Your office may be geared up and ready for tax return season. However, even the most streamlined office procedures will not guarantee a successful season without the cooperation of one key element: your clients. If clients are habitually late in submitting tax return information or supply you with incomplete or disorganized information, the time spent sifting, sorting and contacting clients for missing data will throw a monkey wrench into the most well-oiled machine.<\/p>\n
Here are some tips for getting your clients ready for the upcoming tax return season.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n #1: Get Clients Organized<\/strong><\/p>\n Very soon, you will provide your clients with tax return preparation packets and tax data organizers. Send them out early so that clients have time to complete them properly. As part of this process, explain to clients when you need to see actual source documents, and when it is acceptable for them to simply provide you with lists and schedules of tax data. Impress upon them that the more preparatory work they do before submitting their return for preparation, the smaller their bills will be. After all, time is money.<\/p>\n You may also want to consider developing a checklist for clients of the types of documentation they should be accumulating throughout the year. By giving clients this checklist, along with their completed 2016 returns, you can get a jumpstart on the next go-round. Stress to clients that it is much easier to compile tax records on an ongoing basis than to scramble to collect everything at year end \u2013 and they are much less likely to overlook something that could save them tax dollars.<\/p>\n #2: Set Firm Deadlines<\/strong><\/p>\n Establish deadlines for when you will accept client data, and clearly communicate those deadlines to your clients. Stick to your guns by putting returns on extension if documentation is submitted after the deadline. There will, of course, be extenuating circumstances in which clients deserve some leeway. However, perennial procrastinators will get the message if you set and stick to your cut-off dates.<\/p>\n