Swamped by tax season? Here’s how to use AI to handle the increased call volume

If you’ve been an accountant during tax season for more than a minute, you know what “dial tone” really means: a nonstop parade of client calls, questions, and last-minute document requests. Interruptions during tax season can cost accounting professionals 23 minutes of refocus time per disrupted task, severely impacting productivity.

You can crunch numbers all day, but if your phone never stops ringing, your focus and sanity vanish. The good news? With a few smart triage tactics, solid call-routing rules, and an AI answering service on standby, you can reclaim your time—and let technology handle the noise.

Below, I’ll walk through practical steps for managing peak-season call volume so you can spend more hours buried in spreadsheets (and less answering the same question 20 times).

1. Create a quick-triage system before caller overload hits

When your morning starts with 50 voicemail notifications, you don’t want to wade through untagged messages. A simple triage framework helps you sort calls at a glance:

Identify urgent vs. routine

Urgent: extension-requested calls, deposit deadlines, missing signature forms for returns due in 48 hours. These get flagged “Priority A.”

Routine: questions about general deadlines, “Where’s my copy?” requests, or scheduling future appointments. Flag as “Priority B.”

Empower your front line

If you have an existing receptionist or admin, give them a short checklist:

1. “Is the client calling about a deadline within 72 hours?”
2. “Do they need to submit or sign something today?”
3. “Can this be answered by an email template or FAQ?”

If you’re flying solo, set up your business voicemail service to ask callers to press 1 for immediate filing deadlines, 2 for payment questions, 3 for general inquiries. That way, you can address the most urgent buckets first without listening to every message in real time.

Use simple tags or labels

If your practice management software (or even Gmail) supports labels or color codes, tag incoming email/voicemails as “Urgent,” “Follow-Up Tomorrow,” or “Non-Tax Season Query.” A quick glance at your inbox or voicemail log should show a colored timeline instead of a sea of identical alerts.

Pro Tip: Keep a short, standardized FAQ document at hand. Common questions—“What’s the tax-filing deadline?” or “How do I upload docs?”—don’t need a phone call. Send a link to that doc first, and free up your time for more complex issues.

2. Map out call-routing best practices

Even with triage, client calls can pile up. By defining a straightforward call-routing plan, you ensure that routine inquiries never derail your day.

Office hours vs. after-hours routing

During regular office hours, have calls directed to an admin or a basic call-menu that routes clients to voicemail categories (e.g., “Press 1 for urgent deadline help,” “Press 2 to leave a message for billing”).

After hours, route all calls to an AI answering system (more on that below). That way, callers still get a friendly greeting and basic guidance, but you avoid 3:00 AM wake-ups.

Dedicated lines for key services

If you offer bookkeeping, financial planning, and tax preparation, consider separate phone extensions or direct lines. Clients calling your bookkeeping line aren’t necessarily looking for tax-return advice. Segmenting helps route each call to the right resource—whether that’s you, a team member, or the AI phone assistant.

Simple voicemail prompts

Even if you don’t have a receptionist, you can record a brief voicemail script:

1. “If you’re calling about an upcoming filing deadline within 48 hours, press 1. Otherwise, leave a detailed message after the tone.”
2. “If you need instructions for document uploads, visit [link to online portal] or press 2 to leave a message.”

This helps reduce the number of basic questions you field, and it sets clear expectations.

Leverage call-forwarding rules

In your phone system (VoIP or virtual number service), set up rules that automatically forward calls tagged “Priority A” to your mobile during business hours, but direct everything else to voicemail or the answering service. You’ll avoid constant pings but still get alerted to genuine emergencies.

3. Introduce AI for overflow and after-hours coverage

An AI accountants answering service isn’t a gimmick — it’s a productivity multiplier. During tax season, when every minute counts, having an artificial “assistant” pick up the slack can keep clients happy without burning out your team. According to Karbon's 2025 study, AI saves accountants 18 hours monthly, with 38% of those savings coming specifically from communication tasks.

24/7 availability without the overtime

When a live person can’t answer (late nights, weekends, or just a lunch break), an AI out of hours call handling service can still greet clients, capture key details, and either route them to a relevant scheduling link or log a detailed message. You’ll get a summary of caller intent, phone number, and any urgent tags—all in your inbox by morning.

Automated FAQs and resource delivery

Train the AI system with your top five most-asked questions: “What’s my refund status?”, “How do I upload missing W-2s?”, “What’s the status of my extension?”. When a client asks any of these, the AI can immediately text or email a link to your secure portal or a PDF guide—no human needed.

Seamless handoff for priority calls

If a caller indicates they have an imminent filing deadline, the AI can automatically forward that call to your live line or send you an SMS alert: “Client John Smith needs extension signature by tomorrow.” You handle it personally; everything else gets scheduled into your in-box.

Cost vs. benefit at scale

Even at $0.75–$1.25 per call, an AI answering service often costs less than hiring a seasonal assistant or paying overtime to a receptionist. Multiply that by hundreds of calls during peak, and you quickly cover your investment—and your sanity.

4. Set up reporting and continuous improvement

One of the biggest advantages of AI is the data it collects. Use that data to refine your approach year after year:

Track call volume by type

Which questions spike during April? Are more clients asking about crypto-tax guidance this year? Look at AI call logs to see patterns, then update your FAQ page or email templates proactively.

Monitor resolution rates

If 40% of callers ask the same five questions, consider creating a short “Tax Season Survival Guide” PDF and linking to it in your voicemail greeting. Over time, you’ll see call volume dip as clients self-serve.

Gather client feedback

After the AI handles a call, it can send a brief survey—“Was this information helpful? Yes/No.” Use that feedback to fine-tune your AI scripts and resource links.

Plan staffing around known peaks

If data shows that the week before April 15th sees a 200% jump in client calls about last-minute filings, you might still need a human assistant during that window. But armed with AI data, you can staff smarter (e.g., hire a temp only for April 1–15, rather than the entire quarter).

Pro Tip: Schedule a short debrief with your team—or just yourself—at the end of tax season. Review what types of calls soaked up the most time, and update your triage script, call-routing rules, and AI knowledge base accordingly.

5. Keep clients in the loop

One overlooked way to deflect calls is to proactively communicate key tax-season milestones:

• Email blasts two weeks before quarterly estimated payments are due. If a client sees “As a reminder, Q1 estimated payments are due April 15th” in their inbox, they’re less likely to call on April 14th panicked.
• Weekly status updates. Send a list of clients currently in “document gathering,” “draft review,” and “finalization” stages. If you already tell them where you’re at, they’re less likely to wonder, “Where’s my return?”
• Dedicated “Tax-Tips Tuesday” newsletter. If every Tuesday you share a 3-bullet tip (“Check for missing 1099s,” “Document charitable donations,” “Review mileage logs”), clients learn and feel supported—and they’ll call less.

By layering proactive communication on top of smart triage and AI tools, you turn tax season from chaotic to controlled.

Final thoughts: let AI handle the noise, you handle the numbers

When you combine a well-defined triage system, clear call-routing rules, and an AI answering service to catch overflow, you’re not just buying technology—you’re buying time. Time to focus on what you do best: analyzing returns, finding deductions, and advising clients on complex tax matters. By outsourcing routine inquiries—and even some urgent ones—you avoid the burnout that comes with the April 14 hustle.