The prospect of artificial intelligence being able to do tax returns doesn't faze Jan Lewis — in fact, she expects it.
"Tax returns have to be prepared, and we are going to be assisted in that by AI in large part — we know that," the American Institute of CPAs chair told Accounting Today in an interview at the Engage 2026 conference last week. "But that does not mean that the tax return comes in and goes out solely with the use of AI without a human in the lead. That's where we come in with our value add."
That value, she explained, is all the advice and guidance that the tax pro can generate in the course of preparing a client's tax return — or of reviewing a return prepared by AI.
"Our firm uses an AI tax platform, but when it would come to me for final review, I would find things," she said. "And it's not the fault of the AI; they just didn't know that, 'Hey, maybe this is a planning opportunity,' or 'Hey, maybe I could suggest that to a client.'"
"We've always done this," acknowledged Lewis, who is also a tax partner at Top 100 Firm BMSS. "Our clients have always paid us for our ideas and our problem-solving. They don't necessarily just pay us to do a tax return. So we have always done it, and it's really great that we'll have more time to do it now."
The trick will be foregrounding that tax advice — making it the basis of your value proposition to the client.
"We all know our clients see value in us when we give them those additional services," Lewis said. "They're not really excited about the tax return; they're excited by the extra advisory service we give."
Highlighting that extra level of knowledge and expertise is only going to be more important as tax laws grow more complex — and as technologies like AI and social media enable competition for the position of trusted expert that CPAs currently occupy.
"I do think competition for our services is key," Lewis warned. "You can get tax advice from anywhere, and it might not be right. I follow all those influencers on social media that want to give tax advice. But doesn't that give us a chance to tell our story and explain things so the public understands more what CPAs do and what we know?"
She noted that the AICPA has a Tax Transformation initiative underway that aims to help tax pros refocus their practices to emphasize and elevate the planning and advisory work that they build on top of the tax compliance work that they do.
As part of that, the CPA.com arm of the AICPA last week released a number of new resources, including:
Tax Transformation Framework : This paper highlights the five drivers of tax transformation to help tax partners and practice leaders evolve from reactive, compliance-focused operations into proactive, AI-enabled advisory organizations, and includes service and pricing models and operational excellence.State of Tax Transformation 2026 Survey : A benchmarking survey on tax operations, technology adoption, talent development, advisory growth and barriers impacting transformation efforts. Responses will be accepted through July 21, 2026.- Firm Tax Working Group: A collaborative forum bringing together firm leaders and practitioners to share insights and discuss the future of the field.
