Wolters Kluwer Adds Agentic AI to Its Tax Preparation Software

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting said on October 23, 2026 that it has built agentic return preparation into CCH Axcess Tax, giving US firms AI tax preparation software that prepares and calculates individual Form 1040 returns before a professional looks at them.

The agents work inside the cloud platform where firms already prepare, calculate and review returns. They are part of CCH Axcess Tax rather than a separate product.

For a firm partner, the change falls on the slowest part of the season: the hours between receiving client documents and starting review. Wolters Kluwer says the aim is to get more returns ready for review with the same staff. The company has not published figures on time saved, accuracy or error rates, and it has not published pricing or licensing terms for the agents.

The launch follows the agentic tax preparation release in TaxWise, the company’s product for smaller preparers, announced on October 5. CCH Axcess serves a different customer, the mid-sized and larger practice, and the two products now carry the same approach.

AI tax preparation software arrives in CCH Axcess Tax

For individual Form 1040 returns, CCH Axcess Tax powered by Expert AI prepares and calculates the return. It then flags the exceptions that need attention before professional review begins.

Cathy Rowe, executive vice president and segment leader for the US professional market at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting, framed the release as a change in how the work is divided.

“Agentic tax preparation marks a significant shift in how tax work gets done. It helps firms create more capacity without sacrificing quality or control, so professionals can focus their expertise where it matters most.”

Cathy Rowe, Executive Vice President and Segment Leader, U.S. Professional Market, Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting

Wolters Kluwer will show more of how CCH Axcess moves work across tax, planning and audit at CCH Connections 2026, which begins October 26 in Orlando.

What the agent does on a Form 1040

Most AI tax preparation software automates one task, such as reading a W-2. The CCH Axcess agent coordinates several steps of the return, using prior-year information and the current year’s source documents.

Wolters Kluwer lists six functions:

• Identify expected documents and missing information
• Classify documents and extract supported tax data
• Map information into the return and calculate results
• Surface diagnostics, review findings and exceptions
• Link calculated amounts to supporting evidence
• Record decisions and generate workpapers for handoff

The first two steps build on document capture and data extraction, which CCH Axcess already offers through its Scan product. In June 2026 Wolters Kluwer expanded Expert AI in the platform with AI-powered Scan and K-1 automation, covering W-2s, 1099s and K-1 supplemental data.

The evidence links and workpapers matter as much as the draft. A reviewer who can click from a calculated figure to the document behind it spends less time hunting for support. A workpaper generated at handoff gives the file a record of what the agent decided.

Firms also get a view of which returns are ready for review and which still carry open exceptions. That is a queue-management feature as much as a preparation one.

Review and sign-off stay with the preparer

Wolters Kluwer says professionals review the work, resolve the issues that need judgement and keep responsibility for deciding and approving the final return. The agents prepare, check and advance the work, the company says, while people review, decide and approve.

The agents run on the firm’s own data, authoritative CCH content, and each firm’s permissions and controls. For a practice with staff-level access rules, the agent inherits those rules rather than sitting outside them.

Wolters Kluwer’s announcement covers individual Form 1040 returns only. It does not extend to partnership, corporate or other business returns.

AI tax preparation software and the IRS duty of care

Handing preparation to an agent does not change who signs. The IRS Office of Professional Responsibility issued Alert 2026-19 on June 24, 2026, setting out introductory guidelines for responsible AI use in federal tax practice.

The alert applies Circular 230 section 10.22, due diligence, to AI output. “Practitioners cannot rely solely on AI,” it says, and practitioners must check AI-produced facts, citations and calculations.

It also reaches competence under section 10.35, which requires practitioners to understand the tools they use and where they can err. Section 10.36 asks firms to have procedures covering staff training, secure data handling, accuracy monitoring, vetting of third-party tools and documentation.

The alert covers fees too. Under section 10.27(a), the OPR says efficiency gains should be reflected in what clients are charged, and that practitioners should disclose AI activity. A firm that prepares returns in less time while billing for the old hours has a problem the software does not solve.

The workflow Wolters Kluwer describes fits the review expectation. Evidence links and recorded decisions give a preparer something to test. They also give a firm something to show if a return is questioned.

Client data is the second exposure. The OPR alert points to Internal Revenue Code sections 6713 and 7216(a), and Circular 230 section 10.51(a)(15), which address unauthorised use or disclosure of tax return information, including through AI platforms. Firms should check how their engagement letters and consent forms describe AI processing before the agents touch client files. The tax season engagement and consent kit is one starting point, and the AICPA AI tax risk group is working on the professional standards side.

The competition in AI tax preparation software

Wolters Kluwer is not alone in selling agent-based tools to the profession. Thomson Reuters has released the latest CoCounsel for Tax and Accounting, and Intuit and Drake sell their own preparation products to firms.

The difference in the CCH Axcess approach is placement. Wolters Kluwer built the agents into the preparation, calculation and review engine rather than adding an assistant alongside it. Its TaxWise release does the same for a smaller customer.

That choice has a practical effect on a firm’s software budget. A firm already on CCH Axcess does not need to adopt a separate tool, and does not need to move client data to a second system for the AI step.

Firms comparing platforms will want what the announcement leaves out: error rates on first-pass returns, the share of 1040s that arrive in review with no open exceptions, and the time a reviewer spends on an agent-prepared file against a manually prepared one. Those figures decide whether the capacity gain is real.

What comes next for CCH Axcess Tax

CCH Connections 2026 opens in Orlando on October 26. Wolters Kluwer is expected to show how the agents work across tax, planning and audit there. Firms preparing for the 2027 filing season will have until then to put pricing, module access and review procedures to the vendor.