The first information you gather from a new client sets the tone for the whole relationship. Collect it in one structured pass and onboarding runs clean; collect it in dribs and drabs over email and you’re still chasing a missing EIN or bank login three weeks in.
This intake form template gives you every field worth asking for on day one, grouped so a new client can work through it in one sitting. Copy it into your own document or portal, or run it as a structured request in Tidyflow so the answers and documents come back together.
The client intake form template
1. Business & entity details
- Legal business name and any trading / DBA name
- Entity type (sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, S-corp, C-corp, trust)
- Formation date and state / jurisdiction of registration
- EIN / tax identification number
- Registered and mailing addresses
- Industry and a one-line description of what the business does
- Fiscal year end
2. Contacts
- Primary contact: name, role, email, phone
- Preferred contact method and best times
- Owners / partners and their ownership percentages
- Anyone else we’re authorised to speak with (bookkeeper, office manager, prior accountant)
3. Services & scope
- Which services are we providing (bookkeeping, payroll, tax, advisory, other)
- Frequency (monthly, quarterly, annual, one-off project)
- Key deadlines and filing obligations
- Anything the client specifically wants us to prioritise or watch
4. Accounting systems & access
- Accounting software in use (QuickBooks Online, Xero, other) and admin access
- Payroll platform and access
- Bank and credit card accounts (institution + last 4), and how we’ll get feeds or statements
- Point-of-sale, billing, or other systems that feed the books
- Document sharing / portal preferences
5. Historical records
- Prior-year financial statements and tax returns
- Most recent trial balance or general ledger
- Opening balances as of the start date
- Outstanding items from the prior preparer (if any)
- Any known issues, cleanups, or catch-up work needed
6. Documents to collect
- Formation documents and EIN letter
- Government-issued ID for verification
- Prior-year tax returns
- Bank / credit card statements for the period
- Payroll reports
- Loan agreements and fixed-asset schedules
How to use this intake form
Send it once, before any work starts, and treat the sign-off as a hard gate rather than a formality. Copy the sections into your firm’s standard form and trim any that don’t apply to the engagement. For the deeper why-behind-each-question, see our guide to building an accounting client intake form, and pair this with the new-client onboarding checklist so the steps after intake are covered too.
Collect it without the back-and-forth in Tidyflow
In Tidyflow, this intake form becomes a structured client request: the client fills it in and uploads the documents through their portal, reminders chase the missing pieces automatically, and everything lands in one place attached to their file. No lost email threads, no re-asking for the statement you were already sent.