Every client gets a private Basecamp project. Permanent. Searchable. Yours forever.
Basecamp is where the engagement lives. Documents, meeting recaps, advisory threads, IRS notices, draft returns — all in one project, organized, searchable. If you stop being a client tomorrow, you take the entire project with you. We don't hold anyone's records hostage.
A project tool. Adapted for tax work.
Basecamp is a project-management platform built by 37signals. It's been around since 2004. What makes it the right tool for tax work isn't anything specific to taxes — it's that it's the rare project tool that doesn't try to be everything. Messages. Documents. To-dos. A schedule. A single chronological "campfire" thread. That's it.
Each ETS client gets a Basecamp project. The project has folders for your tax returns, your bookkeeping outputs, your strategy docs, and a permanent message-board thread where we communicate. No email. No Dropbox links that expire. No Slack DMs. One place.
Six things that live in your Basecamp project.
Document storage
Every tax return, work paper, K-1, 1099, IRS notice. Organized by year + entity. Searchable forever.
Meeting recaps
Every Discovery call, advisory session, quarterly check-in gets a written recap posted in Basecamp within 48 hours.
Advisory threads
You ask a question. We respond inside the thread within 1–3 business days. The thread persists. You can re-read it in three years.
Tax-prep to-do lists
What we need from you for the return. What's outstanding. What's checked off. No "did you send me that thing?" — it's right there.
Round N preparer reviews
Internal tax-team review notes for each return iteration. You see the resolved version; the process is documented underneath.
IRS notice intercept
POA on file means notices route to us first. We post each notice + our planned response in your project. You never wonder what's pending.
What clients ask about Basecamp before engaging.
Why Basecamp instead of email?
Email gets lost. Threads die. Attachments expire. Basecamp gives you a permanent searchable record of every document, every recap, every question you've ever asked us. If you stop being a client tomorrow, you keep the full project — every file, every conversation, every plan.
Do I have to learn new software?
Almost none. The interface is closer to a clean inbox than a project tool. You log in, you see messages, you click attachments. Most clients are oriented in 5 minutes. We onboard you on a 15-min call when you engage.
How fast do you respond inside Basecamp?
1–3 business days on every thread, depending on tier. Higher-tier retainers get faster SLAs. If we miss the window, the response guarantee kicks in (see /tax-analysis for terms).
Is it secure?
Basecamp encrypts data in transit and at rest. We have per-client access control — only you and the ETS team assigned to your project see your project. No client sees any other client's data. We don't email tax documents.
What about the Basecamp mobile app?
It works great. Push notifications when we reply, threaded conversations, attachment viewing. Most of our clients live in the mobile app between calls.
One Discovery call. One Basecamp project opened on engagement.
Every engagement starts the same way: you book Discovery, we confirm fit, you sign the MSA, and we provision your Basecamp project. From that moment forward, every document, message, and recap lives there.
Book the 15-min Discovery →