A well-planned tax preparation workflow can help your practice stay organized when filing season gets busy. Ready to optimize your tax season? Use these strategies to help cut down on manual tasks, catch issues earlier, protect client data, and move returns through your practice more efficiently.
1. Map Your Tax Preparation Workflow
What is the path every return takes?
Write down each stage of your current process, from the first client contact through delivery and follow-up.
Look for:
- Repeated data entry
- Manual handoffs
- Unclear responsibilities
- Documents stored in multiple places
- Tasks that regularly slow down a return
2. Standardize Client Intake
What do you want every client to bring to the table?
Create a consistent intake process so that you can quickly onboard clients every season, whether it’s their first or fifteenth with you.
- Use questionnaires to pinpoint life changes and tax situations.
- Tie document checklists to questionnaire responses.
- Invest in digital file exchange tools for quick and secure communication.
3. Organize Before You Prepare
Why turn tax preparation into a scavenger hunt?
Before entering return data:
- Confirm required documents are present
- Label and organize source documents consistently
- Flag missing or unusual items
- Compare current-year information with available prior-year information
- Assign the return to the right preparer or reviewer
4. Use Technology for Repeatable Work
Which tasks deserve your expertise and attention?
If you don’t need a human to do the task, look for a secure way to reduce manual work in areas like:
- Document collection
- Data import
- Document organization
- Client communication
- Appointment scheduling
- Task tracking
- Electronic signatures
- Return status monitoring
5. Build Review into the Process
Where can you incorporate quality control into your workflow?
Create review points before a return reaches the finish line to help prevent roadblocks at the last minute.
Consider intermittent checks for:
- Missing source documents
- Prior-year differences
- Unusual entries
- Required elections or disclosures
- Diagnostic and e-file messages
- Payment or refund information
- Required taxpayer signatures and authorizations
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not legal or financial advice.
Primary Source
- **Internal Revenue Service, Publication, Publication 4557, **Safeguarding Taxpayer Data — IRS guidance for tax professionals on protecting taxpayer information and developing security plans. [IRS Publication 4557]
- Internal Revenue Service, online service, Tax Pro Account — IRS online services for tax professionals. [IRS Tax Pro Account]
- Internal Revenue Service, online service, Transcript Delivery System — IRS transcript delivery resources for authorized tax professionals. [IRS Transcript Delivery System]
- **Internal Revenue Service, tax form, Form 8879, **IRS e-file Signature Authorization — IRS form addressing taxpayer signature authorization for an e-filed return. [IRS About Form 8879]
