What to do
- Build each client's list from last year's return, then add what changed this year.
- Set an internal deadline that leaves your team time to prepare the return, and tell the client that date.
- Send requests in waves and let reminders run, so partners only step in for the clients who are stuck.
- Client portal for accounting firms that checks every upload
- Year-end bookkeeping documents to request from clients
- How to request bank statements from accounting clients
- How to stop chasing clients for documents
When should a firm start requesting tax documents?
Start as soon as the tax year closes, before clients have received everything. An early request tells the client what to keep and where to put it as each form arrives.
Work back from the filing deadline. Decide how many working days your team needs per return, add time for questions, and give the client that earlier date. A client who is told the legal deadline will aim for the legal deadline.
What tax documents should a firm request from clients?
The list depends on the country, the type of return and the client's situation, so confirm it for each engagement. Most firms start from the same groups and remove what does not apply.
Last year's return is the best source. Each income source, deduction and account that appeared there becomes one item on this year's list. Then ask what changed: a new job, a property sale, a new dependent, a business that opened or closed.
- Identity and changes: a short questionnaire on changes in address, family and work, plus an ID copy for new clients.
- Income statements: the forms employers, banks, brokers and platforms issue for the tax year. In the US, for example, W-2 and 1099 forms.
- Business records: bank and card statements for every business account for the full year, sales and expense records, payroll reports.
- Deductions and credits: receipts and statements for the items the client claimed last year or expects to claim now.
- Property and investments: purchase and sale documents, loan interest statements, rental income and expenses.
- Signed forms: the engagement letter and any authorization the firm needs to file on the client's behalf.
A tax season collection workflow
The same four steps work for ten clients or a few hundred. The difference at volume is that nothing in the workflow should rely on a person remembering to follow up.
- Prepare one checklist per client type, for example employee, sole proprietor and company, and adjust it per client from last year's file.
- Send requests in waves, starting with the clients whose returns take longest or who were late last year.
- Schedule reminders when you send the request, closer together as your internal deadline approaches.
- Review status once a week by client, not by email thread, and call the few clients who have not opened the link.
Copy the tax document request email
Send this with the upload link. Replace the year, the deadline and the examples with the ones that apply to your clients.
Your [tax year] tax documents, due [internal deadline]
Hi [first name], It is time to prepare your [tax year] tax return. To file on time, we need your documents by [internal deadline]. Your personal list is behind this link: [upload link] Upload each document as you receive it. You do not need an account, and you can come back to the same link as often as you like. Please send complete documents: every page, for the full year. If something changed this year, such as a new job, a move or a property sale, tell us in your reply so we can add the right items. Thanks, [your name]
How DocAsker handles tax season collection
Each client gets one secure link with their checklist. They upload from a phone or a computer with no account or password, and return to the same link as documents arrive over the following weeks.
Every upload is checked on arrival. A statement that covers the wrong period, a form with a missing page or a photo that cannot be read goes back to the client with the reason, so your team does not discover it the week of the deadline.
Reminders follow the schedule you set and list only the items still missing or waiting for a retake. They stop when the checklist is complete. Accepted files are renamed to a consistent pattern and filed in the workspace, or in Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive on the Pro and Firm plans.
Handle late and partial submissions
Some documents cannot arrive early, because the issuer sends them late. Keep those as open items on the same link instead of sending a second request, and start the return with what you have if your process allows it.
Decide in advance what happens after your internal deadline, for example an extension or a later filing slot, and say so in the first email. Clients respond to a stated consequence more reliably than to a fourth reminder.
