US small businesses and Americans abroad call a familiar +1 number with their questions. You answer in an app, or call back in their hours.
Accountants, bookkeepers and tax preparers outside the US use a US virtual number so US small businesses and Americans abroad can call a familiar +1 number. The TripoSIM number rings in an app, takes voicemail in your off-hours and includes 300 minutes a month of calls to the US and Canada. It receives texts but cannot send them.
Most bookkeeping and accounting work runs through email, a client portal and the accounting software you share. The phone matters when something needs a conversation: a business owner who cannot tell what a payment was, a new client who wants to talk before signing up, or an American living abroad who has a letter in hand and wants to know what you need. For them, a +1 number is an ordinary call, and it is easier to put on your website, proposals and invoices than an international one.
The TripoSIM US Virtual Number runs in an app on your phone over Wi-Fi or mobile data, next to your local SIM. Client calls stay apart from your personal number. When you are in a file or off for the night, callers leave a voicemail. This page covers the phone setup only; it is not accounting or tax advice.
A few kinds of callers in a typical month. This is an example, not a rule for every practice:
| Caller | Typical reason | What works |
|---|---|---|
| Small business owner | A transaction they cannot place, a payroll date or a report they want explained | Answer in your call hours, then confirm what you agreed by email |
| New client | Your fees, what you cover and whether you work with their kind of business | A short intro call, then the engagement terms in writing |
| American living abroad | A letter or form they received, and what you need from them | Ask them to upload it to your portal first, then walk through it on a call |
| Client's office manager | Missing receipts, logins to an account or a deadline you set together | A call-back, then a written list of what is still missing |
Whatever you agree on a call, write it down in an email afterwards. A short "as discussed" note gives both of you a record, which a phone call does not.
Keep documents and account details off the phone line. Statements, receipts, ID copies and account numbers belong in the secure portal or the email setup your firm already uses, not in a text or a voicemail.
Follow your own firm's data policies first; these are habits that fit around them.
Many offshore bookkeepers already work part of the US day. If you do not, pick one or two short call windows inside US business hours and write them in Eastern time. New York's 9 a.m. falls at about:
Clients on the West Coast are three hours behind New York. US clocks change on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November, according to NIST, and countries that change on other dates, or not at all, move by an hour against the US. The best time to call US clients has more countries, and the US time-zone clock shows the time in each zone right now.
Say your name and practice, your call hours in US time, what to leave and where documents go. For example:
"You have reached [your name], bookkeeping for US small businesses. I take calls Monday to Thursday, 9 to 11 a.m. Eastern. Leave your name, your business and a good time to call, and I will call you back within one working day. Please do not leave account numbers in this message. Documents go to the client portal or to [your email]."
Messages can be up to 2 minutes, up to 30 a month, kept 30 days. In your busiest weeks that monthly limit can matter, so point quick questions to email in the greeting and keep voicemail for call-back requests. The voicemail guide has setup steps.
Calls clients make to you are included up to a fair use of 300 minutes a month. Only calls you place use your 300 minutes to the US and Canada. Each outgoing call is rounded up to the next full minute; unanswered calls are free. For many practices with US clients, January to April is the busy stretch. Three example months, worked out as if every month looked the same:
| Example | Calls out to the US and Canada | Extra minutes | One year on the yearly plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiet months | 3 call-backs a week, 10 minutes each: about 130 minutes a month | None: within the included minutes | $100 |
| Busy season | 8 call-backs a week, 10 minutes each: about 347 minutes a month | 6 × $5 = $30 a year | $130 |
| Busy season plus reviews | the same, plus 2 review calls a week of 30 minutes: about 607 minutes a month | 37 × $5 = $185 a year | $285 |
Incoming calls do not use your minutes (fair use 300 minutes a month). Each plan includes 300 minutes a month out; extra minutes are $5 per 100, and unused extra minutes carry over to the next month, so the year counts the packs for all 12 months together. Prices before tax.
A busy season lasts a few months, not twelve. Say January to April look like the "busy season" row and the rest of the year like the "quiet months" row. Top-up minutes carry over, so you need 2 extra packs of 100 minutes for the whole season, and the year comes to $110 on the yearly plan. Move long review calls to a video meeting and the season stays much closer to the included minutes. The monthly plan is $12.99 with the same minutes. Try your own numbers in the cost calculator.
The number receives verification codes (OTP SMS) from apps. TripoSIM tested Google, Microsoft, PayPal, Wise, Payoneer and Stripe, among others, so codes for your own work accounts can come to it.
Keep your number off clients' own bank and payment accounts. Codes for their accounts should reach them, not you, and a code that arrives on your phone mixes your access with theirs. If you need access, use the user or accountant access the service offers.
The same person can have as many TripoSIM US numbers as they like on one account, each with its own plan, minutes and voicemail greeting. A bookkeeper who also runs a separate practice for Americans abroad can give each its own number and greeting, so the caller hears the right name. In a small firm, each accountant can have their own number in their own app, and clients always reach the person who knows their file.
Each number is still one person's line. It does not ring several people at once or queue callers.
Two plans with the same number, minutes and app.
$100per year
About $8.33 a month, paid once a year
Renews yearly until you cancel
$12.99per month
Cancel the renewal anytime. $155.88 over 12 months
Renews monthly until you cancel
Prices in US dollars as published by TripoSIM. Payments are not refunded, except a full refund if your ID check fails or your number is not delivered within 72 hours, or where local law requires. Checkout continues on TripoSIM. Right after payment you complete an ID check with a selfie, then choose from the numbers available.