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Don’t Let Tax Season Cost You Year-Round
That pit in your stomach is trying to tell you something: Waiting until spring is costing you peace of mind.
When tax season feels like a crisis, it’s usually because the right financial information isn’t organized ahead of time. Deductions, education expenses, and important documents all become a last-minute scramble.
Listen to your gut. You can start preparing now.
BELAY’s experienced tax prep professionals help you stay organized year-round, so tax season becomes simpler, less stressful, and actually manageable.
Start with BELAY’s free Personal Tax Prep Checklist and take the first step toward a smoother tax season.
Don’t spend another spring stressing over paperwork. Get help now and leave the pit in your stomach behind for good.
🔧 FEATURED TOOL: Luca IQ
New IRS-Authorized Tax Engine Launches for Firms
Luca IQ reads client source documents — W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, brokerage statements — maps every figure to the correct line on the return, then calculates and e-files it, with AI handling the document intake and a separate deterministic engine handling the math. Why it matters: It's already passed IRS Assurance Testing and holds Authorized e-file Provider status, so you're not waiting on a beta approval before you can pilot it on a live return. Catch: Luca IQ says the calculation engine is rules-based, not AI — but that claim, like every accuracy and speed figure attached to this launch, comes from the company itself, with no independent firm testing published yet. Unknowns: Pricing isn't public, and there's no third-party data yet on how it handles messy or incomplete client documents — press on both in a demo before you commit a client file to it. My take: Worth a real pilot for a 3-person firm specifically because it doesn't sell direct to consumers — Luca IQ can't disintermediate you the way TurboTax-adjacent tools can. Try it on one straightforward 1040 before tax season, not during it. [Read more →]
📰 QUICK HITS
Deloitte Launches AI Suite for SOX and Internal Audit — Deloitte says its new ControlCatalyst.AI suite combines generative and agentic AI to automate control testing and evidence documentation across internal audit and SOX work. Why it matters: for the handful of small firms with SOX or internal-audit clients, expect those clients to start asking why a Big Four turnaround time is suddenly the benchmark, even though Deloitte hasn't published any efficiency figures yet — just qualitative marketing language ("smarter, faster, more scalable") with nothing to independently verify. [Read more →]
Aprio Builds Custom AI Agents With Fieldguide — Aprio is co-developing role-specific AI audit agents with Fieldguide, the same platform KPMG, RSM, and BDO already use, as part of a $300 million AI investment. Why it matters: if your firm already runs Fieldguide, ask your rep directly whether Aprio's new workflows get folded into the shared platform, since none of the promised time savings have been independently measured yet. [Read more →]
Intuit Sets December Sunset for QuickBooks Online Accountant — Intuit's August rollout adds AI chat and an agentic "Books Close" beta to Intuit Accountant Suite, and confirms QuickBooks Online Accountant shuts down in December 2026. Why it matters: if you haven't migrated yet, start now — Intuit hasn't published a hard cutover date beyond that December deadline, and a scramble during year-end close is the last thing a small firm needs. [Read more →]
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Give your board the data behind the return.
💡 QUICK TIP
Great AI results depend less on your prompt than on the context behind it. A tax question on its own is just a hypothetical — the same question with the client's partnership agreement, prior-year return, and the relevant Treasury guidance attached gets you a real answer. Before you ask, gather the documents you'd hand a new associate. [Read more →]
⚠️ HEADS UP
AI Governance Certification: Aprio is now accredited by ANAB to independently certify organizations against ISO/IEC 42001, the first international standard for AI management systems, extending its existing SOC and ISO audit practice into AI governance. This is a new, billable service line sitting on top of assurance work firms already do — not a new skill set, just a new certification to sell against it. If you already run SOC 2 or ISO audits, the barrier to adding this is low and the window to be first in your market is short, since every mid-size firm with an existing ISO practice can make the same move. Why it matters: if your firm does any ISO or SOC work today, price out this certification before a competitor down the street offers it first. [Read more →]
AI Skills Beat MBAs, PwC Survey Finds: PwC says 86% of the 1,000+ financial-services executives it surveyed rate AI training above an MBA for new hires, and 91% are already paying more for AI-skilled staff. Why it matters: if you're hiring this year, put a specific AI-tool line on the job posting instead of a vague "tech-savvy" listing — the candidates worth having are already comparing offers on that exact line. [Read more →]
Fractional CFO Demand Jumps 14% as AI Spreads: Business Talent Group says fractional CFO demand rose 14% year-over-year, with practitioners crediting AI for absorbing enough routine finance work to take on more part-time clients. Why it matters: if you offer outsourced controller or fractional CFO work, start pricing AI-assisted engagements now — before a larger firm undercuts your rate using the same efficiency gains — though the 14% figure and the practitioner quotes behind it are self-reported by BTG's own report, not independently audited. [Read more →]
Every tool launching this week is drawing the same line: let AI touch the intake and the drafting, keep a human or a hard-coded rule on the final number. That's not caution for its own sake — it's the only version of this that survives an IRS audit.
—Alex
The AI Buildout Needs These 10 Stocks
You don’t have to buy OpenAI or Anthropic to invest in AI. Each large language model requires specialized technology to keep running and growing.
MarketBeat’s The Infrastructure’s Backbone: 10 Stocks Powering the AI Buildout report reveals 10 companies supplying the memory, storage, connectivity, fabrication, power, and cooling behind AI’s next phase.
📬 Know an accountant drowning in manual bookkeeping? Forward this.