In most practices, the hardest part of tax season is not the returns. It is everything that has to happen before a preparer can start, including signed engagement letters, completed organizers, and the right documents in the right versions. When intake is disorganized, preparers become document chasers during the most expensive weeks of the year.
Set up before the first client calls
The weeks before the season are the cheapest time to get organized.
- Refresh engagement letters. Update scope, fees, and responsibilities, and review any consent language your services require under Section 7216.
- Tailor organizers. Use last year’s return to pre-fill what you can and ask about the changes that matter, such as new dependents, a home sale, a new business, or new retirement accounts.
- Assign ownership. Every engagement should have a named preparer and a separate reviewer before work starts.
- Confirm client access. Make sure every client can sign in to your portal. Discovering lockouts in March is costly.
Request documents against a checklist
A request list per client, rather than a general “send us your documents” email, makes the difference. Each requested item, such as each W-2, 1099, or mortgage statement, should be something the client can upload against and staff can mark as received.
When files arrive, accept the specific version that answers the request. If a file is unclear, incomplete, or the wrong year, request a corrected one rather than accepting it and fixing it later. Keep every version, so you can see what changed.
Follow up on a schedule
Chasing documents ad hoc wastes time. Pick a day each week to review outstanding requests across all engagements and send reminders. Expect certain documents late, such as brokerage statements and K-1s, and note them so they do not trigger unnecessary reminders.
Know when an engagement is ready
Define “ready for preparation” explicitly. All required documents are accepted or waived with a note, intake answers have been reviewed, and nothing is waiting on the client. Only then should an engagement enter a preparer’s queue. This alone prevents a great deal of rework.
Keep sensitive files out of email
Tax documents should not travel as email attachments. Beyond the security risk, attachments scatter across inboxes and nobody knows which version is final. A secure portal ties every upload to the right engagement and request, and it is part of the safeguards your written information security plan should describe.
Tools that help
Our intake checklist is a starting point. Zacello is built around this workflow, with engagements that have assigned preparers and reviewers, portal organizers and document requests, versioned and malware-scanned uploads, and a clear view of what is still outstanding.
Written by the Syntonyl team. This article is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice.