--- title: "AI for Tax Advisors: What Really Helps in the Firm – Phone, Appointments, Assistant" description: "Where AI noticeably relieves a tax firm – availability, appointment booking, correspondence and filing – and what § 203 StGB means for using external AI. Honest, without promising a DATEV replacement." type: "wissen" product: "webRichtung" slug: "ai-for-tax-advisors" source_language: "de" target_languages: ["de", "en", "es", "pl", "tr"] published: "2026-06-14" status: "publish" faq_json: [{"q":"May a tax firm use external AI for client data?","a":"In principle, yes. § 203 para. 3 sentence 2 StGB has, since 2017, permitted external contributing persons – this includes IT and AI service providers. The prerequisite is an obligation in text form with instruction about the criminal consequences, in parallel to the data processing agreement (DPA) under Art. 28 GDPR; § 62a StBerG governs the professional-law side. If the firm omits the obligation, it can make itself criminally liable under § 203 para. 4 No. 1 StGB. Have the contract reviewed by the data protection officer."}, {"q":"Is a DPA under the GDPR enough for AI in the firm?","a":"For pure data protection, yes; for client confidentiality, no. A DPA and § 203 StGB protect different goods: personal data on the one hand, professional secrets on the other. For a tax firm, therefore, in addition to the DPA, a confidentiality obligation with a criminal-liability instruction is needed. Ask the provider specifically for both and have it cross-checked by the data protection officer."}, {"q":"Does AI replace professional advice or accounting in the firm?","a":"No. The AI functions described here take over availability, appointment booking, correspondence drafts and filing – i.e. routine and preparatory work. They do not replace tax advice, professional review, or accounting software. Complex tax queries still belong with the advisor and specialist staff."}, {"q":"Can AI pick up the firm's phone during peak times?","a":"The Phone Agent answers calls – several in parallel too – answers standard questions from the stored Knowledge Base, records requests and callback numbers in a structured way, forwards them according to rules, and books appointments directly into the calendar. Every call ends up in the log with an AI summary. In the current model, billing is according to usage, with a free trial period."}, {"q":"Do I need clients' consent for a firm-wide AI platform?","a":"For firm-wide infrastructure that is generally available like an email server or a DMS, no individual consent is needed according to the prevailing interpretation of § 62a StBerG. It can be different if a service directly serves a single mandate (§ 62a para. 5 StBerG). This distinction is a case-by-case matter – clarify it with your data protection officer; this is not legal advice."}] language: "en" source_id: "wissen/ki-fuer-steuerberater" source_hash: "f1e0cd7a837d3fa014a2c358c07c9d2aa11709bc9e377a2b601420c0c6bcb9ce" --- It's Monday morning, just before the advance VAT return deadline: two staff members on vacation, one sick, the phone ringing every few seconds. Clients ask about deadlines, want appointments, drop off documents – and the specialist staff, who should actually be working on the complex cases, picks up the phone for the third time in ten minutes. The German Association of Tax Advisors calls exactly this mix of high standards and too little availability the permanent state of many firms. AI won't solve this overnight. But at a few clearly defined points, it noticeably takes the load off the team – without replacing the advisory work that matters. ## Where AI Really Helps in the Firm – and Where It Doesn't The bottleneck in a tax firm is rarely a lack of clients. It's availability amid a skills shortage: too many interruptions, too few hands, too little time for the cases with real weight. That's exactly where AI helps – with routine, availability and preparatory work. It does not help with professional advice. Tax-law queries, structuring, review: that stays with the advisor and specialist staff, and current systems can't reliably provide complex tax information anyway. So this division stays honest: AI handles the before and the around, the human handles the actual work. ## Availability: the Phone Agent at the Firm's Phone The most obvious relief is the phone. The **Phone Agent** gets its own number to which you forward calls when the line is busy, after hours, or in general. It answers calls – several in parallel too – and takes over what otherwise pulls the team out of focused work: - answering standard questions from the stored Knowledge Base (opening hours, procedures, general deadline notes) - recording requests and callback numbers in a structured way, forwarding them according to rules - booking appointments directly (as an appointment agent it creates the entry itself in the calendar) - recording every call in the log with an AI summary What it does not do: provide tax advice or invent information about specific clients. This boundary is intentional – it's part of what a firm is legally allowed to outsource at all. More on this in [AI call answering](/de/wissen/ki-anrufannahme.html) and [automatic call answering](/de/wissen/automatische-anrufannahme.html); what unanswered calls cost is shown in [missing calls](/de/wissen/anrufe-verpassen-kosten.html). ## Appointments Without Phone Ping-Pong Many calls are only about an appointment. With **calendar**, clients get a booking link and pick free time slots themselves – annual review, document handover, follow-up appointment. The Phone Agent accesses the same calendar, so appointments booked by phone also end up there without double maintenance. The approach is deliberately kept zero-touch: defaults that work right away, instead of a setup marathon. Background in [online appointment booking](/de/wissen/online-terminbuchung.html). ## Correspondence and Research: the Assistant as Groundworker **assist** is the firm's AI chat for the text work around things: drafts for client letters, summaries, pre-structuring recurring correspondence, a dictation function for capturing notes on the go. The assistant produces artifacts – drafts and review templates – that a human approves. The dividing line applies here too: it delivers preparatory work, not the final professional responsibility. ## Filing: audit-proof, searchable – but no DATEV replacement Receipts, notices, contracts, client documents: **documents** files documents in an audit-proof way (Object Lock / WORM), reads them via OCR and makes them findable in full text via AI search. This replaces searching through mailboxes and mountains of files. What it expressly is not: accounting or tax software. There is **no DATEV integration** and it does not replace procedural documentation – anyone who promises that is exaggerating. documents is the secure, searchable filing system alongside it. Further reading in [DMS – what is it?](/de/wissen/dms-was-ist-das.html) and [GoBD-compliant archiving](/de/wissen/gobd-konforme-archivierung.html). In the background, **core** holds these modules together on a shared data basis without silos: what's recorded on the phone, the booked appointment, the filed receipt – everything refers to the same client, instead of sitting in separate tools. ## § 203 StGB: the framework you can't skip Tax advisors are bearers of professional secrecy under § 203 StGB. This protects more than the GDPR: not only personal data, but every client secret – right down to the fact that a mandate even exists. That's why a data processing agreement (DPA) under Art. 28 GDPR alone is not enough. A firm may use external AI because § 203 para. 3 sentence 2 StGB has permitted contributing persons since 2017 – but as a design principle this requires: a confidentiality obligation in text form with instruction about the criminal consequences, the professional-law requirements from § 62a StBerG, processing in the EU, and data minimization. The chain of obligation must reach down to the last link, including downstream infrastructure providers. This is not a marginal detail: if the firm omits the obligation, it can make itself criminally liable under § 203 para. 4 No. 1 StGB. What suffices in an individual case – and when client consent becomes necessary – belongs on the desk of the data protection officer. This here is orientation, not legal advice. ## How to Test It in Your Firm Start small, as the association's pilot also recommends: one function, a clear goal definition, involve the team early. The least risky place to start is the phone. With webRichtung phone you set up your own number, forward calls when the line is busy or after hours, and check in the call log what the agent catches during a typical rush period – in the current model with a free trial period (15 minutes of conversation within 7 days) and billing according to usage. Before going live with client involvement, clarify the contracts (DPA plus § 203 obligation) with the data protection officer. On to the modules: [Phone](/module/phone/), [Calendar](/module/calendar/), [Assist](/module/assist/), [Documents](/module/documents/) – or straight into a [conversation](/kontakt/).