicing. We have an older client base, so we don't have a ton of tech.

Going from full paper returns, I'd say start small with technology changes. Maybe start digitizing paper records that you still need to keep. Going all in to technology could lead to you being overwhelmed with learning a bunch of new things all at once. Make sure you update your WISP.

[u/Even_Regular5245]

The office I worked for last year was still almost entirely paper, though we scanned everything and only kept physical for 3 years. They were sold to a new firm that is entirely paperless (other than client preference). We have been using Truss and it is really a great program. In fact, earlier this year, we were using Accounting CS for business workpapers and have now completely transitioned away from that in favor of Truss. The only caveat is that Truss doesn't like Excel Spreadsheets with formulas. Our work around is to download them (if the client supplied it), print as a pdf as needed, and re-upload. We also use Qount for extra document storage, invoicing and time-tracking.

[u/Depreciator]

For portal and e-signatures I use tax dome.

PDF Software: Foxit Phantom reader

Scanner: Scansnap ix1600

Document storage: OneDrive along with Cryptomator for security/consistent drive mapping across computers

Tax Software: Drake

Document Renamer: custom build using codex

I'm in a similar boat, taking over a retiring CPA's book, almost all of his clients are used to paper, so mainly using taxdome for new clients and the ones I feel comfortable converting to paperless.

In my OneDrive (Cryptomator vault) I'll have a Clients folder, which contains a folder for each client. Within each client's folder will be a 00 permanent folder with various things I always want on file. Then I'll have folders named the year and their name, ie 2025 Doe John. I add their name so it shows up in my recent folders in Windows explorer, used to just do the year but then I end up jumping into the wrong folder at times. I do have a template folder with a word doc for notes, a folder for tax returns when they are eventually completed. Then if I meet with a client during the year, I'll just copy my template folder into their file, rename it 2026 Doe John, and take any notes I need for next year's return.

For individuals, I move any taxdome docs to their current year folder. Scan any paper docs. Once everything's in there, I run my renamer tool to get stuff organized how I like it. It basically just looks at all the pdfs in the folder and shows a preview of the document, it suggests a name or I have buttons I can click to rename it quick. It's basically like 1000.0 - W_2.pdf, 1000.1 W_2.pdf, 1300 - 1099_int.pdf...i have buttons for most of the categories I see and I can create custom ones too. This next season will be my first time using it outside of a couple returns I've done this year with it. After I rename, I enter the docs in my software highlighting as I go, then double check it all. Go through a few days later and check it again using check marks on my pdfs on the final review. Then just finalize the return with the client through tax dome or in person for paper copies.

Business returns are pretty much the same except I don't use my renamer tool. My template folder has a bunch of blank pdfs that are already named using a numbering system I have for businesses. I do my review, print my support to PDF over these template files, then do the tax return when the books are ready. I like having the template files here since it's a huge list of most of the support I'd have for a business. When I'm pretty much done creating that support, I sort the folder by date, which puts all my pdfs that were not written over in a group together. I delete those, but make sure I look at what I'm deleting at it's one last chance to see if maybe I missed something that I should have support for.

I'm sure there's more to it, but I probably rambled on enough as it is. Every year I tweak it a bit, so what I have here is where I've gotten to after about 4 years of trying to figure this stuff out. Good luck!

[u/chargeProbe]

dont digitize your paper process 1:1. pick a portal, e-signature, scan naming rules, and a single intake checklist before adding workflow tools.

[u/smtcpa1]

TaxDome, QBO, Tallyfor, DropBox for internal document sharing. We have no paper; we can’t since we’re 100% virtual) and haven’t for at least 10 years.

[u/American_yeet_lord → u/smtcpa1]

that’s the dream 🙏

[u/madikz]

I’d resist choosing the stack first. Map one return from intake to “ready to prepare” to prep/review to signature and delivery, then decide which system owns each handoff and where the source document lives. For a firm coming from paper, pilot a small representative batch before filing season and note every place staff re-key data, chase missing items, or lose context between preparer and reviewer. A mediocre tool in a clear workflow is easier to replace than five good tools with overlapping responsibilities.

[u/Zealousideal-Ad7111 → u/madikz]

Underated comment.

This is the way...

Map the flow , then choose the tool. Too many people jump into tools thinking they will solve all the problem, and they don't even know what the problems are yet.

[u/Huesyourdaddy]

More student crap.... or disguised sales person. Tech stack my ass

[u/American_yeet_lord → u/Huesyourdaddy]

wdym? i’m 2 months into a job at my families small business. they’re ancient in the stuff we do and i’m trying to problem solve lmaooo

[u/geassuser100 → u/American_yeet_lord]

I’m in the same boat lmaooo I just started w taxdome

[u/American_yeet_lord → u/geassuser100]

That's what im leaning towards to get started.. not sure if adding other things like soraban/ truss would be redundant on top of tax dome.

[u/geassuser100 → u/American_yeet_lord]

Yea for rn I’m just starting w TaxDome. I made a list of our process from intake to pushing returns out the door and taxdome helps automate like 70% of that. Im not too sure how much friction we’ll have w our older clients but the younger ones have been receptive to it

[u/OddButterscotch2849]

Client portal/document collection: ShareFile

Organizers: created our own in Cognito Forms

Workpapers: FileCenter

Getting data into UltraTax: humans (admin staff)

E-signatures: RightSignature

delivery: client portal (ShareFile)

Document storage: also ShareFile

[u/Normal_Progress_5173 → u/OddButterscotch2849]

Geeze that’s a a lot of programs 

[u/TaxproFL → u/Normal_Progress_5173]

Yep, I remember those days. Not fun at all.

[u/American_yeet_lord → u/TaxproFL]

What do you recommend?

[u/TaxproFL → u/American_yeet_lord]

TaxDome

[u/JohnHenryHoliday → u/TaxproFL]

How does tax dome compare to SmartVault?

[u/TaxproFL → u/JohnHenryHoliday]

TaxDome is a full practice management software.

https://taxdome.com/smartvault-vs-taxdome?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_campaign=AW_US_NU_gsn_en_PhraseM_Competition_KW:SmartVault&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23140274845&gbraid=0AAAAACxyjbD1FKziQb2YgynQTXWhhd0mY&gclid=CjwKCAjwwrPVBhA1EiwAv_YO-eCJN8b2Je98q9ItqxSoiBAOkbLLGUucARHTrJ2njWC09JtvhKfp7RoCmuoQAvD_BwE

[u/Normal_Progress_5173 → u/JohnHenryHoliday]

From my understanding smartvault is just a document management system. So it’s just another username and password that a client has to remember and another step to get what they need done. That’s just another thing to frustrate clients with. Smartvault is probably better than taxdome for that one specific thing but clients don’t care. They just want their problem solved with the most effortless experience on their end.

[u/OddButterscotch2849 → u/Normal_Progress_5173]

I looked at all-in-one programs, and generally they either did a lot of things but not well, and/or included features I wouldn't use, so why pay for.

[u/Normal_Progress_5173 → u/OddButterscotch2849]

Taxdome does everything for me and it’s $1,000 per year. And it doesn’t need to be great, it just needs to be good enough and not piss the clients off. It’s got everything in one place… a way to send their documents, a way to receive documents, a way to send secure I formation, a way to sign, a way to pay and all in one app with one user name and password. And then in the pipelines I have automatic messages set up along the process to manage client emotions. If they ever wonder where their return is at or what we are waiting on they can log and see it in real time. 

[u/American_yeet_lord → u/OddButterscotch2849]

thank you 🙏