Robert Kim
tax firm owner · Phoenix, Arizona
Press play — energetic intro, then the conversation
J This is Jennifer from the UpTax Podcast Room, and today I've got Robert Kim with me. Robert Kim, so great to have you on. R Thanks for having me on the show, Jennifer. I'm excited, this is a topic I actually think about every single day. J I bet. So set the scene for us. You run a firm out in Phoenix, right? Tell me about the size of it. R Yeah, we're based in Phoenix, Arizona. We handle around 1,500 individual returns a year. It's a lean team, but it's grown fast the last few years. J Fifteen hundred returns is no joke. What does that do to your team during busy season? R Honestly, it's brutal. January through April, my staff is working twelve, thirteen hour days. We're triaging emails, chasing documents, and still trying to get returns drafted accurately and on time. J And I imagine hiring more people isn't as simple as just posting a job listing. R Not even close. Try to hire an accountant in this market, especially someone experienced enough to actually prepare complex returns, and you're either paying a fortune or waiting months to fill the seat. J So what were your options? Walk me through what you were actually considering before you found UpTax. R It really came down to two paths. One, build an offshore team myself. Two, find some kind of AI tax preparation tool that could actually handle the volume. J Let's talk about the offshore route first, because a lot of firm owners consider that. What did the real math look like? R On paper it looks cheap. But once you factor in recruiting, training on US tax law, management time, communication gaps, quality control, the actual cost creeps up fast. And there's compliance risk too, data security, client trust issues. J Right, because these are people's tax returns, not just spreadsheets. There's real risk if something's mishandled. R Exactly. And turnaround time was another problem. Time zone differences meant things sat overnight before I'd even see a draft. J So that's when you started looking at UpTax. R That's right. A colleague mentioned it, and honestly I was skeptical at first. I've seen a lot of software promise to automate your tax practice and just fall flat. J Fair skepticism. So what changed your mind? R I tried it on a batch of returns during a slower week, and the AI tax preparation engine actually drafted clean, accurate returns. Not just data entry, real preparation logic, pulling from source documents correctly. J And then your team just reviews and files, they're not starting from scratch. R Right, we never say it files itself, to be clear. UpTax drafts the return, and then we review it, our team plus their offshore review layer, before anything goes out the door. J That review layer piece is huge. So you get the speed of automation but still have human eyes on every return. R Exactly. That combination is what sold me. It's AI tax drafting up front, then a real review process, so I'm not sacrificing accuracy for speed. J Let's talk numbers, because that's what firm owners really want to know. How did the cost compare to building your own offshore team? R It wasn't close, honestly. Building an offshore team meant salaries, training pipelines, management overhead, plus my own time supervising quality. UpTax gave me that same reviewed output without any of that build-out cost. J So essentially you got capacity without adding headcount. R That's the exact phrase I'd use, capacity without headcount. I didn't have to hire an accountant, I didn't have to hire a bookkeeper, I just scaled what my existing team could handle. J That's honestly the dream for most firm owners I talk to, more volume without more hiring headaches. R It genuinely changed how my busy season feels. My staff isn't drowning anymore, they're reviewing drafted returns instead of building every one from a blank page. J How did turnaround time change for your clients? R Dramatically faster. What used to take days now takes hours in a lot of cases. Clients notice, and honestly, referrals have picked up because of it. J That's the kind of thing that compounds. Faster turnaround, happier clients, more referrals, more capacity to take them on. R Exactly. And I think that's what a lot of firm owners miss when they think about tax preparation outsourcing. It's not just about labor cost, it's about the whole client experience. J So if another firm owner was sitting where you were a year ago, debating offshore build versus a platform like UpTax, what would you tell them? R I'd say don't underestimate the hidden costs of building offshore yourself. And really look at how UpTax supports CPA firms, because it's not replacing your team, it's amplifying them. J I love that phrase, amplifying the team, not replacing it. That's really the whole philosophy behind UpTax. R It is. For us, it's been the difference between burning out every spring and actually growing the practice sustainably. J Robert, this has been such a real, grounded conversation. I think a lot of firm owners are going to see themselves in your story. R Thanks, Jennifer. It's been a genuine game-changer for us, and I don't say that lightly. J Well, I want to thank Robert Kim for coming on and sharing those real numbers with us. If you're a firm owner wondering how to automate a CPA practice without the offshore headaches, go check out UpTax and book a demo at uptax.ai.
