Built for the whole tax season, not just the return
Your tax program prepares the return. FigsFlow runs the eleven weeks around it — who has capacity, which clients are still holding documents, which returns are waiting on a Form 8879, and which extensions you chose rather than defaulted into.
See a season planned in one screen.
What is tax practice management software?
Tax practice management software runs the work around the return rather than the return itself. It schedules the season, assigns preparation and review by available hours, chases clients for missing documents, and tracks each return's status through to filing — including whether the signed Form 8879 has come back.
Eleven weeks in four minutes
What does a tax season look like in FigsFlow?
One season, sped up. The organizer goes out in January, the documents land, the return moves from preparation to review to signer, the Form 8879 goes out and comes back, the return is filed. Then the same screen in March, with four hundred of them running at once.
Two seasons, two problems
What does tax workflow software do that a tax program doesn't?
Several hundred 1040s through one Apr 15 wall
The constraint is throughput, and the failure mode is a March backlog you cannot staff out of.
One wall. Everything arrives at once and nothing can be moved.
1065s and 1120-Ss against Mar 15, 1120s and 1040s against Apr 15
Then the extended run to Sep 15 and Oct 15. The constraint is sequencing — an entity return that slips takes its owners' 1040s with it.
Four walls, and the second one is built out of the first.
The third door, stated plainly
If the question you came here with is which tax program we connect to, the answer is none, and this page will waste your time. Say it here rather than in month two.
Nobody chose those extensions
How do tax firms decide which returns go on extension?
By Apr 10 the decision has already been made, and not by anyone in particular. The returns that go on extension are the ones that happened to still be open, and by the time you are filing the 7004s and 4868s there is no time left to ask why.
Next January you will want to know which of those were the client's fault and which were yours. The log will not tell you, because nobody recorded it — there was no field, and there was no moment when anybody had five minutes to fill one in.
The log is well kept. The fields do not exist.
Where the season actually runs out| Form | Extensions filed | Reason recorded |
|---|---|---|
| 1040 | 84 | 11 |
| 1065 | 12 | 3 |
| 1120-S | 19 | 4 |
| 1120 | 6 | 1 |
Swipe the table sideways to see all three columns.
121 extensions. 19 reasons. Filed Apr 10, reviewed never. Figures illustrative.
NO COLUMN FORWas the client late, or were we?
NO COLUMN FORWhich staff member was over capacity that week?
NO COLUMN FORDid this client extend last year too?
NO COLUMN FORWas the fee ever adjusted for the extra cycle?
The season is a fixed number of hours. So plan it like one.
How do tax firms plan capacity for tax season?
Every open return carries an estimated hours figure and every person carries available hours between now and the next deadline. Subtract one from the other by week and the shortfall is a number in January rather than a discovery in March. Returns are assigned against that number, not against a name.
Week 9 is where the season breaks, and it is visible in week 3. Figures illustrative — not customer data, not a benchmark.
| Week | Returns due | Hours needed | Hours available | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 3 | 48 | 214 | 236 | +22 |
| Wk 6 | 96 | 431 | 402 | −29 |
| Wk 9 | 141 | 638 | 402 | −236 |
| Wk 11 | 88 | 392 | 388 | −4 |
Swipe the table sideways to see all five columns.
The five parts that run the season
What does tax return tracking software need to show you?
Recurring jobs generate on the cadence you set, workflow templates decide the steps and owners, forms and requests chase the client without anyone sending an email, the portal is where documents land, and time and billing records what the season cost against the fee.
Every return, every status
One board for the season, counted by the state each return is actually in rather than by who last updated a cell. A return that depends on a client document is gated until the document lands, so nothing sits at "nearly done".
IN REVIEW92 returns, weighted by the wall they are running at
GATEDWaiting on documents the client has not sent
Hours, people and the wall
Every person carries available hours between now and the next deadline, and every open return carries estimated hours. Assignment happens against the number, so week nine is a figure you read in week three rather than a discovery in March.
BY WEEKHours needed against hours available, per deadline
BY ROLEPreparation capacity and review capacity counted separately
Organizers and the chase
The organizer goes out with the job in January, not after somebody notices it hasn't. Reminders run on the schedule you set, the client sees only what is still outstanding, and the return stays gated until the answer arrives.
UNATTENDEDThe chase sequence runs without anyone sending an email
RESUMABLEThe client answers step by step and picks up where they stopped
How clients send you documents
The client uploads once, into the request that asked for it, and the file lands against the return it belongs to. Documents sit in your own SharePoint and OneDrive, in your tenant, under your retention policy.
LANDS INThe return it was requested for
STORED INYour Microsoft 365 tenant
What the season cost
Hours log against the return as it runs, so the fee and the effort sit on the same record. Realization is read during the season rather than reconstructed after it.
LOGGED AGAINSTThe return, not the month
READ ASRealization per return, and per week
Native invoicing is Q4 2026. Today, Xero or QuickBooks Online raises the invoice.
What the season costA return has states. "Nearly done" is not one of them.
Can practice management software track Form 8879?
Yes, as a workflow status. FigsFlow records that the authorization was sent, that it is outstanding, and that the signed copy has come back — so a return waiting on one is visible rather than silent. FigsFlow does not sign it and does not provide the identity verification required to sign it electronically.
Organizer sent
Out in January with the job, not after somebody notices.
Documents in
The client's answers and files land against the return, in the request that asked for them.
In preparation
Hours log against the return as it runs, so the fee and the effort sit on one record.
In review
Review errors are classified, not just corrected — so the same category showing up across returns is visible as a pattern.
Signer review
The partner who signs sees it before the client does.
Client approval
The draft goes to the portal for the client to approve.
8879 out
The authorization is sent, and the return is counted as waiting rather than sitting silently in an inbox.
8879 received
The signed copy is recorded against the return. FigsFlow tracks the status; it does not sign the form.
Filed
FigsFlow records that the return was e-filed in your tax program. A return cannot reach filed while any task under it is open, and there is no override.
The silent state that starts in January
- TriggerA return depends on something the client has not sent.
- ChaseThe request runs its own sequence, unattended.
- ClientAnswers step by step and can stop and resume.
- ReleaseThe gate opens and the return returns to the preparer.
Counted and aged, not tracked in a pile
| Waiting on the 8879 | Count | Oldest |
|---|---|---|
| Sent, not returned | 34 | 9 days |
| Returned, not filed | 6 | 1 day |
The only thing between a finished return and a filed one. Figures illustrative.
Your tax program isn't the problem
What's the difference between tax preparation software and tax practice management software?
Tax preparation software builds and files the return. Tax practice management software runs everything around it — who is preparing it, whether the client has sent what you asked for, where it sits in review, whether the authorization has come back, and what the whole thing cost against the fee.
| Responsibility | Your tax program | FigsFlow |
|---|---|---|
| Building the return | ||
| E-filing | ||
| Who is preparing it | ||
| What the client still owes you | ||
| Where it sits in review | ||
| Whether the 8879 is back | ||
| Hours against the fee | ||
| Whether week 9 works |
Swipe the table sideways to see all three columns.
The reason to buy this is not that your tax program is bad. It is that your tax program was never asked to know who has capacity in week nine — that is a different job, and it is the one FigsFlow does.
What we connect to, and what we don't
Does FigsFlow integrate with tax software?
No. There are no US tax software integrations — not Drake, not Lacerte, not ProSeries, not ProConnect, not CCH Axcess, not TaxAct or TaxSlayer. The return is prepared and filed in your tax program. Everything except the return itself happens in FigsFlow.
For a firm buying season workflow and capacity, that is a footnote. For a firm buying connectivity, it is the whole answer — and we would rather you read it here than find it in week four.
Your tax software. 1040s, 1120s and e-filing happen where they happen now. FigsFlow records that a return was e-filed; it does not e-file. Native invoicing is Q4 2026 — Xero or QuickBooks Online raises the invoice today.
Full detail: what's available where
Nothing to show you but the product
Who is already running a season on this?
No US firm has run a full season on FigsFlow, because there has not been one yet. The 150 subscribers are in the UK and Ireland and their season is not yours.
So what is on offer is the product: the tour, the recorded walkthrough, and a demo where you bring last season's actual numbers and we build the capacity plan against them live.
FigsFlow is built inside two working firms, which is why the season board looks like a season board and not like a project management tool that has heard of deadlines.
Per user, per month. In dollars. Just not on this page yet.
What does it cost, and what's included?
A pricing section with no price on it is a bold look, and we know it. Here is the honest reason. A tax practice hires preparers in January and lets them go in April, so the only pricing question a partner actually asks is whether those four-month seats cost twelve months. We do not have a published answer we would still be happy with in March — so we are not inventing one to fill this space.
What we can tell you: it is per user, per month, in dollars, and everything described on this page is included — there is no season-workflow upgrade tier waiting to be sold to you later.
Not Drake, Lacerte, ProSeries, ProConnect, CCH Axcess, TaxAct or TaxSlayer.
IRS Publication 1345 requires knowledge-based authentication we do not provide. E-signature covers engagement letters, proposals, consents and firm documents.
FigsFlow records that a return was filed. It does not file it.
Not available.
Xero or QuickBooks Online raises the invoice today.
You build the season's templates from the way your firm already runs it. There is no US tax-calendar library to inherit today.
The January-to-April seat question, answered properly rather than quickly. Ask on the demo in the meantime.
Before you book anything
The dated matrix, kept current.
Tier 1 · not built yet Trust CenterControls, sub-processors, hosting.
Tier 1 · not built yet Why FigsFlowThe three things FigsFlow does that others don't.
Tier 1 · not built yetInternal note: all three targets are Tier 1 pages that do not exist yet. Ship with fewer cards rather than a 404 — strip the cards whose pages are not live on the day.
Next season starts in May
Bring last season's numbers — returns by type, hours by person, the extensions you filed. We will build the capacity plan against them in the call and you can see where week nine went.
Thirty minutes, last season's numbers, one capacity plan.
Start Smarter. Grow Faster.
From proposals to pricing, streamline every step with automation designed particularly for accountants, bookkeepers and tax advisers.