Phone service for tax firms: Section 203 in mind

It is early March, and the firm is in full swing. A tax assistant is working on the year-end closing of a GmbH client when the phone rings for the third time in twenty minutes: one client wants to know if their return has been submitted, the next asks about missing documents, a third has a letter from the tax office in their mailbox. Each of these calls is justified – and each one pulls the assistant away from the task they must then re-engage with. During the high season, the phone is the biggest enemy of focused work.

Why the firm phone line overflows during peak season

Tax firms work in cycles: year-end closings and tax returns, payroll runs at month-end, interspersed with tax audits and advance payment notices. In such phases, additional call volume hits work that demands sustained concentration. The available staff must handle the phone alongside their actual case work.

The damage cuts both ways: the burden on the team and the availability clients expect. Each interruption separates the case worker from their current task, while an unanswered call remains as open work. A well-organized phone reception should handle this incoming volume without pretending to provide professional advice.

What the Phone Agent takes on in your firm

webRichtung phone assumes a clearly defined portion of phone reception according to your specifications:

• Take or handle calls: phone carries the administrative intake as its own work area.
• Manage callers: the call data needed for the assignment remains within the intended context.
• Configure behavior: The wizard sets up the Phone Agent from your firm context.
• Evaluate usage: Statistics show how the intake function is used and where you need to refine rules.

For configuration, the agent needs a tight mandate: which administrative matters belong in phone reception, which caller data are needed for this, and which topics must never be answered professionally? This boundary is embedded in the firm context and in the Phone Agent’s behavior. Statistics do not replace individual case review, but they show whether your chosen intake function matches the actual call volume of the firm.

What it deliberately does not do: provide tax or legal advice, assess figures, categorize notices. It handles the administrative intake and caller management, not the professional work.

Professional secrecy: the framework your firm must understand

Tax advisers are subject to professional secrecy under Section 203(1) StGB. With an external phone service, this concerns more than data protection – and there has long been a misunderstanding on this point, so to be precise:

• Two protection areas, multiple requirements. GDPR protects personal data; Sections 203 StGB and professional law protect client secrecy. A Data Processing Agreement under Article 28 GDPR does not automatically cover professional law requirements.
• Participating persons are covered. Section 203(3) StGB describes when “other participating persons” may access third-party secrets: insofar as this is necessary for their activity.
• Obligation in text form. Professional law specifies this in Section 62a StBerG: the service provider must be obligated to confidentiality in text form and instructed on the criminal penalties; if they in turn engage other providers, the obligation must be passed on. If the firm fails this safeguard, it can become criminally liable under Section 203(4) StGB.
• Location and protection of processing. For services outside Germany, Section 62a StBerG requires protection of secrets comparable to that in Germany, insofar as protection of secrets requires it. Data protection rules on transfers and data minimization apply as well.

This is not legal advice: you must review the specific contract, the necessity of access, the obligation chain, and the data protection design in each case professionally. Section 62a StBerG particularly requires careful selection, a contract in text form, and the service provider’s obligation to confidentiality.

For practical review, it is worth looking at the individual paragraphs: Under Section 62a(1) StBerG, access may only be granted to the extent necessary for the service. The contract must reflect the requirements of subsection (3), including confidentiality, access only to the necessary extent, and rules for other persons involved. Under subsection (5), if a service directly serves a single client, the client’s consent may additionally be required. These questions cannot be replaced by a general product claim.

Protect concentrated work rather than just respond

The greatest leverage is not a blanket availability promise, but protecting focused work. Define in which situations phone handles the intake function, and then review usage in the statistics. Start, for example, with a clearly defined administrative intake, not with the goal of solving every client concern.

When refining, the quality of the mandate matters: Are the needed caller data clear, is the boundary to professional advice unambiguous, and does the configured behavior fit your firm? What does not belong in this framework remains deliberately with the team. This way, phone reception grows gradually, along actual needs and clear professional boundaries, while the final authority remains with the firm.

How to test it in your firm

webRichtung phone is the first step: configure the Phone Agent from your firm context, clearly limit the intake mandate, and review usage through statistics. Before productive deployment, contract basis, confidentiality chain, required data, and professional exclusions should all be examined together. The account is free with no base fee; self-registration includes 7.5 Credits in test budget. How answering basically works is described in automatic call answering; what missed calls actually cost is shown in What missed calls really cost. For a public booking interface, there is webRichtung calendar as a separate option. Questions about the contract and setup are clarified via the contact page.