Planning guide · October 2026
A tax client intake checklist that shows what is still missing
A useful tax client intake checklist does more than name forms. It tells the client what to provide, gives your staff a way to review each response, and shows what is still open before return preparation begins. This guide is a starting point for a small firm to adapt to its own engagements.
01 / Define the work
Identify the client, year, and reviewer first.
Before requesting documents, record the client or entity, the tax year, the type of return or service, the contact who will respond, and the staff member who will review it. Note any known deadline or open notice. This keeps a document request tied to a specific piece of work rather than a loose folder of uploads.
02 / Ask what changed
Use questions to decide which documents matter.
Ask about material changes since the prior filing year before sending every possible document request. A firm may need to ask about household details, income sources, business activity, property, education, or retirement activity. The answers help the preparer choose relevant follow-up items; they do not replace the firm’s normal tax interview or professional judgment.
03 / Request relevant records
Give each document a clear label and purpose.
For an individual return, a firm might request a prior-year return if it does not already have one, Forms W-2 or applicable 1099s, and other records that fit the client’s answers. The IRS guide to gathering tax documents is a useful public reference for the kinds of forms a taxpayer may need. Your firm should tailor the list and explain what period or account each request covers.
- Prior-year return, if needed for context
- W-2 and applicable 1099 forms
- Other applicable statements, such as a 1098, K-1, or brokerage record
- Firm-specific information needed to verify identity or address, if required by its process
- A way for the client to say an item does not apply or is unavailable
04 / Track each response
Separate “uploaded” from “accepted.”
A client may have uploaded a file that is incomplete, unreadable, or for the wrong year. The checklist should distinguish a missing item, a submitted item awaiting review, an accepted item, and an item requiring a question or replacement. That distinction gives both sides a more accurate view than a single completion percentage.
05 / Hand off to preparation
Close the open items before work moves on.
Have an assigned reviewer check the answers and files, request corrections where needed, and record unresolved items. The handoff should make it clear which documents are accepted and which assumptions still need confirmation. Keep the reviewed material with the right client and engagement so the preparer does not need to reconstruct the history from email.
Protect the information while collecting it.
Tax records are sensitive. The IRS points tax professionals to Publication 4557 and written security-plan guidance. Use the firm’s approved method for requesting and storing client information, and review Apraxo’s pilot security approach before considering a new tool for real tax data.
Where Apraxo fits
A planned workflow for the checklist after you design it.
Apraxo’s tax-firm pilot is being designed around a signed-in client request, item-level document collection, staff review, and a handoff into the client workspace. Those capabilities are still in development. See the tax client intake use case for an illustrative client and firm view, or tell us about your firm’s intake bottleneck.