A referral program for tax advisors who work with US business owners

Why tax advisors are well placed to make introductions

Tax advisors see a business owner's whole year: how the company is structured, how the owner is paid, what changed in the business and what is planned next, from a sale or succession step to a system migration. That recurring, trusted contact is what makes an introduction land.

The opportunity is narrow and specific. Some established US companies license their operational records, such as email, CRM histories, support tickets and project files, to AI developers for a one-time payment while keeping ownership. Your role is to notice a likely fit, ask the owner, and make the introduction with permission. SourceX handles qualification, the data inventory, pricing, buyer review, contracting and delivery.

This works across tax roles: CPAs in tax practice, enrolled agents with business clients, tax attorneys, and international tax advisors who serve US subsidiaries of foreign groups. A US subsidiary is a US company and can qualify, though the decision to license, and sometimes the rights, may sit with the parent.

Which owner clients are worth a conversation?

Confirm fit in conversation with the owner rather than from the tax file. The questions below get you there without relying on return information.

Those answers map onto SourceX's qualification criteria, set out on the who qualifies page: 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history of several years, the right to license the records, and a sponsor with authority to sign.

Rules to check before you accept a referral reward

Whether you may accept a reward, and what you must disclose, depends on your license, your state and the other services you provide the client. Settle it before you register, not after the first introduction.

CPAs. Under the AICPA Code's Commissions and Referral Fees Rule (ET 1.520), a member in public practice may not accept a commission for recommending a product or service to a client when the member or the firm also performs an audit, a review, certain compilations or an examination of prospective financial information for that client, and permitted commissions and referral fees must be disclosed to the client (AICPA Code of Professional Conduct). The Code treats contingent fees in a separate rule (ET 1.510). State rules can be stricter: the New Jersey Society of CPAs notes that a licensee there may not receive a contingent fee for preparing an original or amended tax return.

Enrolled agents and others who practice before the IRS. Review Treasury Department Circular 230 and your firm's policy with counsel before accepting any third-party payment connected to a client.

Tax attorneys. The ABA Model Rules are a template that each state adopts in its own version, so check your state's rules and ethics opinions (ABA Model Rules index).

Return preparers. Ask counsel how the federal confidentiality rules for tax return information (Internal Revenue Code section 7216) apply to anything you would say or use in an introduction, and what client consent you need. The safest pattern is to raise the topic in conversation and let the owner supply every fact.

Good practice in every case: tell the owner in writing, before the introduction, that you are a registered SourceX partner, that you may receive a share of SourceX's fee if a deal closes and is paid, that it never reduces what the company receives, and that the company can apply directly or decline.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel, tax adviser or professional body before acting.

When to raise it in the tax calendar

If a sale is likely, coordinate with the deal advisers before introducing, because a broker on the same deal may also be a partner. The referral page for business brokers explains how brokers use the program.

How the introduction works

You open the door; the company does the rest directly with SourceX.

1. Raise the question in conversation and let the owner decide whether to take a first look.
2. Give the owner your written disclosure of the partner relationship.
3. Register, then send the owner your referral link, which opens the application at sourcex.si/apply with your code attached, or submit the company through the referral form with the owner's agreement. Include only basic fit facts the owner has agreed to share, and nothing from returns or workpapers.
4. SourceX qualifies the company with its sponsor: the owner, CEO, CFO or another authorized representative.
5. The company completes its data inventory and rights review with SourceX.
6. SourceX and the company agree price and terms; AI labs and data buyers review; the company signs only if it accepts.
7. Records are delivered after an executed agreement and the company's authorization, the company is paid, and your reward follows once SourceX receives its fee.

What to say to an owner

How rewards are paid to tax advisors

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company. Payment comes only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee; a lead, meeting or signed agreement alone does not trigger it, and no reward is guaranteed. The reward is a share of SourceX's fee, so it never comes out of the client's proceeds.

Anyone can join from any supported country, which suits international tax advisors whose clients include US subsidiaries. Non-US individuals generally document their foreign status to a US payer on Form W-8BEN, and foreign entities use Form W-8BEN-E. Whether any withholding applies depends on the facts, so confirm your own position before the first payment.

An owner may want to know what exclusivity would stop the company doing; weighing the opportunity cost of an exclusive data license sets out the trade-off.

When not to bother

• The company's records mostly belong to its own clients, as at bookkeeping services, payroll bureaus and agencies, and those clients have not agreed.
• The data is mainly consumer personal information or protected health information.
• Your own practice's client files. They hold your clients' information, not something for the firm to license.
• A holding company with no staff of its own, where the records sit in separate operating companies.
• A court, trustee or assignee controls the assets and has not been involved.
• The records were deleted, or already licensed for AI training.

Next step

Pick one owner client with a planning meeting coming up and check the fit questions above. If the answers are promising, register as a partner, make your disclosure and send your referral link. Owners who want to test the water first can use the company fit checker, a preliminary and non-binding screen. Colleagues who run credit studies can read the referral guide for R&D tax credit consultants.