Document follow-up for US tax firms with 10–60 staff
Get client documents in without anyone at your firm writing reminders.
We set up the follow-up your portal doesn't do. Each client gets a list of what to send and reminders until it's all in. Your team sees who's still missing what. You keep your tax software and your portal.
Works alongside CCH Axcess UltraTax Lacerte Drake ShareFile SmartVault or plain email
| Client | Still missing |
|---|---|
| Alvarez, M. & J.Form 1040 · joint | 1099-B K-1 |
| Brightline Dental LLCForm 1065 | Bank stmt Dec |
| Chen, R.Form 1040 | All in |
| Okafor Family TrustForm 1041 | 1099-DIV |
of firms in tax-software vendor surveys name chasing client documents as their biggest workflow problem.
admin job ads at CPA firms list following up on client documents as part of the job.
is what a part-time chaser costs for one season. Then you hire again next year.
Sources: published vendor workflow surveys; our review of US accounting-firm job ads, Oct 2026; Upwork rates for document-collection assistants.
The problem
Organizers go out in January. Half the documents come back.
The rest arrive in pieces, by email, as phone photos named IMG_0005.jpg. Someone keeps a spreadsheet of who's missing what and writes the reminders by hand. Returns wait, clients call to ask why, and March fills up with extensions.
What firm owners told us
"The dog and pony show chase on an email."
"My taxes must be done by now. They've had it for two weeks."
"Out of 60, 70 clients, only two or three were actually using it."
That's 3 people chasing documents 8 hours a week for a 15-week season, at $45 an hour. It doesn't count the returns that slip to extension. Work out your firm's number.
How it works
What we build for your firm
CCH, Thomson Reuters and Drake portals hold what clients send. File shares hold it too. None of them follows up on what's missing, so we build that part and connect it to the tools you already use.
A request list for every client
Built from what each client sent last year, so nobody types it out again.
Reminders until the list is complete
Sent on a schedule, in your firm's name and wording. They stop the day the last item arrives.
One list of what's still missing
Anyone at the firm can see which clients owe what, without asking around or opening a spreadsheet.
Status updates for clients
Clients hear when their documents are in and when their return is moving, so fewer of them call to ask.
Your staff
Your admin only takes the calls that need a person.
Most firms your size handle this by hiring. An admin, a seasonal temp or a virtual assistant spends the season writing reminders. A part-time chaser costs $4,000 to $9,000 a season, and you hire again next year.
Once the follow-up is built, it sends the reminders and keeps the list up to date. Your admin deals with the exceptions: the client who needs a phone call, or the form that came in wrong. The build costs about what one season of a chaser does, and it runs every season after that.
Pricing
Three steps, with the price fixed before you commit
You see the plan and the build price before you pay for a build. We take 3 builds each summer.
February-Ready Teardown
$1,950or $2,500 if you'd rather pay after you've read the report
We go through how documents reach your firm today: the portal, email, spreadsheets and tax software. You get a written plan, the tools we'd use and a fixed price for the build.
Your $1,950 comes off the build.
Founding price: $950 for the first 3 firms. We want 3 case studies before next season. In return we ask for a short write-up of your results, one reference call and one introduction.
Document follow-up build
$5,000–7,000fixed in the Teardown
- Request lists, reminders, the missing-items list and client status updates
- Connected to the portal or file share you use now
- Paid by milestone, not by the hour
- Built May to August and tested before January
Season Care
$450every 4 weeks, January to April
We watch the system through busy season, fix anything that breaks and change templates when you ask.
$150 every 4 weeks from May to October on a yearly plan.
The guarantee
If anything we build doesn't work as specified before 15 April, we fix it at no cost. It applies when we have your client list and templates 30 days before go-live, system access within 3 days of asking, and you attend two review meetings.
Security
What we never touch
We set up access to fit your written information security plan under IRS Publication 4557 and the FTC Safeguards Rule. You can remove our access at any time.
- Returns, numbers or tax advice. Your staff do the tax work, same as now.
- Client messages you haven't approved. Every reminder uses wording you signed off.
- Client documents on our side. Files stay in your portal or file share.
- Logins you don't control. We work in your accounts under access you grant and can switch off.
Fit
Who we build for
A good fit
- A US accounting, tax or bookkeeping firm with 10–60 staff
- On CCH, Thomson Reuters or Drake, a file share like ShareFile or SmartVault, or no portal at all
- Someone on your team spends busy season chasing documents
- You'd rather not move clients onto a new system
Probably not a fit
- Firms under 10 staff. An off-the-shelf tool will do the job for less.
- Firms where TaxDome or Karbon reminders already handle the follow-up
- Anyone looking for help preparing returns or keeping books. We build the system; your team does the tax work.
On TaxDome, Karbon or Canopy but never switched the reminders on? That's a smaller job. Ask us on the call.
Who builds it
One service, built for one kind of firm
No Missing Docs builds document follow-up for US tax firms with 10–60 staff, and nothing else. We take 3 builds each summer so each one is tested before January.
Lead consultant
Neil Scholtz
Neil leads every build, from the Teardown to the last busy-season fix. He builds client intake, CRM and operations systems for service firms, working with two agencies and with direct clients.
Questions
Before you book
What happens on the 20-minute call?
You tell us how documents get from your clients to your preparers today and who chases them. We tell you whether we can help and what the first step costs. There's no obligation and no slide deck.
Does it work with UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake or CCH?
Yes. The follow-up sits next to your tax software, so the way you prepare returns doesn't change. Where your portal or file share lets us connect, we do. The Teardown confirms what's possible with your setup before you pay for a build.
Will our clients have to learn a new system?
We aim for no. Reminders point clients to the place they already send documents. If your setup can't support that, the Teardown says so and recommends the simplest option.
Why not use our software vendor's onboarding?
Vendor onboarding sets up the vendor's product. Following up on documents usually crosses several tools: the portal, email, a spreadsheet and the tax software. We build across all of them, at a fixed price.
Busy season is close. Is it too late?
It's too late to build for this season. Builds run May to August so they're tested before the next one. You can book a Teardown now, or use the free check to count this season's chasing hours so the build is sized on real numbers.
What does the guarantee need from us?
Your client list and templates 30 days before go-live, system access within 3 days of asking, and two review meetings. With those in place, anything we build that doesn't work as specified before 15 April gets fixed at no cost.
Where are you based?
Panama. It's on US Eastern time in winter and one hour behind in summer, so calls happen during your working day.
Builds for next season start in May.
Book a 20-minute call. We'll ask how documents reach your firm today and tell you straight whether we can help. Or take the 5-minute check first and bring your number.