Tax Organizers

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#1
CP Hay  
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I find that a lot of clients tend to push back when asked to fill out a Tax Organizer. Many believe that filling out the Tax Organizer is the same of doing the tax return themselves. Has anyone else experienced this and how do you handle it?
 

#2
sjrcpa  
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Yes.
If they don't want to fill it out , I ask they at least answer the questions.
If me organizing their stuff means the return takes longer, they get billed more.

If you search here, you'll find that many of us don't even use Organizers.
 

#3
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The questionnaire is the critical part. I explain that there are many questions in the document that aren't likely to otherwise come up in conversation and I need that completed to ensure I prepare an accurate return.
~Captcook
 

#4
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I insist on the yes/no questions and the checklist at the front (I use Drake). I stress that the rest of it can be used as an aide memoire. That works for me most of the time. When it doesn’t I assume that’s because they don’t know what an aide memoire is.
Last edited by SumwunLost on 8-Jan-2023 5:16am, edited 1 time in total.
 

#5
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They're mandatory for 1040 engagements in my practice. We frame them as substantially mitigating the risk that we're missing items of income, deduction or credit by completing them. And that is true.

I don't know how anyone would be able to feel like they completed an accurate return without them. It's not uncommon that a client forgets to deliver the current year version of a form they proactively delivered in the prior year, hence we remind them after recognizing this during prep. And, that's something recurring...not that's brand new this year due to law change or eligibility change. THAT would be easily missed without an organizer.

CP Hay wrote:Many believe that filling out the Tax Organizer is the same of doing the tax return themselves.


That statement is preposterous. When a contractor and interior designer comes in to do an addition for a house, they will ask many questions regarding what the client desires. The client responding to those questions is not the same thing as the client strapping on a tool belt and building the addition themselves.
 

#6
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I don't require organizers in their ordinary sense. I want them to complete a questionnaire with conditional logic, and part of it is selecting types of income and tax documents they expect to receive.

If they fail to provide me income or deduction information, that is on them.
 

#7
juro  
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Tax Organizers should be only a checklist for basic info. Most clients do only the checklist and leave the rest blank, & I am always grateful. They need to provide all docs to me anyway, & I avoid the redundancy. Seems a waste of time for me to compare everything the client hand-wrote against their docs, & I feel sorry for them for suffering thru pointless work.

Also, I use only source docs for data input, & I try to avoid transcribed data, as this is a higher chance for errors.
 

#8
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A good organizer should not ask clients to transcribe their W-2s and 1099s. I agree, that is pointless and thoughtless.

A good organizer minimizes the amount of back and forth between the client and firm during the prep stage, and substantially mitigates mistakes and omissions on the as-filed return by asking thoughtful and necessary questions.
 

#9
Gr8ful  
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On this note, that is why I’m going try and see if my clients will use Intuits Link. I use ProSeries and what it’ll do is send the client an email link to the link portal. I’ll have sone basic questions but it also lists documents they should upload based on last year: Lego Co. W2, Budweiser 1099Div, etc.
I’m hopeful it makes it as streamlined as possible.
 

#10
smtcpa  
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I 100% agree with them. It is a waste of their time and our time. Instead, give them a checklist of what they provided last year UltraTax does that and it is 1-2 pages) and a questionnaire with conditional logic that asks about the type of income and possible deductions they have or credits they could qualify for.
 

#11
CathysTaxes  
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I just customized Drake's checklist and questionnaire. It's much smaller and easier than previous years. I wish I would have done this sooner.
Cathy
CathysTaxes
 

#12
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I use a Google form with "yes/no logic" to get the important stuff and clients can do it on their phones and I get great results and few complaints.

I can certainly see why clients resent the traditional organizers (unless highly customized) as they are endless and redundant.

Transcribing W2 and 1099B info is silly in my opinion.
 

#13
CathysTaxes  
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ItDepends wrote:I use a Google form with "yes/no logic" to get the important stuff and clients can do it on their phones and I get great results and few complaints.

I can certainly see why clients resent the traditional organizers (unless highly customized) as they are endless and redundant.

Transcribing W2 and 1099B info is silly in my opinion.

I just modified Drake's Summary Organizer. Checklist, which lists previous 1099 and W2s from previous year, questionnaire, and one page with the personal, dependent, bank info, drivers license, and estimated payments. Much shorter.
Cathy
CathysTaxes
 

#14
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CP Hay wrote:I find that a lot of clients tend to push back when asked to fill out a Tax Organizer. Many believe that filling out the Tax Organizer is the same of doing the tax return themselves. Has anyone else experienced this and how do you handle it?


I only do tax returns for clients I am familiar with and of the 200 or so... only about 15 ask and receive an organizer.

I never ask that they complete one.
 

#15
CathysTaxes  
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The many questions we are now required to ask plus proof of ID, is the reason why I now require them. When the organizers printed asking for them to total amounts I informed the clients to just check off that the information is enclosed. This year's organizer is really checklist or questions.
Cathy
CathysTaxes
 

#16
LDCPA  
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I keep reading these posts about checklists, but I still don't understand how you can work with organizers that don't have prior year information listed from tax software. It's critical in my workflow.
I need to have estimated payments voucher amount pulled from tax software in 1 column and client needs to fill in payments made and dates in another column. If I just ask them to list estimated payments they made without providing any context, they will either forget to list some payments, switch federal and sate, list prior year balance due payments or mess it up in other ways.
I have a good number of sch E clients and they would be lost without prior year numbers for a reference. Yes, they would still enter their current year numbers, but they will forget or mess up many deductions and I would then have to waste time and follow up with them.
Same for sch C clients.
Same for sch A items, vehicle expenses, etc
I also like that my current organizer prints the input screen number for my software. Makes it a lot easier to have staff enter and for me to review.
I agree it's dumb how many tax software organizers make a client transcribe information from tax documents. My ideal tax organizer would list prior year documents in detail for the current year upload, would have a conditional questionnaire that would expand or contract based on the answers, have all client info prefilled from tax software where they can make changes, and would pull prior year numbers and list them next to the current year for reference.
Does something like this exist?
 

#17
Gr8ful  
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If you use ProSeries, look at their Link function as it can provide you with something like this but you’ll need to customize the questionnaire.
 

#18
CathysTaxes  
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My checklist/Organizer has the questions that require answers, a list of the previous year's 1099s and 1098s, form to enter Estimated payments and dates made and a page or two of their personal information to review and update.

If they answer YES for charity, the checklist prompts them to include the documentation. My organizer doesn't have them fill out the amounts. If it's too detailed they comment that they can now do it themselves.
Cathy
CathysTaxes
 

#19
CP Hay  
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With so many clients isn't there a chance that the e-mail system suspect that it is spam? Also, sending them manually (by e-mail) seems to be a time consuming process so how do distribute the Tax Organizer?
 

#20
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I wouldn't think most are emailing questionnaires/organizers.

They're most likely distributed through third-party software (e.g. online SaaS).
 


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