How One Solo Practitioner Skipped the Hire With AI-Powered Intake

The Problem

Wright is a solo practitioner. Her client list leans international, and visa and residency changes keep that roster turning over. Her referrals come in faster than she can take them, and she regularly turns new clients away.

For a solo firm owner, every hour spent chasing paperwork is an hour taken from client work.

“Before I found SmartVault and SmartRequestAI, I had actually been looking into getting an administrative assistant for some of the gathering of information stuff,” Wright says.

She built a Microsoft Form questionnaire from scratch each year, covering basic changes like address or income type, with no connection to anything filed the year before. “It was a little bit redundant,” Wright says. “It didn’t pull anything from prior years.” She checked every response by hand against the prior return, and the only way to chase a missing item was email.

“I’ve always had to wait a few days,” Wright says.

Hiring an assistant wasn’t about growing the practice; it was about keeping the document chase from swallowing the time she needed for actual client work.

SmartVault Works Alongside ProConnect

Wright has run her practice on ProConnect for more than a decade. Client portals have been a different story, one she tested fell short because clients couldn’t manage their logins or reset their own passwords. SmartVault, Intuit’s recommended partner, works alongside ProConnect and keeps client documents connected to the software where she prepares returns. “I don’t have to download from a different portal and then re-upload into it,” Wright says. “It’s fantastic.“

What Changed

For her clients

Many of Wright’s clients hold foreign accounts, and getting those records to her used to mean tracking down individual statements or building a spreadsheet. SmartRequestAI uses each client’s prior-year return to build a questionnaire and document request list tailored to them, and her clients entered bank transactions directly into it. “They didn’t have to find a spreadsheet or put anything together, because everything was right there,” Wright says. Those extra fields drew a lot of positive feedback from her clients.

For Wright

SmartRequestAI replaced the Microsoft Forms questionnaire she had rebuilt every year. “I don’t have to rely on my Microsoft Forms template that was not as great as it could have been,” she says.

Automated Reminders nudge clients to finish their Request, so the firm no longer has to chase them. These Automated Reminders took over the follow-up she used to track on her own, even after tax season when she’s no longer actively chasing anyone. “That made me not look like I was dropping the ball,” Wright says.

She also sends drafts to clients directly from SmartVault now, a step she says had become cumbersome and time-consuming. “That alone would have sold me on this product,” she says.

What’s Next

The next SmartRequestAI update builds on the SmartVault + ProConnect connection she already uses. By the end of Q4 2026, firms will be able to send a client’s completed questionnaire into ProConnect as a draft return in one click, so answers don’t have to be keyed in again. Wright previewed the upcoming enhancements to SmartRequestAI, “I can’t wait to try it out,” she says.

The Business Outcome

Wright’s usage volume shows the scale. Working alone, she sent 373 SmartRequestAI requests as of August 31, 2026, and 334 of them were built using the clients’ data from their prior year 1040.

“I no longer feel like I need to hire that part-timer to help me out,” she says. That frees her next hire for something else. “At this point, I can look at bringing in another tax preparer instead of an administrative assistant,” Wright says. She’s particular about fit and the role she’s considering would add capacity to serve clients instead of keeping up with paperwork.

That capacity matters because of her referrals. Wright doesn’t plan to advertise, and she still gets more referrals than she can take on. “I usually end up having to turn people down,” she says. This year, she’s hoping to turn away fewer. “I’ve got more time on my hands, thanks to SmartVault and [SmartRequestAI],” she says.

Trust and Advocacy

Wright has added more SmartRequestAI Requests to her account. SmartRequestAI requires Request bundles purchases in bundles of 50. The time it saved her this season was one reason, and where she sees it heading was the other. “I can see where it’s going, and it’s going to continue to save me time and make me more accurate,” she says.

For a practice of one, accuracy matters as much as time. “The more things that can be automated, the less mistakes I’m going to make,” Wright says. “That’s just the net gain for this sole practitioner.“

She’s been telling other CPAs she knows about SmartVault.

See how SmartRequestAI handles document collection for a solo practice