The problem
Every filing season, preparers chase missing W-2s, 1099s and 1098s by phone and email, then rename and file whatever arrives. At 10 minutes of chasing and 5 minutes of filing for each of 360 clients, that's 5,400 minutes, 90 hours a season.
What the AI does
Liscio is a client portal built for accounting and tax firms. You send each client a multi-line request or tax organizer listing what you need; Liscio tracks who has returned what and follows up automatically. Its File Intelligence reads each upload and suggests a name in your firm's style, which you accept with a click; files it isn't sure about are left as they are. Clients can upload, message and sign from a phone. Liscio says it's built to support FTC Safeguards Rule obligations and IRS Publication 4557.
A worked example
A three-preparer tax office in Sacramento files about 360 individual returns a season, many with a Schedule C or a rental. In January it sends every returning client a Liscio organizer built from three templates, with the office's own cut-off date for documents.
Before
15 minutes a client chasing and filing documents: 90 hours a season
After
About 5 minutes a client: 30 hours a season
What it's worth
About $200£150€179A$289C$283 a month saved, averaged over the year, against $147£111€132A$212C$208 for three seats. That's 60 hours a season (90 less 30), 5 hours a month over 12 months, at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$57 for a preparer hour. The Liscio Platform plan, which includes organizers and client requests, is $49£37€44A$71C$69 a user a month billed annually; monthly prices aren't published.
How to set it up
- Build organizer templates for a W-2 household, a Schedule C client and a rental owner, each with your own document cut-off date.
- Set your file naming style so File Intelligence can suggest names, and spot-check its suggestions in the first weeks.
- Send organizers to returning clients in January and let Liscio follow up; call the clients still missing items two weeks before your cut-off.
- Add Liscio to your written information security plan (IRS Publication 5708) with who has access and how old files are deleted, as the FTC Safeguards Rule requires.
- Before preparing each return, compare the documents against last year's return yourself, as IRS Circular 230's due diligence rules expect.
What goes wrong
- Liscio chases what is on the organizer. A new K-1 or a sold rental the client never mentioned won't be on the list; last year's return review catches those.
- Pricing is annual at $49£37€44A$71C$69 a user, and seasonal preparers need seats too. Ask about monthly plans if you only need extra seats from January to April.
- File Intelligence leaves files it isn't sure about unrenamed, so some uploads still need filing by hand.
- E-signature with knowledge-based authentication costs $2£2€2A$3C$3 a signer on top, if you also use Liscio to sign returns.