Send a client questionnaire or tax organizer

A client request can be a simple document checklist or a full questionnaire. If your firm sends clients a tax organizer, an annual questionnaire, a tax return checklist, or a request list before starting work, build it as a client request: clients answer the questions and upload documents in the client portal, and Tidyflow reminds them until everything is in.

This article covers building and sending the form. If you mainly want files rather than answers, start with How to Collect Files from Clients. To see the client’s side, read Complete a request from your accountant. For an overview of what organizers can do, see tax organizers.

Before you start

Client requests live inside Jobs, so create or open a Job for the work first. Each request needs at least one recipient. Contacts marked Include on requests are added as recipients automatically (Automatically add Contacts to Client Requests), and you can add any other contact on the client in the request’s Recipients field. If a contact you add doesn’t have portal access yet, sending the request turns it on and emails them a login link.

Start with a ready-made form

Use a Job template to start with an existing form. Individual Tax Preparation includes Individual tax organizer (Form 1040), and Bookkeeping includes month-end request forms. In the template library, searching for organizer, questionnaire or intake form finds every template that sends one. Open the form under the created Job’s Client Requests section and review it before sending. The Job’s subtasks are your team’s internal checklist; the client request is the form you send.

Build the form

In the Client Requests section of the job, click Add client request and give it a name. The form editor works like a document: just start writing to add explanatory text, or type / to open the item menu. You can add:

• Short answer, Long answer, Date, and Number questions
• Multiple choice questions. Choices default to Yes and No; open the item’s ⋯ menu and choose Edit answer choices to change them or allow multiple answers
• File upload items for documents you need
• Document approval items, which ask the client to review and approve a document you attach, available on the Pro plan. An approval item can also require payment before approval, so the client pays your invoice before they can open the document
• Section headings to group items

File upload items can carry a short hint (choose Add hint from the item’s menu) such as “Excel format preferred”; for a question, put any clarification in the question text itself. New items are required by default; choose Mark as optional if the client can skip one. Use Move up and Move down in an item’s ⋯ menu to reorder it, Duplicate to copy it directly below, or Delete to remove it. Duplicating a section copies everything in it, and conditions between items inside the section follow the copies. A new item is saved once it has a name; until then it stays highlighted and the request can’t be sent. Press Escape or Backspace in its empty name to remove it. You can edit the form freely while the request shows Not Sent Yet; once sent, it locks for editing.

For sensitive details like a Social Security number or TFN, ask for a document upload instead of a typed answer.

Group items into sections

Add Section items to break a long form into named parts, such as Income, Deductions, and Business. Each section can take a name and a description (choose Add description from its menu). In the portal, each section becomes its own page of questions, listed down the left so the client can move between them, and every upload is collected on one Documents page, grouped by section. To add an item at the end of a section, choose + on the section. Moving a section up or down from its ⋯ menu moves all its items with it, and deleting a section deletes everything in it.

In the Job, click a section’s name to expand or collapse it, and choose Rename from its ⋯ menu to change the name. A form with three or more sections starts collapsed while you prepare it. While you prepare it, each section’s line says what it asks for. Once sent, a collapsed section shows what is most pressing in it, such as 2 missing or 1 to answer. Sections the client has finished start collapsed, answers show on the question’s line, and items the client’s answers hid are listed behind one line at the end.

Show questions conditionally

On the Pro plan you can show an item only when an earlier answer calls for it, so clients never see questions that do not apply. Click an item’s drag handle and choose Add condition. A condition shows the item when a chosen earlier question has been answered, was answered with specific choices (multiple choice questions), or has a number answer that is at least, at most or equals a number you set (Number questions). You can combine up to five conditions and choose whether all or any must match.

To show or hide a whole section, open the section’s menu and choose Add condition. Everything in the section follows it, so one condition can replace a condition on every question. Questions inside the section can still have their own conditions, and the trigger has to sit above the section.

A hidden required item never blocks the client from completing the request. If you delete a question that other items depend on, their conditions pointing at it are removed. If your firm later moves off the Pro plan, existing rules keep working for clients; you just cannot add or edit rules until you upgrade again.

Let clients repeat a section

When you need the same questions for each person or account, such as each member of an LLC, build the section once. Open the section’s menu, choose Make repeatable, name one entry (for example “member”) and set the most the client can add. The client sees Add another member at the end of the section, adds one for each extra member (there’s no need to say how many first), and can remove any they added. Name the questions without a number (“Name”, not “Member 1 name”) so every copy reads correctly. Repeating sections are part of the Pro plan, and a question inside one can only show or hide items in the same section.

List the documents you need

Under a file upload item you can list the specific documents you expect, such as W-2 · Northwind Systems or 1099-INT · Harborview Bank, so you and the client can both see which ones are in. In the Job, click Add document under the upload item and type the document, for example w2 northwind systems or bank statement chase. Tidyflow reads the type and the details; press Enter to add it and type the next one. You can add or remove documents after the request is sent, until it is completed.

Documents sit under their upload item. Once the request is sent, a document shows its status when it is anything but missing, such as Received or Will send later, with the file or the client’s note. From a document’s ⋯ menu you can:

• Upload for client when the document reaches you another way
• We’ll get this when your firm will obtain it itself, for example from a payroll provider. It counts as done for the client and drops out of reminders
• Ask client to send a question about that one document
• Remove it. A document with files cannot be removed

Listed documents follow their upload item: if a condition hides the item, its documents are hidden too, and they count towards progress instead of the item itself.

Next year’s documents

When a job template creates the same form for the same client again, each upload item gets the documents that client sent last time. Documents the client marked as not applying are left off, and documents your firm obtained stay marked We’ll get this. If last year’s request had no listed documents, Tidyflow recognises them from the file names the client uploaded, such as a W-2 from a named employer. A repeating or duplicated job copies the listed documents from the job it copies. Before sending, carried-over documents are marked Last year; remove any the client no longer needs with the ✕ next to it, and Undo brings it back.

Carry answers forward to next year

Every question keeps a stable identity, so when the same form goes to the same client again, through a job template, a repeating job, or a duplicated job, each question shows the client’s previous response labelled Last time, with the date it was given. The client can accept it with one tap using Use this answer; nothing is ever filled in automatically. File upload items list the documents the client sent last time.

To keep this link, edit the question’s wording rather than deleting and re-adding it. A deleted question loses its connection to previous answers, and a re-added copy starts fresh.

Add a review and sign-off step

Turn on the Review & submit step in the request’s settings to add a final confirmation step. After finishing every section, the client reviews all their answers on one page, confirms the information is accurate and complete, types their full name to sign, and submits. The request completes when they submit, not when the last item is ticked, so nothing arrives half-finished.

Preview and send

Click the Preview as client eye button in the request’s header to see exactly what the client will see; conditional questions reveal live as you try different answers. When it is ready, click Send to recipients, or use Send client requests at the top of the job to send several at once. The contact receives an email that opens the request directly.

Every request shows its status: Not Sent Yet, Sent, or Completed. With auto follow-up switched on, Tidyflow keeps reminding the contact by email until the request is completed or the chase runs out of rounds. See Automatic reminders and when they stop. From the request’s ⋯ menu you can also:

• Unsend request: recipients lose access, reminders stop, and the request returns to a draft you can edit and resend
• Reopen for client: the request opens back up in the client portal so the client can update their answers

Automatic reminders and when they stop

Reminders need two switches. Settings > Reminders has an Allow reminder emails switch for the whole workspace, and it is off until you turn it on. Auto follow-up on an individual request does nothing until it is on, and the request will say Off for this workspace while it is not.

With both on, Tidyflow emails the contact about an unfinished client request on a schedule until they complete it. Reminders go out in the morning in your workspace timezone, on the cadence set on the request under Auto follow-up, or your workspace default under Settings > Reminders when the request has none. Reminders are not tied to the due date: a request past its due date keeps being chased on the same schedule, and the reminder says the due date has passed.

Each reminder reads a little differently from the last, and the final one says plainly that it is the last automatic reminder, so a client who needs more time knows to reply.

Reminders stop after 10 rounds with no reply. This keeps a forgotten request from emailing a client indefinitely, and protects your firm’s email reputation, since repeated identical emails are what spam filters catch. When a chase stops:

• The request shows Stopped after 10 reminders under Auto follow-up in the Job’s details panel.
• Followers of the Job and the client get a Reminders stopped notification, so the chase never ends silently. If nobody follows the Job, it goes to the Job’s assignees, then whoever created the request, then the workspace owner and admins.
• The request’s row shows an amber bell icon in the Job’s Client Requests list and on the Jobs list when you switch it to Client Requests. Hover it to read the state.

While a chase is running, Auto follow-up reads Every 3 days, 4 of 10 sent, and opening it shows when the last reminder went out and when the next one is due. A grey bell icon means Not sending: reminders are on but no contact on the request has portal access and an email address, so add one.

Reminders list the sections with unanswered questions and the documents still needed separately, so the client can see which part is holding things up. Documents marked as not applying or We’ll get this are left out.

To find every request in one of these states, switch the Jobs list to Client Requests and use the Auto follow-up filter (On, Off, Stopped, Not sending). Edit Columns in that view also offers an Auto follow-up column that shows the state in words on every row.

To start the chase again, open the Job, click the Auto follow-up setting, and click Restart reminders. The count resets and the next reminder goes out one full cadence later, not the next morning. Unsending or reopening a request also clears its reminder history.

Find requests waiting on documents

Switch the Jobs list to Client Requests to see a Documents column, which shows how many listed documents are still needed on each request or All in. Use the Waiting on documents filter to show only requests with documents outstanding.

Inside a sent request, choose Outstanding at the top (or click the done count in the header) to see only what the client still owes: unanswered questions and documents not in yet, by section. Every question and document shows its status as a mark on the left: an empty circle while it’s waiting on the client, a tick once it’s in, a clock when the client will send it later. Open a document’s ⋯ menu to upload it for the client, mark it as one you’ll get yourself, or say it doesn’t apply. A question’s ⋯ menu has Answer for client, for example after a phone call. Ask client is in every item’s ⋯ menu.

Who gets notified about client activity

Notifications for a client request go to followers of the Job and followers of the client, not only assignees. Assigning someone to a Job makes them a follower automatically, so assignees are covered; anyone else can follow the Job or the client to get the same notifications.

To keep a long form from flooding your Inbox, Tidyflow stays quiet while the client works through the request and sends one Client request completed notification when they finish it, or submit it if the request has a Review & submit step. To check on progress before then, open the request or watch its progress on the Jobs board.

The completed notification is also emailed by default; each user can turn that off under Settings > Notifications. Document approvals, change requests, and late documents sent after completion always notify immediately. If you use Reopen for client, you are notified again when they resubmit.

Review the answers

When the client submits, the request shows their Submitted responses, grouped by section. For each answer you can click Mark reviewed to lock it from further client edits, or Edit to correct it inline. Uploaded files land in the client’s Files tab, in the Client Uploads folder by default. For completed requests, choose Download PDF from the request’s ⋯ menu to keep a copy of the full questionnaire and answers on file.

Ask a client for more detail on one answer

When an answer is too vague to work with, click Ask client next to that question or upload and write what you need. This reopens only that item for the client; every other answer stays locked, and the request keeps its submission on record.

Flagged items collect into one email. Click Send follow-up at the bottom of the request to send everything you have flagged as a single message per contact, rather than one email per question. The email lists each item, the answer the client gave, and your note, and its link opens the request without a login.

Each flagged item shows where the round is up to: Follow-up queued before you send, Awaiting client once sent, and Client replied when they respond. You are notified as soon as a client replies. Click Mark reviewed to close the loop, or Ask again to start another round on the same item.

While a client owes you a reply, the request returns to their Open tab in the client portal so it does not look finished to them, and the Job reopens on your side. Once they reply, the request reads as done for the client while it waits on your review. The Job completes again when you mark the last flagged item reviewed.

Reuse the form every year

Add the client request to a job template and the whole form travels with it: sections, answer choices, conditions, required flags, the sign-off step, and each question’s link to previous answers. Deploy the template to one client or many, then send the resulting requests in bulk from the Jobs page’s Client Requests view. See Job Templates for how templates work.

Edit the reusable form in Settings > Job templates to change it for future Jobs. Editing the request on an individual Job customizes only that Job.