Outbound marketing for accounting firms, or inbound: where planning clients come from

Inbound brings you owners who are already looking, through referrals, search and your own content, but you can't set its pace. Outbound marketing for accounting firms lets you pick who you reach and when. For IRS matters, Circular 230 section 10.30 applies to a practitioner's advertising and solicitation, and adds conditions when you contact someone first. A practical mix is one steady inbound source plus one outbound or paid source you can turn up and down.

The two, defined

Inbound: the owner finds you. Referrals, search, your website, articles, talks, word of mouth.
Outbound: you reach the owner first. Email, phone, mail, messages on LinkedIn, events where you approach people.
Paid ads sit between the two. You choose who sees the ad, but the owner chooses to respond.

How they compare

	Inbound	Outbound	Paid ads
Who starts it	The owner	You	You show the ad, the owner responds
Speed to first meetings	Slow to build, then steady	Starts once your list and copy are ready	Starts once the ads are live
Control over who you meet	Low	High	Medium to high
Your time	Content and relationships, every week	List building, writing, follow-up	Setup and daily management, unless someone runs it
Main risk	Too slow for a target date	Rules, reputation, reply rates	Paying for the wrong clicks

There's no winner. Inbound owners trust you sooner. Outbound and ads let you fill a calendar on a date you choose.

Inbound that works for planning

Referral partners. Attorneys, financial advisers and bankers meet owners who need planning. Agree what a good referral looks like and send them work in return.

Your own prep clients. The owners already in your book. A note in May or June offering a fixed-fee planning review with a date can be the quickest source you have. Read the section 7216 part below before you send it, because using prep return information to offer planning may need each client's written consent first.

Content that answers real questions. One clear page on a question owners type, such as when an S corporation election has to be filed, does more than ten generic posts. Form 2553 must be filed no more than 2 months and 15 days after the start of the tax year the election takes effect, or during the year before (IRS, instructions for Form 2553). Facts like that make a page useful.

See if your firm is a fit

Outbound marketing for accounting firms: rules that apply

This section is general information and is not legal advice. Check every point with your own adviser and your state board before you start outreach.

Circular 230 section 10.30

For IRS matters, a practitioner's advertising and solicitation are covered by Treasury Circular 230 section 10.30 (31 CFR 10.30). The ban on unlawful uninvited solicitations reaches ones you make "directly or indirectly", and the labelling rule reaches any lawful solicitation "made by or on behalf of" a practitioner. Key points in plain words:

You may not use, or take part in using, any public communication or private solicitation with a false, fraudulent or coercive statement or claim, or a misleading or deceptive one (10.30(a)(1)).
An uninvited written or oral solicitation that breaks federal or state law, or another rule that applies to you, is not allowed. Any lawful solicitation made by you or for you must still clearly say it is a solicitation and, if applicable, name the source of the information used to choose the recipient (10.30(a)(2)).
If a prospect has made it known they don't want to be solicited, you may not keep trying to contact them (10.30(c)).
For direct mail and what the rule calls "e-commerce communications", keep a copy of the actual message and a list or description of who received it for at least 36 months from the last time it was sent or used (10.30(c)).
Fee information for matters where costs may be incurred must say whether the client will pay those costs, and you may charge no more than the rates you publish for at least 30 calendar days after the last date they were published (10.30(b)).
Enrolled agents may not use the term "certified" to describe their designation or imply an employer and employee relationship with the IRS. "Enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service" is one of the descriptions the rule accepts (10.30(a)(1)).
You may not assist, or accept help from, anyone who to your knowledge gets clients in a way this section forbids (10.30(d)).

Solicitation of employment that section 10.30 prohibits counts as disreputable conduct under section 10.51(a)(5). The same paragraph names false or misleading statements made to deceive a client or prospective client in order to win work, and hinting that you can improperly get special treatment from the IRS (31 CFR 10.51). A practitioner who willfully breaks any part of Circular 230 other than section 10.33 can be sanctioned (31 CFR 10.52(a)(1)). If you have principal authority for overseeing the firm's practice, section 10.36(a) says you must take reasonable steps to make sure the firm has adequate procedures in effect to follow these rules (31 CFR 10.36).

The IRS adds that all states regulate advertising and solicitation by attorneys and CPAs, and that no practitioner may use a sign, symbol or design that resembles those of the IRS or the United States, such as the IRS seal (IRS, practitioner FAQ, Q15). Check the rules for every state you market in.

Using your prep client list

Section 7216 makes it a misdemeanor for a preparer to knowingly or recklessly disclose information given to them to prepare a return, or to use it for any purpose other than preparing or helping to prepare the return, unless the statute or a regulation allows it. In most cases the penalty is a fine of up to $1,000, up to a year in prison, or both, plus the costs of prosecution (26 USC 7216).

The regulations let you keep a list of prep clients' names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, entity type and return form number. You may use it to send tax information and general business or economic information for educational purposes, or to offer more tax return preparation. The rule also says, "The list may not be used to solicit any service or product other than tax return preparation services" (26 CFR 301.7216-2(n)).

Unless section 7216 or one of the exceptions in 26 CFR 301.7216-2 allows a use, it needs the client's written consent first (26 CFR 301.7216-3). The consent must:

name your firm and the client, and be signed and dated by the client;
describe the use and each type of product or service you will offer, and say which return information you will use;
come before the use, and be given freely. Making any of your services depend on it makes the consent involuntary, so it doesn't count.

You may not ask for consent to solicit business unrelated to return preparation after you hand over the completed return for signature, and you may not ask again for a substantially similar purpose after a client says no. A copy goes to the client when they sign. If the consent sets no end date, it lasts one year. For Form 1040 filers, the consent must also use the IRS wording in Revenue Procedure 2013-14 (IRS, section 7216 FAQ). For clients who don't file Form 1040, such as corporations, the consent can be in any format, including an engagement letter, as long as it has the required contents (26 CFR 301.7216-3(a)(3)(iii)).

One exception matters for CPA firms. A preparer lawfully in the practice of law or accountancy may use a client's return information to provide other legal or accounting services to that client (26 CFR 301.7216-2(h)). That exception is about doing the work for the client. When the IRS finalised the list rules, it declined to add an exception for using return information to solicit accounting services and said clients may consent in writing to that use instead (T.D. 9608, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2013-03). The regulations don't say whether tax planning counts as "tax return preparation services". Ask your adviser before you rely on either reading.

Email and phone laws

Commercial email falls under the CAN-SPAM Act (15 USC 7704). Each message must clearly say it is an advertisement or solicitation, unless the recipient gave prior affirmative consent. It must tell the reader how to opt out, and include a valid physical postal address, which can be a street address or a registered PO box or private mailbox (16 CFR 316.2). Headers and subject lines may not mislead, and opt-outs must be honoured within 10 business days.

For calls and texts, the federal rules bar autodialed or prerecorded calls to mobile numbers without prior express consent, and prior express written consent when the call is marketing. Sales calls to residential numbers on the national Do Not Call list are barred unless an exception applies, such as an established business relationship or the person's prior express invitation or permission, and sales calls to residential numbers must fall between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. their local time (47 CFR 64.1200). Whether an owner's mobile counts as residential depends on the facts, so check with your adviser.

Picking your mix

Start with your own book, once you're clear on the section 7216 point and have written consent where it's needed.
Add one referral partner who serves the owners you want.
Choose one source you can scale: outbound under the rules above, or paid ads.
Measure each source separately, from enquiry to signed engagement. See weekly growth numbers.
Drop what doesn't produce signed work after a fair test, and say in advance what a fair test is.

Worked example (example numbers only, use your own): A firm wants 12 new planning clients in the next 5 months. Its referral partners send about one owner a month who signs. That's 5. The other 7 need a source the firm can schedule. If one meeting in four signs, the firm needs 28 more meetings from that source, about 6 a month.

What our marketing has taught us about sources

We run marketing that fills tax firms' calendars with qualified planning meetings. Our marketing uses ads, funded by the firm, aimed at business owners in the states it serves who fit its signed criteria. Owners who respond send an enquiry, and each one is checked against the firm's criteria before anything is booked.

Nothing goes out under your firm's name without your approval.
The firm's criteria come first. Business owner and decision maker, the entity type it wants, a revenue or profit floor it sets, wants proactive planning during the year, in states it serves, and new to the firm.
Existing clients don't count. Meetings with owners already in the firm's book are kept out of the total.

Where to start this week

Write down your target number of new planning clients and the date.
Count what your referral partners and your own book produced last year.
Read section 10.30 and the section 7216 rules before any outreach.
Check your state board's advertising rules.
Pick one schedulable source and define a fair test before you start.

Questions firm owners ask

What is outbound marketing for accounting firms? Any marketing where the firm reaches the business owner first, such as email, calls, mail or LinkedIn messages. For IRS matters, Circular 230 section 10.30 applies, and state board advertising rules, email laws and phone laws may apply too.

Is inbound or outbound better for a tax planning practice? Inbound owners trust you sooner but arrive at their own pace. Outbound and paid ads let you choose who you reach and when. A practical mix is one steady inbound source plus one source you can schedule.

Can I email my tax prep clients about planning services? Check section 7216 first. A prep client list kept under 26 CFR 301.7216-2(n) may not be used to solicit any service other than tax return preparation. Using return information to solicit other services generally needs the client's signed written consent first under 26 CFR 301.7216-3. Ask your adviser whether your planning offer needs that consent.

What does Circular 230 say about solicitation? Section 10.30 bans false, fraudulent, coercive, misleading or deceptive claims. Uninvited solicitations that break federal or state law are not allowed, and any lawful solicitation must say it is one. Stop when a prospect says they don't want to be solicited, keep copies and recipient lists of direct mail and e-commerce messages for at least 36 months, and don't assist or accept help from anyone you know gets clients in a way the section forbids.

Sources

General information from the official sources listed below, checked 25 Oct 2026. Not tax or legal advice.

If you'd rather have qualified owners booked for you

Financial Sales Insider is a marketing company for US CPA and EA-led tax firms. We fill your calendar with qualified tax planning meetings. Our marketing finds business owners who fit your criteria, qualifies them, and books them with you.

20 qualified tax planning meetings in 90 days, guaranteed.

If you have fewer than 20 qualified meetings after 90 days, we keep booking with no further monthly fee until you reach 20.

A qualified meeting is one where a business owner we've qualified books onto your calendar and shows up.

See if your firm is a fit Form not loading? Book here.

Johnny Logan, Founder, Financial Sales Insider.

Financial Sales Insider · Florida · (305) 513-1710