Client tax questionnaire: yes/no questions and the document each yes needs
By Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak · Published
In brief
A tax questionnaire is the short yes/no screen a preparer sends each client before the return: did you marry, move, sell a home, get a Form 1099-K, or earn tips? Every yes names the document to upload, so the client knows what to send and the preparer knows what to expect.
The organizer: Client tax questionnaire (yes/no)
Answer yes or no to each question. You do not need to write any amounts on this form.
- PDF, fillableYour client fills it in on screen or prints it.Free, no email
- WordAdd your logo, cut sections, change the wording.Free, with your email
- Excel trackerLog each answer and each document as it arrives.Free, with your email
New clients only(if it applies)
Based on: Form 13614-C, IRS letters and IP PIN questions
- Did another preparer, or you yourself, file your last return?If yes, send: Last year’s federal and state returns, with all schedules
- Have you received a letter from the IRS or your state in the last three years?If yes, send: A copy of each letter, front and back
- Do you or your spouse have an Identity Protection PIN?If yes, send: This year’s IP PIN letter, or the PIN from your IRS online account
- Are you claiming a dependent we have never seen before?If yes, send: Social Security card or ITIN letter; Birth certificate
Household and life events
Based on: Form 13614-C, Part I and marital status
- Did you marry, divorce or separate during the year?If yes, send: Marriage certificate, or divorce decree with alimony terms
- Was a child born or adopted, or did a dependent move in or out?If yes, send: Social Security card for each new dependent; Adoption papers, if any
- Did someone in your household die during the year?If yes, send: Death certificate; Any letters testamentary
- Did you move, or live in two or more states?If yes, send: Move date; Old and new address
- Can someone else claim you or your spouse as a dependent?
Work and wages
Based on: Form 13614-C, income page; Forms W-2
- Did you work as an employee, including a second job or a job you left?If yes, send: Form W-2 from every employer
- Did you receive tips from customers?If yes, send: Form W-2 or Form 1099 showing tips; Your own tip records
- Were you paid overtime required by federal law (the half in time-and-a-half)?If yes, send: Form W-2 or the employer’s overtime statement
- Did you receive unemployment or a state tax refund?If yes, send: Form 1099-G
Gig work, side jobs and online sales
Based on: Forms 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC and 1099-K; Schedule C
- Did you do freelance, contract, delivery or rideshare work?If yes, send: Every Form 1099-NEC and Form 1099-K; Your income and expense records for the year
- Were you paid in cash or through a payment app for any work?If yes, send: Your own record of what you were paid
- Did you sell goods online or through a marketplace?If yes, send: Form 1099-K, if issued; What you paid for the items you sold
Savings, investments and retirement
Based on: Forms 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-B, 1099-R and SSA-1099
- Did you earn bank interest or receive dividends?If yes, send: Forms 1099-INT and 1099-DIV
- Did you sell shares, funds, crypto or other digital assets?If yes, send: Consolidated brokerage statement with Form 1099-B; Form 1099-DA, if issued
- Did you take money out of a retirement account or receive a pension?If yes, send: Form 1099-R
- Did you receive Social Security benefits?If yes, send: Form SSA-1099
Home, school, family and health
Based on: Form 13614-C, expenses and events page
- Do you own a home with a mortgage?If yes, send: Form 1098; Property tax bill
- Did you buy or sell a home?If yes, send: Closing statement; Form 1099-S, if issued
- Do you own a property you rent out?If yes, send: Rental income and expense summary; Form 1098 for that property
- Did you or a dependent pay tuition or student loan interest?If yes, send: Form 1098-T; Form 1098-E
- Did you pay for childcare so you could work?If yes, send: Provider name, address, tax ID and amount paid; Form W-2 showing any dependent care benefits from your employer
- Did you buy health coverage through the Marketplace, or have an HSA?If yes, send: Form 1095-A; Forms 1099-SA and 5498-SA
Deductions from the 2025 law (2025 to 2028), and 2026 changes
Based on: IRS fact sheet on the 2025 law; Form 1098-VLI; Publication 526
- Did you buy a new car with a loan for personal use?If yes, send: Loan statement or Form 1098-VLI showing interest paid; Vehicle identification number (VIN), or the label showing final assembly in the United States
- Were you or your spouse 65 or older at the end of the year?
- Did you give cash or goods to charity?If yes, send: Receipts; The charity’s written acknowledgment for larger gifts
- Did you open or fund a Trump account for a child?If yes, send: Account statement showing contributions and dates
Payments, foreign accounts and your refund
Based on: Form 1040-ES; FinCEN Form 114
- Did you make estimated tax payments, or apply last year’s refund?If yes, send: Date and amount of each payment
- Did you have a bank or investment account outside the United States?If yes, send: Year-end statement for each foreign account
- Do you want a refund paid into a new bank account?If yes, send: Voided check or bank letter with routing and account numbers
- Has your driver’s license or state ID changed since last year?If yes, send: Copy of the current license or ID for each taxpayer
A questionnaire, an organizer and a checklist are three tools
Clients and firms use these words loosely, but they do different jobs. A tax questionnaire is a set of yes/no questions that finds out what happened in the client’s year. A tax organizer goes further: it asks for the figures too, line by line, and often runs many pages. A document checklist is only the list of forms to send, with no questions at all.
The questionnaire is the right first step when most of your clients are returning households with simple returns. It takes a few minutes to answer, and each yes points at one document. When a yes opens a bigger topic, such as a business or a rental, you send the matching organizer for that topic, for example the self-employed organizer.
The IRS uses the same structure for its volunteer sites. Form 13614-C, the intake and interview sheet, asks yes/no questions about household, income, expenses and life events, and the October 2026 revision covers the 2026 tax year (IRS Form 13614-C (October 2026), Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet). The questionnaire below follows its order, then adds the questions a paid preparer needs.
| Tool | What the client does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Tax questionnaire | Answers yes or no, then uploads the document named under each yes | Returning clients with wage, investment and retirement income |
| Tax organizer | Writes in figures, dates and names for each section of the return | New clients, businesses, rentals and other complex returns |
| Document checklist | Ticks off forms as they are gathered | Clients who already know what changed this year |
Questions only a new client needs to answer
A returning client’s history sits in your files. A new client’s does not, so three questions go first. Did another preparer file last year’s return? If yes, ask for the full federal and state returns with every schedule, because carryovers and depreciation start there.
Has the client received a letter from the IRS or the state? Ask for a copy of each one, even if the client thinks it was resolved. The intake sheet itself asks whether the taxpayer received any letter or bill from the IRS (IRS Form 13614-C (October 2026), Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet).
Does the client have an Identity Protection PIN? An IP PIN is a six-digit number that stops anyone else from filing a return with the client’s Social Security number, and a new one is generated each year (IRS, Get an Identity Protection PIN). Ask for this year’s PIN, not last year’s.
Life events that change the return
Household questions set the filing status and the dependents, so they come before income. Ask about marriage, divorce, a birth or adoption, a death in the family, and anyone who moved in or out. Form 13614-C asks for the marital status as of December 31, and for everyone who lived with the taxpayer during the year (IRS Form 13614-C (October 2026), Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet).
A move matters for the state return. The intake sheet asks whether the taxpayer lived in two or more states during the year (IRS Form 13614-C (October 2026), Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet). If the answer is yes, ask for the move date and the old and new addresses, so the part-year returns split income correctly.
- Married or divorced: marriage certificate, or the divorce decree with any alimony terms.
- New dependent: Social Security card or ITIN letter and date of birth.
- Moved: move date, old address and new address.
- Bought or sold a home: closing statement, and Form 1099-S if the title company issued one.
Income questions, and the forms that answer them
Ask one question per kind of income, not one question about income in general. A client who drove for an app, sold shares and took a pension draw will forget one of them if you ask “any other income?”.
Two thresholds changed what clients receive. For payments made after 2025, the reporting threshold for Form 1099-NEC and Form 1099-MISC rose to $2,000 (Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC). A payment app or marketplace must send a Form 1099-K when payments total over $20,000 in more than 200 transactions, though it may send one for less (IRS, Understanding your Form 1099-K).
Fewer forms does not mean less income to report. That is why the questionnaire asks about gig work, cash jobs and online sales directly, and asks for the client’s own records when no form arrives. If the client sold crypto or other digital assets, the intake sheet asks about those holdings too (IRS Form 13614-C (October 2026), Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet).
Deductions to ask about for the 2026 tax year
The 2025 tax law added deductions that apply from 2025 through 2028 (IRS fact sheet, Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors). They are not new for 2026, but each one still needs a direct question, because the client will not volunteer it. Each also has an income limit: the deductions for tips, overtime and seniors phase out above a set modified AGI, and so does the car loan deduction (IRS fact sheet, Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors).
The October 2026 intake sheet already asks about qualified overtime and tips on the wage page, and about the purchase of a new vehicle with Form 1098-VLI (IRS Form 13614-C (October 2026), Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet). Charitable giving changed as well: from tax year 2026, a client who does not itemize may deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts to eligible charities, or $2,000 on a joint return (IRS, Working Families Tax Cuts provisions). Gifts to donor-advised funds do not qualify (IRS, Working Families Tax Cuts provisions).
Two more 2026 changes call for a question. From tax year 2026, the child and dependent care credit can reach 50% of qualifying expenses, up from 35% (IRS, Working Families Tax Cuts provisions). Contributions to Trump accounts for children began on July 4, 2026 (IRS, Working Families Tax Cuts provisions).
Gifts still need proof. A deduction for a single contribution of $250 or more needs a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity (IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions). Ask for those letters with the other receipts.
| Ask the client | Limit to check | Document a yes calls for |
|---|---|---|
| Did you receive tips? | Up to $25,000 a year; for the self-employed, no more than the net income of that business; phases out above $150,000 of modified AGI ($300,000 joint); not for work in a specified service trade or business (IRS fact sheet, Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors) | Form W-2 or Form 1099, or the client’s tip records |
| Were you paid overtime required by federal law? | Up to $12,500, or $25,000 for joint filers, of the premium part of overtime the Fair Labor Standards Act requires; phases out above $150,000 of modified AGI ($300,000 joint) (IRS fact sheet, Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors) | Form W-2 or the employer’s overtime statement |
| Did you buy a new car with a loan? | Up to $10,000 of interest on a loan taken after 2024 for a new, personal-use vehicle with final assembly in the United States; phases out above $100,000 of modified AGI ($200,000 joint) (IRS fact sheet, Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors) | Loan statement with interest paid, and the VIN |
| Age 65 or older at the end of the year (IRS fact sheet, Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors) | An extra $6,000 per eligible person; phases out above $75,000 of modified AGI ($150,000 joint) (IRS fact sheet, Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors) | Date of birth of each spouse |
| Did you give cash to charity? | $1,000, or $2,000 joint, for clients who do not itemize, from 2026 (IRS, Working Families Tax Cuts provisions) | Receipts, and the charity’s letter for gifts of $250 or more (IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions) |
Sending it, and what happens with the answers
Send the questionnaire as a fillable PDF or a Word file, or paste the questions into an online form. Keep it to one or two pages. Put the return date at the top and a line that says where to upload documents, so nobody emails a Social Security number.
When it comes back, read the yes answers against last year’s return. Every yes should match a document in the folder, and every form on last year’s return should match a yes. A W-2 employer or a Form 1098 lender that appeared last year and vanished this year is a question to ask, not an assumption to make.
If the client needs the full version, with figures and contact details, use the individual tax organizer. If a yes points to a rental, send the rental property organizer for that part.
Questions people ask
What questions should a tax questionnaire for clients include?
Questions about household changes, each kind of income, a home, education, childcare, health coverage, estimated payments and foreign accounts. For the 2026 tax year, add tips, overtime, a new car loan, age 65 or older and cash gifts to charity (IRS fact sheet, Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors).
Is there an IRS tax questionnaire preparers can follow?
Yes. Form 13614-C, the Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet used at volunteer sites, is a yes/no intake for individual returns (IRS Form 13614-C (October 2026), Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet). Many firms build their questionnaire in the same order.
How is a tax questionnaire different from a tax organizer?
A questionnaire asks yes or no and names the document for each yes. An organizer also asks for the figures, names and dates behind each answer, so it is longer and suits new or complex returns.
What should a new client questionnaire ask that a returning one does not?
Ask for the last return filed by the previous preparer, every IRS or state letter, and this year’s Identity Protection PIN if the client has one. A new IP PIN is issued each year (IRS, Get an Identity Protection PIN).
Sources
- IRS Form 13614-C (October 2026), Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet: The yes/no intake for individual returns: marital status, household, states lived in, IP PIN, income, overtime and tips, new vehicle (Form 1098-VLI), IRS letters and estimated payments.
- Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC: For tax years beginning after 2025 the reporting threshold for certain payments rose to $2,000.
- IRS, Understanding your Form 1099-K: A payment app or marketplace must send Form 1099-K when payments total over $20,000 in more than 200 transactions, and may send one for less.
- IRS fact sheet, Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors: For 2025 through 2028: tips up to $25,000, overtime up to $12,500 ($25,000 joint), car loan interest up to $10,000 on a new personal-use vehicle assembled in the US, and $6,000 more for each person 65 or older, each with a modified AGI phase-out.
- IRS, Working Families Tax Cuts provisions: From tax year 2026, people who do not itemize may deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts to eligible charities ($2,000 married filing jointly), not gifts to donor-advised funds; the dependent care credit rate rises to 50%; Trump account contributions began July 4, 2026.
- IRS, Get an Identity Protection PIN: An IP PIN is a six-digit number known only to the taxpayer and the IRS, and a new one is generated each year.
- IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions: A contribution of $250 or more is deductible only with a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the organization.
About the author
Arthur Teboul (Founder, DokuTrak) is building DokuTrak after watching professionals lose hours chasing clients for documents over email. Arthur Teboul.
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How this page was made (methodology): it is built from the primary sources listed under Sources, and every rule and figure on it links to the source it comes from. Last updated October 25, 2026. Spotted an error or a rule that changed? Contact us.
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