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Assistant vs. Advisor - When to Use What

This article gives an overview of the capabilities and uses for both Assistant and Advisor.

Updated over 4 months ago

At Juno Support, our goal is to ensure that our tools are being used in the best way possible — helping your firm save time, improve accuracy, and identify opportunities to create more value for your clients.

To achieve that, it’s vital to understand what each tool is best suited for and how they can work together to maximize your efficiency and impact. Assistant is designed for rapid research and communication - perfect for quick answers, clear explanations, and day-to-day workflow support. Advisor, on the other hand, powers deep analysis and client-specific planning, giving your team the insights needed to deliver high-value, strategic recommendations.

Below is a breakdown to help you understand when and where the tools are best used.

Advisor: Elevates your capabilities by providing forward looking advice to add value to clients, strengthen relationships, and grow your practice.

  • Staffing Equivalent: Reviewers, managers, and partners - Anyone who deals with complex, client specific issues.

  • What it does well:

    • Addressing and modeling advanced tax-planning scenarios (future tax law changes, complex entities, and multi-state issues

    • Performs client-specific analysis, leveraging the client’s particular circumstances based on the returns and forms uploaded to Juno

    • Supports deep advisory engagements, not just “what is the rule” but “what should we do given the numbers”

    • Offers research with precision and customization — giving firms the ability to deliver premium service

    • Helps firms differentiate themselves by offering advisory rather than only compliance/research

  • When to use it in your practice:

    • When you have a client with complex ownership or structure (e.g., multiple entities, K-1s, pass-throughs, international issues)

    • When you are doing tax-planning engagements (rather than just compliance) — e.g., “Given these five options, which produces the best outcome?”

    • When you want to create an initial tax plan to present in meetings with prospective clients

    • When you must run calculations (scenario A vs scenario B), modeling tax savings, evaluating elections or entity changes

    • When you want to offer higher-value work (and bill accordingly) rather than purely reactive or “quick answer” work

    • When you want to strengthen the advisory relationship you have with the clients you prepare returns for

Assistant: Keeps your firm responsive and informed by providing quick solutions, saving you from the time consuming small tasks

  • Staffing Equivalent: Administrative staff and entry level associates/preparers - instead of asking them, give us a shot at it first!

  • What it does well:

    • Broad tax law and research questions

    • Finding citations from trusted primary sources (federal & state), so users can support and verify their work

    • Drafting client-friendly communications in the form of emails and memos

    • Working at a high speed and with minimal prompting - helping you in situations where you need a quick turnaround, such as phone calls with clients

  • When to use it in your practice:

    • When a client or team member has a straightforward tax-law question and you need a rapid response

    • When you need to draft a memo or email statement summarizing a rule or situation

    • When you don’t have a complex modeling/analysis scenario

    • When you want to service many clients quickly with standard or recurring issues

    • When you want to free up capacity for deeper work

The Juno ecosystem is designed so our preparer and assistant tools free up your time, offering firms a chance to differentiate themselves by offering proactive advisory solutions for clients.

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