Accounting & tax firms · Colorado Springs
IT for accounting and tax firms.
Federal law requires tax preparers and accounting firms to protect client data under a written security plan, and tax season is when criminals aim at them hardest. We write the plan with you, put the safeguards in place and keep them running, at published prices.
What CPA and tax firms need from IT
Client data is the job.
Tax season puts the most sensitive data in the office during the busiest weeks of the year.
A written information security plan
The FTC Safeguards Rule requires tax and accounting firms to keep a written information security program. We write yours from IRS Publication 5708’s template and what your office actually runs, then keep it current.
Multi-factor sign-in everywhere
The Safeguards Rule calls for multi-factor authentication for anyone accessing customer information. We turn it on for email, remote access, the file share and tax software portals where they support it.
Encrypted client files
Encryption on laptops, backups and file transfers, plus a secure way for clients to send documents instead of email attachments.
Email that cannot be forged
Clients act on email from their preparer. SPF, DKIM and DMARC at enforcement keep criminals from sending mail as your firm.
Remote and seasonal staff
Seasonal preparers get the access they need for the season and lose it when it ends. Remote work goes through secured sign-in, not an open remote desktop port.
Backups through April 15
Backups kept away from ransomware, and restores tested before the season starts, not during it.
What we found when we checked accounting and tax firms email in El Paso and Teller County
In September 2026 we read the public email records of 821 local business domains that receive mail. These are the numbers for accounting and tax firms. No business is named, here or anywhere.
Accounting and tax domains could be impersonated by email (94%)
had no DMARC record at all, so nothing tells receiving servers to reject forged mail
were fully protected: SPF, DKIM and DMARC at enforcement
Start with the free email security check
Clients send tax documents and act on payment instructions in email from their preparer, and sixteen of the seventeen local accounting and tax domains we checked could be impersonated. The check reads your domain’s public records and emails a plain-English report to an address at that domain, so it reaches the business that owns it and nobody else. Nothing is installed and nobody signs in to anything.
If it finds problems, we fix them for a fixed $495 per domain, done within a week of your go-ahead, with a before-and-after report. Run the check → · Read the full local report →
Which plan fits an accounting or tax firm
Most firms fit Secure Office for the ongoing safeguards, plus an Advisory project to write or update the plan. Published prices, a $299 one-time setup on the monthly plans, and engineer time only with your OK. Compare all plans →
For the ongoing safeguards: multi-factor sign-in, email security, monitoring and help desk. Example: 6 people = $459 a month.
- Everything in Front Desk, with 600 minutes and appointment booking
- Email security set up and kept at enforcement: SPF, DKIM and DMARC
- Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace security baseline: multi-factor sign-in, admin accounts locked down
- Domain, certificate and email records monitored daily, with a monthly report card
- Shared password vault and unlimited AI help desk
- Engineer time at $175/hr, only with your OK
For the written security plan, a Safeguards Rule review or a pre-season check, scoped in writing first.
- No monthly plan needed
- Remote work in 30-minute increments; on-site visits have a two-hour minimum
- After hours: $225/hr
- Projects scoped and approved in writing before work starts
If calls pile up in season: answered in your firm’s name around the clock.
- Your calls answered 24/7 in your business’s name
- 250 minutes a month included, then $0.35 a minute
- Every call summarized and emailed to you: who called, what they need, how urgent
- Texts to your number read and summarized the same way
Projects we take on for accounting and tax firms
Scoped and approved in writing before work starts, at $175/hr during business hours ($225/hr after hours). Remote work is billed in 30-minute increments; on-site visits have a two-hour minimum.
- Written information security plan (WISP), built from IRS Publication 5708 and your real setup
- Safeguards Rule review: multi-factor sign-in, encryption, access and logging gaps found and fixed
- A secure way for clients to send documents, set up in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace
- Pre-season check: backups restored, accounts reviewed, departed staff removed
- Email security fixed and moved to enforcement
- Office network and firewall, with remote access done safely
An honest note on scope
We are not your CPA or your attorney, and we do not certify compliance. We put the technical safeguards in place and write the plan with you; your firm remains responsible for following it. We do not support tax or accounting software itself; we secure the systems and accounts around it.
Is a written security plan really required for a small firm?
Yes. The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to tax preparers and accounting firms of every size, and IRS Publications 4557 and 5708 explain what the plan should cover. A few requirements are relaxed for firms holding information on fewer than 5,000 people, but the written plan is not one of them.
Do we have to report a breach to the FTC?
Since May 2024 the Safeguards Rule requires notifying the FTC within 30 days of discovering a security event that involves the information of 500 or more people. Colorado law adds its own 30-day notice to affected residents.
Can you help before tax season?
Yes. The fall is the best time for a pre-season check: backups restored, accounts reviewed, and seasonal staff set up properly from day one.
Is there a contract?
Front Desk and Secure Office are month to month after setup. Project work is scoped and approved in writing, piece by piece.
Get a number for your firm
Tell us about your firm and we will come back with a preliminary range and a written scope. Published rates and a written scope before any work starts.
Thanks — that is on its way.
Your preliminary estimate is being prepared and will arrive by email within a few minutes. If it is urgent, call 719-451-1218.