TidyCal for tax and accounting advisors
Stop giving away tax strategy on free intro calls
A setup for an independent tax advisor: a paid discovery call, a planning session, a year-end review, and more hours from February to April. Clients tell you what they have before they show up.
Free plan with no time limit. No card needed.
TidyCal is the best scheduling app for tax and accounting advisors who charge for their time. Clients pay when they book, with packages and subscriptions on the Free plan, and Individual Lifetime is $29 once. Pick Calendly if you run inbound sales on Salesforce or HubSpot, and Acuity Scheduling if you sell gift certificates or run a waitlist.
Charge for the discovery call and credit it back if they hire you. The free "quick question" call is where tax pros give away the most valuable 30 minutes of their year.
The 4 best scheduling apps for tax and accounting advisors
I make TidyCal, so it's listed first. Each tool below says what it does better than us.
| # | Tool | Best for | Starts at |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TidyCal Best value | Solo pros who charge for their time | $29 once |
| 2 | Calendly | Sales teams on Salesforce or HubSpot | $10/seat/mo |
| 3 | Acuity Scheduling | Appointment businesses with intake forms | $20/mo |
| 4 | SavvyCal | Consultants and sales reps with lots of 1:1 calls | $12/user/mo |
01
Best value
Best for: solo pros who charge for their time
- Price
- Free plan. Individual Lifetime is $29 once. Pro is $12 a month or $99 a year.
Free plan with paid bookings, packages and subscriptions. $29 once if you want more.
02
Best for: sales teams on Salesforce or HubSpot
- Price
- $10 per seat a month on Standard, billed yearly ($12 monthly). The free plan is one event type.
Familiar to clients. The free plan is one event type and payments need Standard at $10 per seat a month.
03
Best for: appointment businesses with intake forms
- Price
- No free plan, a 7-day trial. Starter is $20 a month ($16 billed yearly).
Strong intake forms, gift certificates and a waitlist. No free plan, from $20 a month.
04
Best for: consultants and sales reps with lots of 1:1 calls
- Price
- No free plan. Basic is $12 per user a month ($10 billed yearly).
Invitees overlay their calendar on yours. No free plan, and payments need Premium.
Three paid calls
Here is how an independent tax advisor might set it up. Ledgerline is made up; the prices are typical for advisory work, not bulk return prep.
| Booking type | Length | Price | Type | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid discovery call | 45 min | $300 | Paid | Credited to the engagement if they hire you. |
| Tax planning session | 90 min | $700 | Paid | Entity, estimates, deductions. Written plan after. |
| Year-end review | 60 min | $450 | Paid | November and December only. |
Example prices. Charge what you charge.
A document checklist in the booking form
Four questions on the discovery call. The checkbox is the useful one.
- What best describes you? (Freelancer / 1099 / Single-member LLC / S corp / Partnership / Not sure) On: Paid discovery call
- Approximate annual revenue (Under $50k / $50k to $250k / $250k to $1M / Over $1M) On: Paid discovery call
- Which of these can you bring? (Last year's return / Profit and loss statement / 1099s / Payroll reports / None yet) On: Paid discovery call
- What is the main thing you want help with? On: Paid discovery call
TidyCal does not take file uploads on the booking form, which is fine: you do not want tax documents flying around a scheduler anyway. Use the checklist to know what exists, then collect documents in your secure client portal.
A year, by season
- January
- Open Saturday hours with a date override. Discovery calls spike.
- February to April 15
- Longer weekdays on your availability. Planning sessions pause; prep takes over.
- April 16 to 30
- Block the whole week off. You earned it.
- Summer
- Planning sessions, estimated-payment check-ins.
- November and December
- Turn on the year-end review booking type. Turn it off January 1.
How an advisor actually uses it
The "Book a consult" button on the firm website opens the booking page. A freelancer picks the $300 discovery call, checks "Last year's return" and "1099s", and pays at booking.
You read the intake the night before and walk in knowing it is a single-member LLC doing about $180k. The call is advice, not fact-finding.
If they sign on, the $300 is credited. If they do not, you were paid for an hour of real work.
Settings
| Setting | What to set | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | A normal schedule and a "tax season" one with longer hours | Assign the season schedule to discovery calls from January. |
| Date overrides | Add Saturdays in February and March; block the week after April 15 | Specific dates override your weekly hours. |
| Minimum notice | 48 hours on discovery, 72 on planning | Time to read the intake. |
| Manual approval | On for discovery calls in March (Lifetime and Pro) | Say no to "I need my return in 3 days" before it books. |
Also useful for firms
Round robin and a team page
Spread discovery calls across preparers with round robin. Pro has no per-seat fees.
Agency Lifetime and ProEmbed on your website
Put the booking page on your website's "Book a consult" page.
Free planAutomatic Zoom, Google Meet and Teams links
Automatic Zoom or Google Meet links for every call (Lifetime and Pro).
Lifetime and Pro plansWhat TidyCal costs
Free, $0
Most of the setup above. Group classes, approvals, cancellation fees, booking limits and automatic video links need a paid plan. Not a trial.
Individual Lifetime, $29 once
Pay one time through AppSumo. Adds group bookings, custom reminders, automatic Zoom and Google Meet links, and 10 calendars.
Pro, $12/mo or $99/yr
All of it, with no TidyCal branding, unlimited calendars and team scheduling with no seat fees.
Stripe and PayPal charge their usual processing fees on paid bookings. On the Free plan, Stripe bookings also carry a 1% TidyCal platform fee. See payment fee details. Compare every plan.
How we checked
Every competitor price comes from that company's own pricing page, read on September 30, 2026, at the billing period shown next to it. Tools with no published price we could verify carry no dollar figure. The ranking is for tax and accounting advisors who take bookings and charge for some of them. Nobody paid to be on this list. TidyCal's prices come straight from the plans we sell, so they match what you will pay, and the 1% platform fee on Stripe bookings is the live rate.
Questions tax and accounting advisors ask us
Can I charge for a discovery call?
Yes. Connect Stripe or PayPal and set a price. Clients pay when they book. Paid bookings are on every plan, including Free.
Can clients upload tax documents when they book?
No. Booking questions support text, dropdowns, checkboxes, dates and phone numbers, but not file uploads. Use a checklist question and collect documents in your secure portal.
Can I add extra hours for tax season?
Yes. Use date-specific availability to add hours or block days, or keep a separate availability schedule for the season.
Can a small firm share one booking page?
Yes. Agency Lifetime (up to 4 people) and Pro include a team booking page and round robin. Pro does not charge per seat.
Can I turn a booking type off after tax season?
Yes. Disable a booking type and it disappears from your page until you turn it back on. Your settings and questions are kept.
Keep reading
Copy this setup in about 10 minutes
Make the booking types above, paste your questions in, share the link. Free to start.
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