A TaxDome workflow that chases tax documents for you

Four pieces do most of the work:

• Pipelines and automations. A pipeline is a set of stages. When a job enters a stage, the automations on that stage run, and each one creates an action item on the job, such as an organizer waiting for the client. (Automations explained)
• Automove. If automove is on for a stage, the job moves to the next stage once all action items in that stage are resolved. If it is off, someone moves it by hand. (Automations explained)
• Organizers with document checklists. For US firms, an organizer template can have a document checklist attached, and the client sees the list of documents you expect. (Send checklists automatically)
• Reminders. Organizers and client requests can send automatic reminder emails with two settings: days until next reminder and number of reminders. (Reminders reference)

Here is a simple pipeline you can adapt. The stage names are ours, not TaxDome defaults.

Stage 2 is where the chasing happens. The rest of this guide is about getting that stage right.

TaxDome document checklists are personal to each account, so they have to be created per client. TaxDome suggests doing this in the off season, and you can filter your account list by Checklist, Not created, to see who still needs one. (Send checklists automatically)

Build each checklist from last year's return, naming the issuer, for example "W-2 from Acme Logistics" rather than "W-2". That way the client sees exactly what is missing. Our cornerstone guidehas a table for turning last year's return into a checklist.

TaxDome's help article also describes a beta option that links the checklist to a checklist template and a period, rolling over the most recent checklist if there is no current one. Treat that as beta and test it before relying on it. (Send checklists automatically)

Create an organizer template for the season, or edit last year's, and toggle on Attach checklist in its Document checklist section. Keep the questionnaire short. Use it for the questions that change the document list, such as whether the client moved, sold property, started a business or had a change in the family. (Send checklists automatically)

From TaxDome's help article, the steps are:

1. 1. Open the pipeline and add the stage where the organizer should go out.
2. 2. Click Add automation and choose Create organizer.
3. 3. Pick the organizer template with the checklist attached.
4. 4. Save.
5. 5. Toggle on Automove jobs for the stage.

With automove on, the job moves to the next stage after the client completes all checklist items and submits the organizer. One catch from the same article: if a client's checklist is empty, the job moves as soon as the questionnaire is submitted. After jobs enter the stage, go to Organizers and filter Checklist is Empty to catch any client whose list has no items. (Send checklists automatically)

Only the firm owner, admins and team members with the Manage pipelines access right can add automations. (Automations explained)

The Create organizer automation has a Reminders toggle beneath the template field. Turning it on shows two fields:

So out of the box, a client gets one reminder three days after the organizer goes out, and nothing after that. (Reminders reference)

Organizer reminders stop when any of these happens: the client submits the organizer, the set number of reminders has been sent, the organizer is sealed, or the linked job is archived. (Reminders reference)

Two more things to know before you set them:

• Turning reminders off on an automation only affects jobs that enter the stage after the change. Organizers already sent keep their original settings. (Reminders reference)
• You can resend an organizer or client request by hand from the three dots menu next to it. (Reminders reference)

A schedule that fits a mid March document date

TaxDome only offers a fixed interval and a count, so you cannot time reminders to calendar dates from these two fields alone. One way to fit a mid March date if organizers go out in late January:

• Days until next reminder: 14
• Number of reminders: 3

That gives reminders roughly two, four and six weeks after the organizer goes out. Then cover the final week by hand or with a separate message, using emails 3 to 5 from our missing tax documents email templates. These numbers are our suggestion, not a TaxDome recommendation. Adjust them to your own dates.

TaxDome supports custom job statuses with their own automations, which can move a job from a status such as Missing information back to Active. (Automations explained)

A practical use: when a client has submitted the organizer but your admin finds something missing in stage 3, set the job to Missing information, send a client request listing the specific items with reminders on, and let the job return to Active when that request is done. Client request reminders stop when the client submits the request, you mark it Completed, the set number is reached, or the linked job is archived. (Reminders reference, Send client requests)

Check the exact conditions available for returning to Active in your account. We have not confirmed them from the help docs.

Once an organizer with a checklist is linked to a job, the job card shows a Checklist column under Linked, Organizers, with progress. Hovering over it shows which documents are missing. (Send checklists automatically)

If a client has not finished the checklist and you want to start preparation anyway, you can drag the job to the next stage. The sidebar shows the missing items and you choose Resolve before moving. (Send checklists automatically)

TaxDome handles the sending, the reminders and moving the job. From the help docs we read, these parts still need someone:

• Itemised nudges. The reminders follow up on the organizer or request as a whole. Telling a client "we still need the Fidelity 1099 and the K-1 from Smith Partners" means a person reads the job card and writes it. Our email templates are built for exactly that message.
• Replies.When a client writes back "that account was closed" or "I sent it already", someone has to read it, update the checklist and decide what to do.
• After the last reminder. Once the set number has gone out, nothing else happens automatically. Someone needs to look at which jobs are still sitting in stage 2 and call or write.
• Empty checklists and odd uploads. A wrong year, a blurry photo or a document in the wrong slot still needs a human eye.
• Extension decisions. Always a person, and always a CPA for anything touching the return.

This middle layer is the work a tax season operatorcan take on: reading what comes in, keeping each client's missing list current and drafting itemised follow ups for your team to approve.

Using Karbon instead? See our Karbon client request reminders. For a new client before any 1040 job exists, use the TaxDome client onboarding pipeline. For the whole season map of who owns each stage, see the CPA firm tax season workflow.