How to Get More Tax Clients: A Season-by-Season Plan

Short answer: how to get more tax clients comes down to timing. Get your Google profile, reminders and online booking ready in the fall, then answer every call and form fast from late January to April, and ask for a review when each return is filed.

Month	Focus
September to October	Google profile, service pages, booking set up
November to December	Remind last year's clients, open the calendar
January	Filing season opens, inquiries jump
February to March	Answer fast, ask for reviews
April	Deadline week, extension clients, reviews

Why is timing the key to getting more tax clients?

Demand for tax help arrives all at once.

The IRS opened the 2025 filing season on January 27, with an April 15 deadline, and expected more than 140 million individual returns.

By February 14, 2025, the IRS had already received about 33 million returns. By April 11, 2025, it had received about 117.6 million, and about 62.8 million of them were e-filed by tax professionals.

Most people pick a preparer in a narrow window. If your marketing starts in February, you're late.

What should tax preparers do in September and October?

This is the build season. Nothing here needs to be rushed.

• Update your Google Business Profile. Services listed by name, real photos, the correct phone number.
• Build a page for each service. Individual returns, business returns, bookkeeping. See our page on websites for accounting firms.
• Set up online booking. Real open times for the season, ready before January.
• Write your auto-replies. The text a missed caller gets, the reply a web form sends.

New pages take months to settle in Google. Our guide on what SEO for accountants costs explains the timeline.

What should you do in November and December?

Fill the calendar with the people who already trust you.

• Remind returning clients. A short email or text: "We're booking tax appointments now. Pick your time here."
• Give them first choice. Returning clients book before you open times to new clients.
• Set tax-season hours on Google. Extended evenings, Saturdays, and holiday closures.

Hours matter more than they look. Backlinko's local SEO statistics cite BrightLocal data that 40 percent of consumers search for a local business to check its hours at least a few times a month. Wrong hours send people to the next office.

How do you answer calls in rush season?

This is where most tax practices lose new clients without knowing it.

From February to April, everyone is working returns and the phone rings anyway. Every call that goes to voicemail is a person who may call the next preparer on the list.

A simple setup:

1. Text back every missed call. Right away, with a booking link. Here's how missed-call text-back works.
2. Reply to web forms within a minute. An instant answer with open times.
3. Let people book online. No phone tag for a 30-minute appointment.
4. Use a two-way text inbox. Staff answer quick questions between returns.

Keep every form and text short: name, contact, service and preferred time. Never ask for tax documents, Social Security numbers or income details by text or web form. Those wait for your secure portal or the appointment.

How do reviews help you get more tax clients?

People check reviews before they hand over their finances.

BrightLocal's 2025 consumer review survey found just 4 percent of consumers never read online business reviews. Email was the request method most likely to get a review, rising from 32 to 40 percent.

When to ask:

• Right after the return is filed
• In a short email or text with a direct link to your Google review page
• Once, with no reminders that feel pushy

What to leave out: anything about the client's refund, balance or situation.

What marketing for tax preparers works in April?

Deadline week is busy, but it's also a chance.

• Keep your Google hours exact for the final days.
• Make extension clients easy to book for after the deadline.
• Send review requests for every return you finished in March and April.
• Note what came in. Which calls, forms and referrals brought new clients this season.

That last list tells you where to spend next fall.

What does marketing for tax preparers cost with Axeon?

The pieces above are built into AxeonCORE, from $799/mo on a 12-month agreement, with $0 setup (normally $3,000):

Included in AxeonCORE	What it does in tax season
Custom website	A page per service, booking on every page
Local SEO	Google Business Profile, tax-season hours, review requests after every appointment
24/7 missed-call text-back	A missed call in March gets a text back right away
60-second first reply	Every web inquiry is answered within a minute
Online booking and two-way text inbox	Clients pick a time or text your office directly
Call tracking and AxeonPROOF	Calls, inquiries and reviews in one monthly dashboard

Month-to-month is available with the $3,000 setup paid upfront, or prepay a year for $7,990. AxeonGROWTH is $1,999/mo plus ad spend ($500/mo minimum) and adds ads management, an AI phone receptionist and quarterly photo and video. Full details are on our pricing page.

Our forms collect name, contact, service and preferred time only. Pages explain your services and never give tax advice. We don't promise rankings or a number of new clients. One practice or firm per specialty within 5 miles.

See more on our accounting and CPA firm page and our local SEO for accounting firms page.

More on marketing for tax preparers and marketing for bookkeepers.

The bottom line

To get more tax clients, build in the fall, remind returning clients before January, answer every call and form fast in the rush, and ask for a review when each return is filed.

Axeon Studio is in West Des Moines, IA. Want to know if your area is open? Check your area. $0 to start. Nothing due until it's working.