Understanding your client’s situation before the first meeting sets the stage for better tax planning decisions. In this post, we’ll help you prepare for a new client with questions that cover all the key points.
And the best part?
We added a free tax planning questionnaire template to help you hit the ground running!
Save time and use our free questionnaire template
Content Snare is a form builder that helps you collect information and files on time. Use our tax planning questionnaire as-is, or customize it as you see fit.
20+ questions to include in your tax planning questionnaire
Before you start asking questions, it’s best to greet your client and explain the purpose of your questionnaire. You can do it like this:
“Thank you for choosing our firm for your tax planning needs. We kindly ask you to provide some basic information about your financial and personal circumstances. Your responses will help us understand your needs and prepare for our tax planning meeting. Please complete the questionnaire below, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.”
Now that you got that covered, it’s time to ask some questions. We recommend dividing these into several sections to make the form easier to navigate.
| Note: The screenshot examples you’ll see below all come from Content Snare’s library of customizable questionnaire templates. |
Personal details
1. Full name
2. Date of birth
3. Phone number
4. Email address
5. Address
6. Marital status
7. Household members
Please provide their names, relationship, and date of birth.
Employment and income details
8. Occupation
9. Employment status
This can be full-time, part-time, self-employed, retired, or unemployed.
10. Do you receive regular wages/salaries?
11. Do you have income from a business or freelance work?
12. Do you receive dividends, interest, or capital gains?
13. Do you receive income from rental properties?
14. Do you have any other sources of income?
Special circumstances
15. Have you experienced any major life changes in the past year?
Think about events such as marriage, divorce, new job, having a baby, etc.
16. Are you involved in any legal matters that might affect your taxes?
17. Do you own a business or have a partnership interest?
18. Do you have any foreign assets or income?
Tax planning services
19. Which specific tax planning services are you interested in? Please select all that apply:
- Minimizing tax liabilities
- Retirement planning
- Investment tax strategies
- Business tax planning
- Education savings
- Charitable giving strategies
- Other (please specify)
20. Do you have any tax-related concerns or issues you'd like to address?
Additional information
21. How did you find out about our tax planning agency?
- Online search
- Ads
- Social media
- Referral
22. Signature
Country-specific tax planning questions (Australia & USA)
Bear in mind that different countries may have different tax regulations. For example, tax years are different in the US, Australia, and the UK:
- USA: January 1 - December 31
- Australia: July 31 - June 30
- UK: April 6 - April 5
There are also differences in certain tax-related terms and obligations such as GST/VAT, meaning that some fields in the tax planning questionnaire depend on your location. In this section, we will cover a few country-specific questions for tax planning in Australia and the US.
Australia
1. Do you have a superannuation fund?
2. Have you received loans from a private company that may be subject to Division 7A provisions?
3. Do you have private health insurance?
This affects the Medicare Levy Surcharge and potential tax offsets for private health insurance.
USA
1. Do you have any education savings plans such as a 529 plan or Coverdell ESA?
2. Do you have health insurance coverage?
3. Have you made any federal or state estimated tax payments for the current tax year?
Create a perfect tax planning questionnaire with Content Snare
Content Snare is a simple online form builder with more than 20 templates designed specifically for accountants, bookkeeping firms, and financial advisers. More importantly, our platform offers ready-made and fully editable tax planning questionnaires to speed up your workflow.
Related: How Incra Group automated its tax return process using Content Snare
The thing tax planners love about Content Snare is its ability to streamline client communications through advanced features such as:
- Automated reminders that subtly nudge clients to fill out your questionnaire
- In-form discussions to help clients fill out the form without back-and-forth emailing
- Response rejections and/or approvals
- Dozens of different field types to gather highly specific information or documents
- Effortless data exports in a few clicks
The best part is that you can test all of this free of charge. All it takes is to sign up for a 14-day trial and see Content Snare in action. Ready to give it a go?
Send your tax planning questionnaire in 5 minutes
Content Snare is a form builder that helps you collect information and files on time. Use our tax planning questionnaire as-is, or customize it as you see fit.
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