Tax Organizer Questions

I'm trying to move to an electronic tax organizer, at least the initial set of questions. We have clients that mail in/drop off paperwork without them completed, we have new clients calling and asking us what to bring, and for some in-person meetings we run through the questions on paper if they don't have them completed.

Looking into Typeform survey system. I can get an online link for a series of questions and if a client says "no dependents", we can skip that entire set of questions. Here are my thoughts:

1.) New clients calls and asks "what should I bring?" I never know what to say, I can send them the link, then based on the answers a list of items.

2.) Client doesn't complete organizer questions - send them the link to complete to make sure we aren't missing anything.

3.) When we send out our tax appointment scheduling link to clients via email, it will also include the questions link.

4.) On the off client that meets at the office, I can pull it up on the TV screen linked to my computer and complete it with them. No scanning, my assistant can print to PDF the answers and stick it in their file.

Thoughts? Is there a better way to do this? I would love to get an engagement letter signed as part of this process as well, but not sure if it's possible yet.

I ditched the standard organizer and put the questionnaires and due diligence forms in the electronic engagement letter. It forces clients to complete when they sign the engagement letter and solved my issue of clients not answering the questions or filling out the other forms I initially require for tax prep. I have a checklist of potential tax information they need to provide, but I need to make changes to that for 2020 since most people overlooked it in 2019 (it was not mandatory). I do it all via DocuSign, but had originally contemplated a form like you described. I decided against it because while it is nice to have conditional logic, I wanted consistency for my own benefit. I also do not trust the encryption of survey forms as much as I do the security of DocuSign.

Does DocuSign save progress if the client doesn't complete the entire form in one sitting?

Does DocuSign save progress if the client doesn't complete the entire form in one sitting?

I recall some DocuSigns I have done, myself, kicking out the data I had entered when I opened it again. I have not tested this, recently...

Cornerstone -- how do you (and DocuSign) handle a MFJ organizer?

Does one spouse complete the questions and sign, and the other spouse only signs? Or do both have the ability to answer questions?

Cornerstone -- how do you (and DocuSign) handle a MFJ organizer?

Does one spouse complete the questions and sign, and the other spouse only signs? Or do both have the ability to answer questions?

Yes, it goes to one spouse first and they complete all the questionnaires. It then gets sent to second spouse and they have to initial and sign, and also fill out their own section of the bank and ID verification form and my indemnification agreement for sending confidential documents through any common carrier.

It is the same packet regardless of filing status, I just configure them differently for the signature/completion requirements if not MFJ. I have some conditional logic built into the templates.

Does the typeform survey system, or a competitor, offer the ability to sign an engagement letter?

It would be great to get answers to important questions (logic based) and a signed engagement letter all in one shot - but the problem I have with RightSignature is that the templates are not very powerful, logic wise. Maybe I shouldn't have been so cheap and went with Doccusign.


I wonder if it might be viable to have the client check a box verifying that they have reviewed and agree to the engagement agreement and then they can actually sign it when the tax return is delivered with KBA, etc.

I have been exploring ShareFile's more advanced tools since my last post, as I'm already paying for them...so I'd rather see if I can extract value from them rather then pay for something new or bolt-on.

After playing around with it, I've decided that I'm going to implement ShareFile's "Request List" feature for for all 2020 tax year engagements. 1040s, 1065s, 1120S, etc

I've come to the conclusion that it is very user friendly for the client (or client's agent) -- even moreso than logging into ShareFile, will minimize follow-up document requests, and is efficient for me to setup.

For the latter point, after testing it out, I've determined that I can setup a request list from start to finish in 30 seconds using the excel import method. It is quick, and I like that. One can import a request list from excel, and I'm envisioning something like a default new client request template and a default returning client request template that one can start with, then modify that file as the current year's engagement is prepared and carry the import file forward to next year....which will obviously make next year's doc request more customized and efficient.

ShareFile "Forms" seems like it might work as an e-organizer platform at first glance, however it doesn't appear to have conditional logic, which is very disappointing. How is conditional logic in forms/questionnaires not standard? It is very frustrating.

I have with RightSignature is that the templates are not very powerful, logic wise. Maybe I shouldn't have been so cheap and went with Doccusign.

Agree that RightSignature does not have conditional logic and isn't a good platform to implement an e-organizer, especially compared to ShareFile's Forms, however I wouldn't categorize it as "cheap". I pay for ShareFile's premium plan which includes RightSignature. Do you just pay for RightSignature or do you have ShareFile premium? If the latter, Citrix has other features that might be better suited for that task, as mentioned above.