Mark Reynolds
Enrolled Agent · Denver, Colorado
Press play — energetic intro, then the conversation
J This is Jennifer from the UpTax Podcast Room, and today I've got Mark Reynolds with me. Mark Reynolds, so great to have you on. M Thanks for having me on the show, Jennifer. I've been looking forward to this one. J So let's start simple. Tell our listeners who you are and what your practice looks like day to day. M Sure. I'm an Enrolled Agent based in Denver. My firm handles tax and advisory work for individuals and small businesses, and during season we're pushing through about 300 returns. J Three hundred returns is no joke. What does that actually feel like from January through April? M Honestly, it's controlled chaos. We're talking twelve, thirteen hour days, weekends gone, and every year I'm asking myself the same question: how do we handle this volume without burning out my whole team? J And I think that's the question every firm owner listening right now is nodding along to. So what were your options? M Really it came down to two paths. Either build out an offshore team to help with prep, or find some kind of AI tax preparation solution that could actually handle the workload. J Let's talk about the offshore route first, because a lot of firms go that way. What did that look like when you actually priced it out? M It looked expensive and slow, honestly. You're recruiting, you're training people on US tax law from scratch, you've got time zone gaps, and there's this constant worry about data security and compliance. It's not like flipping a switch. J So even before you get one return done, you're already sinking months into just standing up the team. M Exactly. And turnaround time didn't even improve that much because I still had to review everything myself before it went anywhere near a client. J That review bottleneck is huge. So what made you look at UpTax instead of just pushing through the offshore build? M A colleague mentioned UpTax to me, and I was skeptical at first, I'll be honest. But the model made sense immediately. The AI drafts the return, and then there's an offshore review layer before it even lands on my desk. J So it's not just software spitting out numbers, there's an actual human check built into the process. M Right, and that's what sold me. It's AI tax preparation plus a real review step, not just some black box. My team still reviews and files everything, but the heavy lifting of drafting is already done. J I love that distinction because I think people hear AI tax and assume it means replacing the accountant entirely. M Not at all. It's the opposite. It gave me back my accountants' time so they could focus on the judgment calls, the client conversations, the advisory piece, instead of drowning in data entry. J So walk me through the actual comparison. Cost-wise, offshore team versus UpTax, what did the math look like? M Building an offshore team, when you factor in recruiting, training, management overhead, software licenses for them, it was easily double what I'm paying with UpTax. And that's before counting my own time managing that team. J Double. That's a massive gap. M It really is. And with UpTax I didn't have to hire an accountant or hire a bookkeeper just to keep up with volume. The capacity was just... there. J That's the phrase I keep coming back to, capacity without headcount. That's really the promise of automating a tax practice the right way. M It is. Last season I took on more clients than the year before and my staff actually worked fewer overtime hours. That never happens in this business. J Let's talk turnaround time specifically, because that's the other piece firms struggle with during crunch season. M Returns that used to take my team two or three hours to prep from scratch were coming to us mostly drafted, already reviewed offshore, so my staff was just doing final checks and catching anything unusual. We probably cut prep time by more than half. J And what about compliance risk? That's the thing that keeps EAs and CPAs up at night with any outsourcing arrangement. M That was my biggest worry going in, honestly. But UpTax's process is built around US firms staying in control. My team reviews and my team files. Nothing goes out the door without our eyes on it. That structure actually made me feel more confident, not less. J That's such an important point for anyone listening who's nervous about tax preparation outsourcing. It's not handing over your license and hoping for the best. M No, it's the opposite of that. It's a tool that respects the fact that I'm still the one signing off. J So if another firm owner came to you right now and said, Mark, should I build offshore or should I look at UpTax, what would you tell them? M I'd tell them to save themselves a year of headaches and just try UpTax first. I genuinely think it's a game-changer for how a modern practice runs. J I hear that from so many firms we work with, honestly. That's really how UpTax supports CPA firms, giving them AI tax preparation with a real review layer so they can scale without the traditional hiring grind. M That's exactly it. It let me automate my tax practice without losing the quality control that my clients expect from me. J Any hesitation left at this point, or are you all in? M All in. Next season I'm planning to grow client count again, and for the first time in years I'm not dreading the staffing conversation. J That's the dream, honestly, growing your book without growing your burnout. M Couldn't have said it better myself. J Mark, this has been such a real, practical conversation. Thank you so much for breaking down the numbers and being honest about what actually worked. M Thanks again for having me on, Jennifer. Always happy to talk about this stuff. J For everyone listening, if you're weighing offshore hiring against AI tax preparation, do yourself a favor and check out UpTax. Go to uptax.ai and book a demo today. Thanks for tuning in to the UpTax Podcast Room, we'll catch you next time.
