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Case study

How Jansen & Company CPAs delivers higher‑value tax advice with CoCounsel Tax

Discover how Jansen & Company CPAs empowers teams to work faster, think deeper, and deliver more confident tax guidance — no matter the complexity.

Executive summary

Jansen & Company CPAs is an established Arizona-based firm with eight employees, specializing in individual, business, trust, and estate tax work. Senior Tax Managing Director Matthew M. Hauger, a licensed CPA, focuses on research and compliance, especially as it applies to preparing and reviewing individual and trust and estate tax returns.

The firm is handling an increasing tax planning workload including more complex tax-advising services for their clients. Already a Checkpoint subscriber, after trying out several AI tools, the company was introduced to CoCounsel and saw that it offered exactly what the firm was looking for.

“It's the best thing since sliced bread. It's probably the most exciting thing I've had to use since I got into this line of work a decade ago”

Matthew M. Hauger
Senior Tax Managing Director

The challenge: Complex tax research under time pressure

As the firm is taking on increasingly intricate cases for clients with technical tax issues — corporate conversions, multistate rentals, trust planning, inheritance rules, and international partner allocations — these scenarios often require deep, structured research and nuanced interpretation. Without the right tools, research can be slow and prone to dead ends. These clients expect timely, accurate guidance, but some issues were so complex that fully validating them would previously require hours that the team didn’t always have.

“I used to spend an hour and a half on an article and realize it wasn’t what I needed.”

Hauger is keen to explore AI and has used several products, including ChatGPT. He still combines other AI tools in his research process but finds that while they are helpful for brainstorming, they lack the authoritative, tax-specific sources needed for professional-grade research.

“I don’t want you to pull an article from some guy in a basement.”

As the firm’s informal “research trainer,” Hauger needed a tool that could assist newer staff, reinforce technical concepts, and support ongoing learning.

The solution: Thomson Reuters CoCounsel Tax

The firm adopted Thomson Reuters CoCounsel. Its AI-powered research grounded entirely in trustworthy, Checkpoint-verified sources was the decisive factor for Hauger’s team.

Hauger uses CoCounsel Conversations for conducting deep restructured research. For quicker low risk, high frequency questions he may use other AI tools, but finds that, “CoCounsel shines for deep research. Nobody can touch it.”

Some of Hauger’s recent requests have involved helping customers with converting an improperly structured passive rental C-corp, an IRS challenge around solar energy credits, and tax planning for a partner residing abroad in Greece. CoCounsel has been key to giving Hauger the confidence to work through these complex issues.

“It was really great to have CoCounsel’s help walking through that”

The outcomes: Faster answers, greater accuracy, stronger client confidence

Hauger can avoid wasted research time using CoCounsel Conversations and benefits from faster pathways to answers for unusual client cases. CoCounsel allows him to operate in a way he is comfortable with — validating complex issues instead of relying on assumptions or legacy practices. Having structured, source-linked research has also changed the way Hauger communicates with clients. He can explain tax concepts more clearly and document recommendations with greater assurance — something his clients value.

“It saves us time, but not just time — there's an accuracy and a confidence element there”

He is also excited by the way AI tools could be used for education, not only when he needs a concept refreshed, but to explain tax concepts in straightforward language.

"I need AI as a tutor… I learn so much more that way"

In the future Matt is keen to utilize CoCounsel’s Workspaces functionality to analyze trust and will documents, and extract entity details and tax-sensitive information, introducing more efficiencies into the firm. There is even more potential to integrate organizers, questionnaires, and template‑driven workflows over time.

At a glance

JANSEN & COMPANY

Industry
Accounting, Finance & Tax

HQ region
Tucson, Arizona

Solutions
CoCounsel Tax

Year founded
2004