CPA & Accounting Answering Service | Tax Season Coverage
Accounting & CPA Firms
Most answering-service copy is written about two in the morning. A tax practice does not have a two in the morning problem — it has a February-to-April problem. For roughly ten weeks the phone rings three times as often as it does the rest of the year, and every single person who could pick it up is inside a return they are billing for. A partner pulled out of a complex return to explain a notice does not lose the six minutes on the call; they lose the six minutes plus the twenty it takes to get back to where they were.
Global Empire Corporation staffs the phones through that compression and steps back down when it ends — screening new-client inquiries against the work you actually take, answering document and portal-status calls from the systems you already run, calming the client with a letter in their hand, and interrupting a preparer only for the things your firm says should interrupt a preparer.
- Coverage that scales up for filing season and back down afterward, instead of a full-year hire for a ten-week problem
- New-client inquiries screened against your entity types, industries and service lines while the caller is still on the line
- Document, organizer and portal-status calls answered from your system rather than routed to a preparer mid-return
- Notice and letter calls captured calmly and scheduled, instead of escalated to a partner who cannot answer them on the spot anyway
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The Most Valuable Call of Your Year Arrives in the Worst Week of It
The single best inbound call an accounting firm receives is the business owner who has decided to leave their current preparer. That call comes in March. It comes in March because that is when the owner discovered their preparer was unreachable, behind, or unwilling to explain something — which means the caller is unusually motivated, unusually ready to move, and unusually intolerant of a firm that also does not answer. They dial three firms in an afternoon and engage the one that talked to them like a person the same day.
Underneath that sits the ordinary attrition of an unanswered line. Where is my organizer, did you get my upload, what is still missing, is my extension filed, what does this letter mean — none of it needs a CPA, all of it interrupts one, and all of it multiplies in exactly the weeks when the firm has the least slack. Hiring for the peak means carrying the salary through the summer; not hiring for it means the peak is absorbed by the people whose hours are the product.
For CPA firms, tax practices, bookkeeping and advisory shops
What an Agent Actually Does on an Accounting Firm's Call
Screening a Prospect Before You Spend Time on Them
Entity type, which states are involved, whether there is a bookkeeping system behind it or a box of receipts, whether prior-year returns are available, who prepares it now and why they are leaving, and whether the work sits inside what your firm takes at all. Then it routes to the partner who owns that service line — not into a general inbox.
The Document Chase
Where is my organizer, did you receive my upload, what are you still waiting on. This is the highest-volume and lowest-value call in the building during filing season. Agents read status from your portal where you grant it, tell the client exactly what is outstanding, resend the upload link, and never once put it in front of a preparer.
Notice and Letter Calls
A client holding an IRS or state letter is frightened and will talk for twenty minutes if allowed to. The agent captures the notice type and number printed on it, the tax year, the response date shown on the letter, and whether the client has already paid or replied — then books the call with the right person. No agent interprets a notice, ever.
Status and Deadline Questions
Has it been filed, was an extension submitted, when will the K-1 go out, can I still get in before the deadline. Agents answer from your workflow system where you allow it and take a message where you do not, and they distinguish between a client asking for information and a client asking you to do something new.
Spotting the Client Who Is Actually Buying Something
A client mentioning in passing that they bought a rental, started an LLC, hired their first employee or received an equity grant is an advisory engagement wearing the clothes of a status call. Those get flagged to the relationship partner as opportunities rather than filed as messages nobody reads until May.
The Calls That Go Straight Through
An examination or audit letter, a levy or garnishment, a payroll tax failure, a lender waiting on a document before a closing today. Your rules decide the list, and the list is short on purpose — a program where everything is urgent protects nobody's concentration and is indistinguishable from no program.
Inside Your Practice Management System, Not a Voicemail Box
The message slip is the enemy here for a specific reason: it lands in a shared inbox during the one stretch of the year when nobody has the slack to triage a shared inbox. A message that is not a task assigned to a named person in the system your firm actually works from is a message that surfaces in May, attached to a client who left in April.
So agents work in your practice management layer. Karbon, Canopy and TaxDome are what we see most, and in each an agent can create the work item, attach the call notes, assign it to the person who owns the relationship, and read client document and portal status well enough to answer a question outright. What agents do not get is the tax software. Drake Tax, Intuit Lacerte and Thomson Reuters UltraTax CS stay with your preparers — nobody on a phone desk belongs inside a return, and any provider willing to go in there should worry you. If your firm honestly runs on Outlook folders and a spreadsheet tracker, say so, and we will build the handoff around that.
- Work items and call notes created in Karbon, Canopy or TaxDome, assigned to the person who owns the client
- Document and portal status read from your client portal so callers get an answer instead of a callback promise
- No access to Drake Tax, Lacerte or UltraTax CS — the return stays with your preparers, where it belongs
- Season-shaped hours: heavy daytime overflow and extended evenings through filing season, light coverage the rest of the year
Who May Touch Client Tax Information
The answering desk is not separately licensed, but the information crossing it is regulated on three fronts and your firm remains accountable for all three. Tax return preparers are treated as financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which brings them inside the Federal Trade Commission's Safeguards Rule and its requirement for a written information security program. Internal Revenue Code section 7216 governs the disclosure and use of tax return information — including disclosure to service providers, and including disclosure outside the United States — and the IRS publishes guidance and sample consent language for it. Practitioners who represent clients before the IRS are additionally subject to Treasury Circular 230, administered by the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility.
What that means operationally is that the desk is scoped to the least information that lets it do the job. An agent screening a new caller has no reason to see a return; an agent confirming that an upload arrived has no reason to see what is inside it. Access is role-based and logged, the engagement is documented so your written information security program can account for it, and any question of where the work is performed and what consent that requires is one you settle with your own counsel and your clients — not one a vendor decides on your behalf. Confirm current requirements with your own counsel before an outside team touches client data.
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Frequently asked questions
We are closed evenings and weekends. Is a 24/7 desk overkill for a tax practice?
Usually, yes — and we will say so rather than sell you hours you do not need. Accounting calls cluster inside the business day and spill into early evening, not into the small hours. What most firms actually need is daytime overflow through filing season, extended evenings in the final weeks, and Saturday coverage in March and April when clients who work all week finally sit down with their paperwork. Pull the timestamps on your missed and abandoned calls from last season and buy the hours that data justifies, not a round-the-clock package.
Can you staff us for filing season only?
That is the most common shape this takes, and it is the point of using an outside desk rather than hiring. Coverage ramps up before the season, runs heavy through the peak, and drops back to a light or on-call arrangement afterward, with a second smaller ramp for the fall extension deadline if your mix needs it. The only real constraint is lead time: agents have to be trained on your service lines, your screening criteria and your portal before the volume arrives. Starting the conversation in January is late; starting in the autumn is comfortable.
Will your agents give tax advice?
No, and the boundary is trained hard because clients push on it constantly. Every predictable question — do I need to file an extension, is this deductible, what does this notice mean, should I pay it — has an approved response that captures the facts and routes the call. Agents state plainly that only your firm can answer it, which is what your own receptionist would say. Calls are recorded and reviewed against that line, and new agents on an accounting program are calibrated before they take live calls. A desk that improvises here creates exposure, not leverage.
Our clients expect to reach the partner they know by name.
Then the desk's job is to protect that relationship, not to sit in front of it. Clients are mapped to the person who owns them, so an agent knows immediately whose client is calling and routes accordingly — and the calls that reach the partner are the ones that need a partner rather than the fourth request this morning for an upload link. Where a partner is genuinely unavailable, the client hears an accurate answer and a time, instead of a voicemail box and silence. Firms that lose clients over a phone desk lose them to anonymity, and the fix is mapping.
Can an agent tell a client whether their return is finished?
Status, yes, where you grant access to your workflow system — in preparation, in review, awaiting signature, e-filed and accepted. Numbers, no. An agent does not read a client a refund figure, a balance due, or anything off a return, both because it is not their information to interpret and because a misread number on the phone becomes a very expensive conversation later. Where a client wants a figure, the agent confirms status, books the call and flags it. The distinction between where it is and what it says is drawn before go-live.
What about callers who just want a price for a 1040?
Agents capture what actually drives your fee rather than quoting one — entity type, states, schedules involved, whether there is a business, rentals or equity compensation, and the condition of the books behind it — and route it to whoever prices work at your firm. If you publish a fee schedule for straightforward individual returns, agents can read from it exactly as published. If you do not, they say so honestly and book the conversation. Guessing a number to keep a caller happy is how a firm ends up arguing about an invoice in April.
We run payroll for clients too. Those calls are different.
They are, and they are frequently more time-critical than tax calls. A direct deposit that did not land, a missed pay run, a garnishment order, a state agency notice with a filing attached — these have same-day consequences for the client's employees, and they cannot wait behind an organizer question. Payroll clients get their own routing and their own urgency rules, so a pay-run failure reaches the person who can fix it while there is still a business day left, and a routine question about a pay stub does not.
What does a CPA answering service cost?
It is driven by the shape of the program rather than a rate card. The variables are your seasonal volume curve and how sharp it is, the hours you want covered in and out of season, whether agents run screened new-client intake or take messages, how deep the training on your service lines and screening criteria goes, whether they work inside your practice management system and portal, and whether payroll or bookkeeping calls come through the same desk. Screening a caller against your service lines is more work than writing down a name and a number, and it is usually the step that decides whether the engagement happens at all. We quote per firm.
TESTIMONIALS
Our trusted clients
Global Empire provides reliable 24/7 coverage with live support when it matters most. Their breadth of service, professionalism, and ability to answer calls quickly has made a major difference for our organization. We’re very happy with the partnership and would recommend them confidently.
Wait times no longer exist with the service Global Empire provides. We have cut labor costs dramatically, eliminated overhead from dispatch staffing, and our clients are getting picked up quicker. Spending less while improving service has become the backbone of our business.
We are not only meeting but exceeding our service level objectives. Global Empire resolves many calls without needing a live agent, and the calls that require support are answered quickly and handled faster than before. Their reporting gives us visibility anytime we need it.
We set very challenging service level objectives and insist on those standards being met. At first we were unsure if Global Empire could consistently deliver at that level, but they proved they could. Based on performance and reliability, we know we made the right decision.
Service matters greatly for customer loyalty and experience, and Global Empire provides exactly the professional support required. We’re confident we achieve more value in our contact center because of the strategic partnership and the consistency of their service.
During our recent flood disaster, Global Empire provided messaging services vital to our communications management. Their quick, efficient, and professional response stood out throughout the crisis. In situations like this, service quality is not taken for granted — it’s recognized.
Excellent service — we consistently receive comments about how professional and friendly their agents are. To our customers, it feels seamless and they assume the people answering are part of our in-office team. It has worked out far better than we thought possible.
Global Empire has provided essential call center services for over a decade, responding to medical and non-medical emergencies with accuracy and professionalism. Their commitment to quality and continuous learning is clearly reflected in the service they deliver.
I never realized how much overtime we were paying until we started using Global Empire. We were able to eliminate overtime completely while improving how calls are handled. Now our staff can focus on other important tasks that keep our customers happy.
I wasn’t using all the options Global Empire offered until one of their representatives noticed and reached out. Based on their recommendations, we made several changes that saved money and improved response time. Customers now comment on how efficiently our business runs.
We believe excellent customer service provides the sharpest competitive edge. Global Empire shares that same vision and works closely with us to deliver the best possible service quality. Their partnership supports our ongoing commitment to excellence.
The main reason we work with Global Empire is the ‘red carpet’ treatment. They have the best group of agents I’ve worked with in over 20 years, and they consistently maintain high standards for compliance and customer interactions. They lead by example.
Efficient, professional service with a personal touch. It’s rare to find a provider that consistently delivers both quality and responsiveness at this level.
Over the years I’ve been impressed with the professionally trained staff at Global Empire. Our customers are often anxious or angry, and their team consistently puts them at ease. In two decades, we have never had a customer complaint — which says everything.
As we expanded from Europe into North America, we knew customer service and technical support would be critical to success. We were impressed to learn Global Empire was handling support for a market leader. After working with them, it’s clear why — their service sets the standard.
One of our members struggled with registration and called our toll-free number. The Global Empire agent remained calm, extremely helpful, and professional throughout a long troubleshooting process. Because of that call, the customer remained loyal — and that is a huge asset.
Global Empire is over-delivering on SPH and sales targets. Their performance has helped us reduce acquisition costs significantly, and they have proven to be the missing link in our growth strategy.
I can’t believe we didn’t use Global Empire sooner. Since joining, our order accuracy improved, wait time is virtually gone, and customers receive their orders correctly and on time. This partnership has had a major impact on our national pizza business.
Because of their experience in the energy industry, Global Empire has become a valued marketing partner. Their call center solutions help us acquire customers, retain them, and provide quality service after the sale — 24 hours a day.
Our business relationship with Global Empire has been long and very satisfying. Their employees deserve full credit for the professionalism and consistency they bring to every interaction. I know firsthand how stressful frontline work can be, and their team delivers every time.
Global Empire has been an integral part of our business for years. Our customers expect to speak with someone who can assist immediately, and their team consistently delivers. They maintain professionalism, empathy, and flexibility, making it easy to work together.
With so much outsourcing in the answering services space, it was a relief to find a provider that is truly efficient. The pricing is excellent, onboarding was smooth, and our clients were far happier speaking to a live operator instead of voicemail.
We have partnered with Global Empire for over 15 years and they remain a crucial part of our 24/7 operations. They support multiple sites across states, and we couldn’t be happier with their service, reliability, and long-term consistency.