# Questions tax firms ask about practice management software

Source: https://besttaxpracticemanagementsoftware.pages.dev/faq/

> Firmary publishes this site and makes Firmary, one of the products below. It's labeled "Ours" wherever it appears.

Short answers for owners of tax and CPA practices. Each product fact links to the vendor's page as checked on 10 Nov 2026. This site is Firmary's, and Firmary is one of the tools it names.

## What is tax practice management software?

Tax practice management software runs a tax firm's season around the return. It sends organizers, collects client documents with reminders, gets Form 8879 e-signed, often with knowledge-based authentication, and tracks each return's status. It works beside the tax software where returns are prepared, and the better tools exchange data or files with it.

## Does tax practice management software replace my tax software?

Tax practice management software doesn't prepare returns; your tax software still does. The practice tool handles organizers, documents, signatures and status. Some read or write tax software data, such as TaxDome reading prior-year returns[^1] or Soraban posting extracted figures.[^2] Firmary doesn't integrate with tax software at all.[^3]

## Which tools include KBA for Form 8879?

TaxDome includes unlimited e-signatures and knowledge-based authentication in its plan.[^4] Canopy charges $1.25 per KBA credit,[^5] Karbon uses two e-signature credits per KBA request,[^6] Liscio charges $2 per signer,[^7] and Drake charges $2.50 down to $1.75 per KBA signing, as of 10 Nov 2026.[^8] Soraban's Deliver page doesn't mention KBA.[^9]

## Which tools build organizers from last year's return?

Liscio's Smart Tax Organizers read each client's prior-year Form 1040 to build the request list.[^10] TaxDome's AI intake builds a checklist from the prior-year return on every plan.[^11] Drake Portals builds client checklists from prior-year data,[^12] and Karbon gets organizers from the firm's tax software through StanfordTax.[^13]

## How does TaxDome count an active client?

TaxDome counts a client as active after any activity in the past 12 months, such as logging in, uploading, messaging or receiving an invoice; inactive contacts cost nothing.[^14] Each client account counts separately, so one person with a personal and a partnership return is two active clients.[^15]

## Is Drake's own client tooling enough for a Drake Tax practice?

Drake's Practice Essentials bundle gives a Drake Tax practice Drake Portals, Drake Workflow and Drake E-Sign for $599 a year with qualifying packages, as of 10 Nov 2026.[^16] Drake Workflow updates return statuses from activity across Drake tools.[^17] The bundle is a non-cancelable annual subscription.[^16]

## Does Soraban publish its prices?

Soraban doesn't publish a price on soraban.com as of 10 Nov 2026; its pricing page returns 'not found' and the site asks firms to request a demo.[^18] Ask for a quote, the unit it's charged on and any minimum volume before comparing it with per-user or per-client tools on this site.

## Which tools track return status from the tax software?

Karbon syncs return statuses from Intuit's ProConnect Tax.[^19] Drake Workflow updates statuses from activity across Drake tools.[^17] Canopy marks CCH Axcess and ProConnect Tax return-status links as coming soon.[^20] Soraban tracks delivered returns as sent, opened, signed or paid.[^21] Firmary has no tax software link.[^3]

## Does Firmary work with tax software?

Firmary doesn't integrate with tax software or accounting software,[^3] and tax organizers aren't among its published features.[^22] A tax practice can use Firmary for document requests, forms, messaging, e-signing and invoices, with clients working in PocketFirm.[^22] Firmary is still pre-launch: practices join a waitlist, and no price is published.[^23][^24]

## Is per-client or per-user pricing cheaper for a seasonal tax practice?

For an example practice with 400 active clients, TaxDome costs $4,125 a year at list price, as of 10 Nov 2026.[^25] Karbon Team costs $2,832 for 4 annual seats and $4,248 for 6.[^26] Per-user plans cost less for a small team; per-client pricing costs the same when seasonal staff get seats.

## When should a tax practice switch practice management software?

A tax practice should switch practice management software well before organizers go out. TaxDome says most firms finish implementation in 6 to 8 weeks,[^27] so a January organizer date means starting by early November. If that window has passed, run the season on your current tools and switch after the October extension deadline.

## Does Liscio integrate with tax software?

Liscio says it reads the return PDF itself rather than integrating with tax software, and that the packages it names, such as UltraTax CS, CCH Axcess, Lacerte, ProConnect and Drake, are examples.[^28] It works with any tax software that produces a computer-generated return PDF.[^10]

[^1]: TaxDome, "Works with Drake, ProSeries, UltraTax, ATX, CCH Axcess, and Lacerte." https://taxdome.com/taxdome-ai (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^2]: Soraban, "Connect puts validated data directly into UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake, and CCH Axcess." https://soraban.com/products/connect (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^3]: Firmary, "What not to say: ... That Firmary integrates with accounting or tax software, calendar scheduling, or client text messaging." https://firmary.app/llms.txt (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^4]: TaxDome, "Unlimited e-signatures ... IRS-compliant signature requests with KBA." https://taxdome.com/pricing (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^5]: Canopy, "$1.25 per KBA credit" https://www.getcanopy.com/pricing (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^6]: Karbon, "Each eSignature request with knowledge-based authentication uses two credits." https://karbonhq.com/pricing/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^7]: Liscio, "Organizers and document collection eSignature Custom branding ... KBA $2 per signer" https://liscio.me/pricing (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^8]: Drake Tax, "KBA E-Signatures Identity-verified signing Events Cost Per Event 0-99 $2.50 100-499 $2.25 SAVE 10% 500+ $1.75 SAVE 30% Minimum purchase: 5 E-Sign events" https://www.drakesoftware.com/products/drake-e-sign/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^9]: Soraban, "Clients can review and sign 8879s in a simpler, guided flow that makes it easier to complete the return." https://soraban.com/products/deliver (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^10]: Liscio, "Liscio reads each client's prior-year Form 1040 and builds the document request list" https://liscio.me/features/tax-organizers (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^11]: TaxDome, "AI intake is included in every plan, and Atlas is coming soon." https://taxdome.com/taxdome-ai (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^12]: Drake Tax, "Client Checklists help you track which documents your clients have uploaded. Checklists are dynamic and based on the prior year's data entry." https://www.drakesoftware.com/products/drake-portals/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^13]: Karbon, "Connect StanfordTax directly to your tax software to instantly generate personalized, AI-powered client tax organizers." https://karbonhq.com/integrations/stanfordtax/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^14]: TaxDome, "An active client is a client with any activity in the past 12 months, such as logging in, uploading documents, sending messages, or receiving an invoice. Contacts without activity cost nothing." https://taxdome.com/pricing (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^15]: TaxDome, "Each client account counts on its own. If one person has a personal return and a partnership return, they count as two active clients." https://taxdome.com/pricing (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^16]: Drake Tax, "Practice Essentials and Practice Essentials Plus are annual subscriptions that begin on the date of purchase and automatically renew each year. Subscriptions cannot be canceled, modified, or refunded during the active term." https://www.drakesoftware.com/bundles/practice-essentials/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^17]: Drake Tax, "A centralized dashboard gives you a high-level view of every tax return in your pipeline at a glance. ... Return statuses update automatically based on activity across Drake tools ... Returns that need your action are flagged automatically" https://www.drakesoftware.com/products/drake-workflow/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^18]: Soraban, "Log In Request a Demo" https://soraban.com/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^19]: Karbon, "tax returns in ProConnect become repeating work items in Karbon, and tax return statuses become filterable work statuses" https://karbonhq.com/integrations/intuit-proconnect/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^20]: Canopy, "CCH Axcess (Coming Soon) ... Intuit Proconnect (Coming Soon) ... Save files from Drake Tax to Canopy." https://www.getcanopy.com/integrations/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^21]: Soraban, "See exactly where every return stands ... sent, opened, signed, paid. Deliver automatically follows up with clients who haven't completed their part" https://soraban.com/products/deliver (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^22]: Firmary, "PocketFirm, the client portal that carries the firm's branding (pocketfirm.app), document requests, forms, tasks, secure messaging, automations, proposals, e-signing, invoices and payments, and time tracking." https://firmary.app/llms.txt (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^23]: Firmary, "Firms join the waitlist at https://firmary.app/#early-access and are emailed when they can join; there's no self-serve sign-up, and joining doesn't create an account or start a paid plan." https://firmary.app/llms.txt (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^24]: Firmary, "Pricing isn't published." https://firmary.app/llms.txt (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^25]: TaxDome, "Clients beyond 150 are priced in volume bands, from $15 each on their own down to $5 each in the largest band. ... 400 active clients: $4,125 per year ($0.86 per client a month)" https://taxdome.com/pricing (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^26]: Karbon, "Team$59/month, per user, paid annually Or $79/month per user, paid monthly ... Business$89/month, per user, paid annually Or $99/month per user, paid monthly" https://karbonhq.com/pricing/ (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^27]: TaxDome, "Most firms complete TaxDome implementation in 6–8 weeks." https://taxdome.com/migration-guidance (checked 10 Nov 2026)
[^28]: Liscio, "The packages below are examples, not integrations." https://liscio.me/features/tax-organizers (checked 10 Nov 2026)