The Tax Professional’s Guide to a Paperless Tax Workflow

Take the Waiting Out of Tax Preparation—How to Collect Client Data Earlier

Shortly after the April 15 filing deadline, we conducted a survey to learn how tax season went and how tax professionals are using technology to improve workflow. I’ll be sharing the results of this survey in the coming weeks over several blog posts, but I thought it appropriate to start with the first question we asked: What were the top three bottlenecks in your overall process to prepare and file returns this tax season?

Not surprisingly, the top two answers, at 72% and 44%, respectively, were waiting for clients to send in documents and processing late additions of client tax documents.

With a looming April 15 filing deadline, there are only so many weeks to prepare tax returns. Time is at a premium—and practitioners are reliant on clients to deliver their source documents in a timely manner.   

But what if you could go a step further?  What if you could automatically retrieve tax documents from the financial institutions where your clients hold accounts—as the documents become available?  You could cut out the middle-man and go directly to the source, eliminating the bottleneck of waiting for clients to collect and send their source documents to you. 

Now you can.  Today we released a new addition to the GruntWorx family of products—GruntWorx Gather. GruntWorx Gather creates a secure web interface that allows your clients to connect with the leading financial institutions and brokerage houses to automatically retrieve their 1099 consolidated brokerage statements. Clients can also use this interface to upload electronic copies of their source documents, making it easy to scan and upload hard copies of tax forms—or post digital copies provided by issuers not supported with Gather integration.  With both automatic retrieval from institutions and client-initiated document upload capabilities, Gather presents a complete solution for efficient collection of client data.

This new technology allows tax practitioners to:

• Save time by getting documents from clients earlier in the season
  
  
• Eliminate the issue of late-arriving "corrected" forms from clients
  
  
• Save clients the hassle of faxing, mailing, or emailing documents
  
  
• Receive client documents in digital format
  
  
• Download multiple sets of client documents from one location
  
  

We’re very excited about this announcement—and what it could mean for the profession at large. Visit our website to learn more or to schedule a demonstration.

Welcome to our Paperless Tax Preparation Blog!

The term "paperless tax workflow" has been thrown around a lot in the last year or two. If you've been keeping up with the accounting trade publications (and I'm sure you have), you'd see that it's everywhere. But what does it mean? The idea of "paperless" in the abstract is kind of overwhelming. Sure, there's the obvious, literal translation: a tax workflow without paper. But how do you go from a high-level concept to actual day-to-day implementation? And, most importantly, how hard is it?

It's not as hard as you think.

In a recent survey we conducted, we learned that 83% of firms that had implemented a paperless tax workflow found the transition to be as easy as—or easier than—expected!

So how do you get started?

That's where we come in. We're creating a hub of information where any tax professional can come to learn about the paperless tax preparation process. Whether you're just getting started or looking to take your paperless tax workflow to the next level, this blog will be a one-stop-shop where you will be able to find relevant articles, case studies, and tools to help you along the way. And, most importantly, this blog will serve as an online forum where you and your peers can come to learn from each other—share real-life experiences, tips, and best practices.

Get ready to dive in!

Over the next few months we'll be individually exploring each of the key elements of a paperless tax workflow—and how going paperless can ultimately improve efficiency, while allowing your preparation staff to focus on value added activities.

So let's get the ball rolling. What would you like to know about? Send us an email or leave a comment below. And make sure you check back frequently for updates or subscribe to our blog to read new entries as they're posted.