Setting Up a CPA–Advisor Relationship: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough
This is the whole thing, start to finish, with nothing technical in it. By the end you will have one client's tax information flowing to one advisory firm, with that client's signed permission behind it, and a record of everything that was shared. Budget about twenty minutes the first time and about three minutes for every client after that.
Who's involved
Three parties, and it helps to keep them straight because each one does something different.
| Who they are | What they do here | |
|---|---|---|
| You | The CPA firm | Decide what gets shared, ask the client for permission, publish |
| Your client | The taxpayer | Reads and signs the permission form. Can withdraw it any time |
| The advisory firm | Your client's wealth advisor or RIA | Receives what you publish, and only that |
The thing worth noticing: your client is the one who authorises this, not you. You decide what to offer; they decide whether it goes.
Before you start: the advisor needs an account
You don't create advisor logins, and that's deliberate — more on why at the end. So the first question is whether the advisory firm is already set up.
If they already have an account, you're ready. You'll add them by their email address.
If they don't, someone at their firm has to get one. Their firm administrator invites them; if the firm isn't on the platform at all yet, get in touch and we'll set them up. This is a one-time thing per firm — every client you share with them afterwards skips this step entirely.
Send them What the advisor sees so they know what they're joining.
Step 1 — Give the advisor access to one client
Open the client in Advisor Bridge and add the advisor by email. You'll choose how much they can do:
- View — they can read what you publish. This is the right default.
- Comment — they can also reply in a message thread with you.
- Contribute — they can send information back into your file. Useful when the advisor holds something you need, like basis records or a Roth conversion plan.
Two things people expect to happen here and don't:
Nothing has been shared yet. Access is the relationship, not the disclosure. You've said this advisor is connected to this client. You haven't sent anything.
You do this per client, every time. There's no "give this advisor everything." If the same advisor works with four of your clients, that's four separate grants, and revoking one doesn't touch the others.
Step 2 — Decide what you're willing to share
Now open the snapshot for that client and turn on the items you're prepared to share. Typically things like adjusted gross income, marginal bracket, IRMAA tier, capital-loss carryforward — the figures an advisor actually plans around.
There are also two broader permissions:
- Documents — whether you can send them files from the client's folder at all
- Correspondence — whether you and the advisor can discuss the client's numbers in a message thread
Turn on what you actually need, not everything. Whatever you turn on becomes what your client is asked to authorise, and a shorter, more specific list is easier for a client to say yes to. You can always come back and ask for more later.
Step 3 — Send your client the permission form
This is the step that makes the whole thing lawful, and it takes about thirty seconds.
The form is generated from what you selected in Step 2 — it names the advisory firm, lists the exact items, and states how long the permission lasts. You choose the period; if you don't, it's one year.
Your client gets an email with a secure link. No account, no password. They read it, type their name, and they're done. They get a copy for their records.
If your client files jointly, both spouses get their own form. The information belongs to both of them, so one signature can't authorise sharing the other's. Only what both have signed for gets shared, and either can withdraw on their own.
Worth sending alongside it: What your client is told — a plain-English page explaining what they're signing, what they keep control of, and how to withdraw. Clients sign faster when the ask doesn't look like a form out of nowhere.
Step 4 — Publish
Once the signature is in, publish the snapshot. That's the moment anything actually moves.
From here you can also share specific documents and start a message thread, both covered by the permissions your client signed.
The advisor logs in and sees that client — and only what you published.
What happens if you skip a step
You'll be stopped, clearly, and told exactly what's missing. This isn't a warning you can click past — nothing goes out.
| What you'll see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Publishing is blocked, with items listed | Your client hasn't authorised one or more of the things you selected | Send a permission form covering them |
| A document won't share | Your client's permission doesn't cover documents — or doesn't cover that document's tax year | Ask for permission covering that year |
| A message won't send | Correspondence isn't covered | Add it to the permission |
| The advisor says something's missing | It exists, but isn't covered by what your client signed. They're told that, rather than shown a blank space | Extend the permission, or leave it — your call |
The tax-year one catches people out. Permission covering 2025 doesn't cover a 2024 K-1, because they're different years of the client's information.
Living with it
Permission expires. On the date it says. When it does, the advisor stops seeing that client — including things you published months ago, because them continuing to read it counts as continuing to share it. Renew it the same way you sent it.
Your client can withdraw at any time. They tell you, you revoke it, and access stops immediately. Not overnight, not at the next review — immediately.
Everything is recorded. Every time the advisor opens a snapshot, downloads a document or sends a message, and every grant, change and revocation. If a client, a successor firm or an examiner ever asks what left your office and on whose authority, that's a report you can pull, not a search through your sent folder.
Ending a relationship — do both of these
When a client changes advisors, or an engagement ends, there are two separate switches and you want both.
Revoke the permission. That ends your client's authorisation. All sharing stops.
Revoke the access grant. That removes the advisor from the client entirely.
They answer different questions and neither implies the other. Revoke only the permission and the relationship still looks live in your client's file. Revoke only the access and there's an authorisation sitting open that nobody is using. Close both and it's genuinely finished.
Two design decisions, and why they're that way
Why can't I create the advisor's account myself? Because the permission form your client signs names the advisory firm as the recipient. If you could create advisory firms, you'd be creating the entity your own client's signed permission points at. Keeping firm creation out of your hands is what makes that name mean something. The cost is one extra step the first time you work with a firm; the benefit is that the document holds up.
Why doesn't turning on access share anything? Because access and disclosure are different acts and only one of them needs your client's permission. Separating them means you can set up a relationship, decide what to offer, and get the signature — all before anything moves. Nothing is ever shared as a side effect of an administrative step.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a separate permission form for each client?
Yes. Permission is your client's to give, about their own information, to a named firm — so it's one form per client, and on a joint return one per spouse. The advisory firm only needs an account once, though; that part isn't repeated.
What if my client says no?
Nothing is shared and nothing else changes. It doesn't affect their return, your engagement, or your relationship with them. You also shouldn't ask them again for substantially the same permission after they've refused — that restriction exists to protect them.
Can I share just one document without setting all this up?
Not through Advisor Bridge, no — a single document is a disclosure exactly as a whole return is, and it needs the same signed permission. The setup is what makes sending that one document lawful and recorded.
What happens to what I already shared when permission expires?
The advisor loses access to it. Continuing to read tax information you disclosed counts as continuing to disclose it, so it stops when the authorisation stops rather than staying visible because it was published while the permission was live.
How long does this take once I'm set up with a firm?
For each new client: turn on access, pick what to share, send the form. A couple of minutes on your side, plus however long your client takes to sign.