Solomon AI Review: Automating Workpapers for Tax Firms
Hands-on review of Solomon AI — an AI platform that automates tax workpaper preparation, trial balance tie-out, and review. Based on Reddit practitioner reviews, feature analysis, and real-world use cases.
Every tax firm has the same problem: workpapers take too long.
The trial balance comes in, the prior year return needs to be referenced, accounts need to be classified, differences reconciled, and schedules prepared — all before a reviewer can even look at it. For most firms, that prep work eats 40-60% of the total hours on a return.
Solomon AI is trying to eat that 40%.
What Is Solomon?
Solomon is an AI-powered workpaper automation platform built specifically for accounting firms. It sits in the gap between raw client data and the reviewer's desk — automating the mechanical work that makes tax prep so labor-intensive.
Core capabilities:
- Trial balance tie-out: Upload a TB, Solomon auto-matches it to the prior year return and flags discrepancies
- Account classification: Automatically maps accounts to tax lines based on historical patterns
- Reconciliation: Identifies differences between TB, trial reports, and filed returns
- Schedule preparation: Generates standardized workpaper schedules for reviewer sign-off
- Learning from review: The system adjusts based on reviewer corrections over time
It's not a tax preparation tool in the TurboTax sense. It's a prep tool for preparers — something that handles the grunt work before a human ever touches the return.
What Reddit Practitioners Are Saying
The sentiment on r/taxpros is cautiously positive, with one consistent theme: firms that have tried it are using it to reallocate staff from compliance grunt work to higher-value advisory.
A practitioner using Solomon during the 2026 busy season described it this way:
"We've been able to shift two junior staff members from workpaper prep to client advisory. The ROI isn't in the tool itself — it's in what your people do with the time they get back."
Another user highlighted the learning curve:
"It takes a few engagements for the AI to learn your firm's preferences. The first batch of workpapers needs more review. By engagement three, it's cutting prep time by about 35%."
The criticism tends to center on integration depth. Firms using niche trial balance software or heavily customized GL structures report more exceptions that need manual handling. Solomon works best with clean, standardized client data.
Who Is It For?
Solomon makes the most sense for firms that:
- Handle 200+ returns per year — the time savings compound with volume
- Have standardized workpaper processes — firms with consistent methodologies get the most value
- Want to move staff to advisory work — the real ROI is in reallocating talent, not cutting hours
- Are struggling to find preparers — the labor market for tax staff hasn't gotten any easier
It's less suited for sole practitioners who handle everything themselves (the time savings don't justify the setup cost) or firms with highly customized, non-standard workflows for every client.
How It Compares
| Tool | Best For | Key Differentiator |
|---|---|---|
| Solomon | Workpaper automation | Learns from reviewer adjustments over time |
| SurePrep | Document automation | 1040-focused, massive existing user base |
| Black Ore | Full return prep | End-to-end AI prep from source docs |
| Gruntworx | Data extraction | OCR and classification for source documents |
Solomon sits in a specific niche: it's not a document processor and it's not a return preparer. It's the middle layer — the workpaper engine.
Pricing
Solomon uses a per-return pricing model that scales with volume. Exact pricing requires a demo call, but practitioners on Reddit have cited costs in the range of $15–$25 per return depending on engagement complexity and volume commitments.
At 200 returns per year, that's roughly $3,000–$5,000 annually — comparable to a part-time preparer for a fraction of the hours.
The Verdict
Solomon is a solid bet for firms that have their process together.
If your workpaper methodology is consistent and your team spends too many hours on mechanical tie-out and schedule prep, Solomon will pay for itself in reallocated hours within a season. If your workflow is chaotic or every client's file needs bespoke treatment, you'll spend too much time managing exceptions to see the benefit.
The learning model is the real differentiator. Most tools treat every engagement as a fresh start. Solomon's ability to absorb reviewer corrections over time means it gets faster the longer you use it — which is exactly what you want in a tool you'll rely on for years.
Bottom line: If you run a firm with standardized workflows and you're trying to do more with fewer people, put Solomon on your demo list for next season.
Have experience with Solomon? Vote and leave your review to help other tax pros make the right call.
