Tax Time: Client Records Checklist for Practices

Tax time starts with collecting the client’s records, checking prefilled information and resolving missing items before preparation. Use this individual tax return checklist to send one annual request, then keep the client’s answers with the job.

The Checklist to Send, Grouped by Record Type

Copy the checklist below into your tax time email or secure client form. It is written directly to the client. Mark items as prefilled only after you have checked their availability for that client.

For items your practice marks prefilled, confirm the details and report anything missing or wrong. You do not need to find a paper copy solely to duplicate confirmed prefilled information. Tick each applicable item when supplied or checked, and write does not apply beside the others.

Send your records through the secure link your practice provides. Do not email your Tax File Number (TFN) or scanned identity documents as plain attachments.

Personal Details

• Confirm your legal name, postal address and contact details.
• Confirm the bank account for any refund through the practice’s secure method.
• Give your spouse’s details, income information and any changes during the income year.
• Tell us about your dependants and changes in who you supported.
• For your first year with this practice, send your previous notice of assessment and details of ATO debts or payment plans.
• Tell us about overseas residence, arrival or departure during the income year.

Income

• Check each employment income statement in myGov and confirm it is tax ready.
• Check Centrelink and other government payment information.
• Check interest from every bank account, including joint and overseas accounts.
• Send dividend statements and managed fund annual tax statements unless the practice has confirmed they are prefilled.
• Send employee share scheme statements, foreign income and pension records.
• Send trust and partnership distribution statements and records of lump sums or back payments.
• Send earnings summaries and fees from ride-sourcing or other gig platforms.
• Tell us about income earned under an Australian Business Number (ABN), so we can also request your business records.

Deductions

• Send car logbooks or work-trip records, plus expense records for the method being assessed.
• Send your working from home hours record and evidence of the running costs you paid.
• Send receipts for eligible work clothing, laundry records, tools and equipment.
• Send records for work subscriptions, professional memberships and self-education, with their work purpose.
• Send receipts for gifts to deductible gift recipients.
• Send your income protection premium statement and records of tax affairs expenses, including last year’s agent fee.
• Send personal super contribution records and the fund’s acknowledgement of your notice of intent to claim a deduction.
• Tell us which expenses your employer reimbursed and which items also had private use.

Investments and Property

• Send transaction reports from every crypto exchange used, wallet addresses and records of acquisitions, sales and swaps.
• Include each crypto transaction’s date, dollar value and fees, plus the cost of assets acquired.
• Send each rental property’s annual manager statement and records of any rent received directly.
• Send loan interest statements, council rates, insurance, strata levies, repair invoices and the depreciation schedule.
• State the days each property was rented, available for rent and used privately.
• Send short-term rental platform earnings summaries, rental dates and platform fees.
• For property sold, send purchase and sale contracts, settlement statements and purchase costs.
• For shares or managed funds sold, send acquisition records, broker contract notes and sale records.

Health Cover and Offsets

• Check private health insurance details, including cover periods, policy changes and other adults on the policy.
• If health insurance details are missing from prefill, request a statement from your insurer and send it.
• Tell us about periods without Medicare entitlement and send any Medicare entitlement statement obtained.
• Send information about spouse income, dependants and government payments relevant to offsets.
• Tell us about personal super contributions for which you are not claiming a deduction.

Personal Details and Last Year’s Position

Confirm personal details every year, even when the client’s address and family circumstances appear unchanged. Bank details need their own secure confirmation before the practice uses them for a refund.

Spouse income and dependants can affect the Medicare levy surcharge and some offsets. Request actual income information and the periods relevant to a change. An answer that the spouse has no taxable income can still need review of other income amounts.

For a client new to your practice, request the prior notice of assessment, outstanding debts and existing ATO payment plans. Record missing earlier returns separately so the current job does not hide them.

Complete the new client form and identity checks before adding the client to your agent list and accessing their records. Obtain their authority to act as part of that onboarding.

Individual clients and sole traders do not use the business client-to-agent nomination procedure. If the client also has a company, trust or partnership, use the agent nomination guide for that entity. The ATO’s nomination instructions distinguish the entities covered.

Income Records Clients Must Send

Request evidence for every income source, then compare it with prefill. Salary and wages normally appear in income statements through myGov. Include Centrelink and other government payments, bank interest, dividends and managed fund annual tax statements.

Ask about employee share schemes separately because clients can overlook shares received through work. Foreign income and pensions also need their own prompt. Request distributions from family trusts and partnerships, along with lump sums and back payments.

A managed fund cash distribution does not necessarily show every tax component. Use the annual tax statement and ask for later corrected statements when issued.

A client with ABN income also needs the small business tax checklist. Send both checklists to a sole trader. Keep the business income records with the business job while linking them to the individual return.

Crypto and Other Data-Matched Income

Request crypto and platform records even when prefill shows no amount. The ATO’s data-matching protocols list crypto, ride-sourcing, sharing economy accommodation, property transactions and share transactions.

These programs let the ATO compare third-party records with a lodged return. An omitted transaction can prompt a later query or amendment. Data matching does not mean prefill contains a complete tax calculation or every record you need.

For crypto, request a transaction report from every exchange used, wallet addresses and the history of transfers between the client’s own wallets. Ask for acquisition costs and transaction fees. Each disposal or swap needs its date and dollar value.

A swap from one crypto asset to another can be a capital gains tax event even when the client receives no cash. The ATO’s crypto transaction guidance explains that each disposal needs consideration. Request swap history alongside sales for cash.

For gig work, obtain earnings summaries and platform fees, including amounts paid outside the platform. For short-term accommodation, request rental dates, property use and earnings summaries from each platform.

Treat missing or late prefill as a collection issue. Ask the client for the underlying statements, then reconcile them when third-party information arrives.

Tax Deduction Checklist for Work and Personal Claims

Pair each proposed deduction with the evidence the preparer needs to assess it. Car expenses need logbook or trip records appropriate to the method, plus relevant running costs. Request work clothing receipts and laundry records without treating ordinary clothing as automatically deductible.

Tools, subscriptions and self-education need receipts and an explanation of how they relate to the client’s work. Record private use and employer reimbursements so the preparer can separate them from the proposed claim.

For working from home, the fixed rate method requires a contemporaneous record of actual hours across the income year. An estimated pattern based on a short representative period is insufficient. Retain evidence for each covered expense the client incurred, such as an electricity bill and an internet bill.

The ATO’s fixed rate guidance explains the covered costs and separate asset records. The rate and record rules have changed over recent income years. Match the method to the income year being prepared instead of copying an old checklist’s figure.

Request receipts for deductible gift recipient donations, income protection premium statements and the costs of managing tax affairs. Include last year’s agent fee and ask the client to identify what each invoice covers.

Personal super contribution records must include the fund’s written acknowledgement of a valid notice of intent before the deduction is claimed. NAT 71121 is the ATO’s notice of intent form. A contribution receipt alone does not establish that this step is complete.

The ATO’s personal super contribution guidance explains timing and validity. Flag a missing acknowledgement for follow-up before preparing that deduction.

Keep the annual list general. Use the ATO’s occupation and industry guides for the client’s work. The tax deduction review handles eligibility decisions once records arrive.

Rental Property and Capital Gains Records

Request one set of records for each rental property, including its annual manager statement and any rent received directly. Collect loan interest statements and council rates, insurance, strata levies, repair invoices and the depreciation schedule.

Ask for the days rented, available for rent and used privately. For a jointly owned property, record the owners and their interests. A platform summary alone will not explain private stays or periods when the property was unavailable.

A repair generally restores something worn or damaged. An improvement changes or adds to it. Request detailed invoices showing the work done, when it occurred and whether it replaced an entire item, so the preparer can classify the cost.

For property sales, obtain both purchase and sale contracts, settlement statements and acquisition costs. For share or managed fund sales, obtain broker contract notes and records supporting the original cost. Include reinvested distributions and earlier adjustments recorded against the holding.

If purchase records are missing, ask the client for broker history or the original conveyancing file. Leave the cost query open until the preparer has an evidenced basis for the return.

Sending the Checklist and Following Up Missing Items

Send one covering email that tells the client what to complete and where to upload it. Before sending, add the income year, the records deadline and your secure link to the message fields.

Use this wording as the covering message.

Please complete the individual tax records checklist for the income year shown in your request. Send your records through the secure link in this email by the records deadline stated beside it. Check items marked prefilled and tell us about anything missing or wrong. Mark items that do not apply. Do not email TFNs or scanned identity documents. Reply if you need help using the secure link.

A secure portal keeps records with the right client and avoids sensitive attachments circulating through inboxes. Five separate emails make staff reconcile versions, work out what is still missing and check whether a later attachment replaces an earlier one.

Tax Genie puts the annual questions and document requests into one guided form. It checks details such as TFN format as the client types and sends automatic reminders for outstanding items. Clients return corrections through the same private link.

Keep the completed checklist with the job, including items marked does not apply. The preparer needs to distinguish an explicit client answer from a question nobody answered.

Private health insurers do not have to send an annual statement automatically. The ATO’s private health insurance statement guidance says clients can request one when prefill is missing. Send that specific follow-up instead of asking the client to wait for a statement that might never arrive.

Run the Tax Time Collection and Review

Run the annual collection as a job with one staff owner and a clear handover to preparation.

1. Send the checklist with the income year, records deadline and secure upload method. Confirm the client can open the request.
2. Check the returned checklist against the documents received. Record each missing item and each answer marked does not apply.
3. Return incomplete details for correction. Tax Genie’s checked forms and automatic client fix requests reopen the affected sections through the same private link.
4. Assign a staff reviewer to reconcile records with prefill and resolve missing statements. Staff decide the tax treatment and prepare the return for approval and lodgement.
5. Mark collection complete only when every applicable item has evidence or a documented reviewer decision. Keep unresolved matters visible on the job.

If the client says everything is uploaded but a statement is absent, name the missing statement in the next request. If prefill disagrees with a document, identify the relevant issuer and income year before correcting the return.

After lodgement, use the tax return processing guide for status questions. Keep those follow-ups separate from the records collection job.

When Tax Time Starts

Tax time follows the close of Australia’s annual financial year. Each individual return reports the completed income year. Clients can collect receipts and transaction records throughout that year, then add annual statements after it ends.

The best time to lodge depends on the records being ready. Confirm employment income statements show tax ready and wait for required investment statements. The ATO’s prefill guidance says most information arrives in the early weeks after year-end, but some arrives later.

A self-lodging client has the standard annual deadline. An agent client’s due date depends on the applicable lodgement program and their circumstances. Engaging an agent does not give every client the same later date. Use the ATO’s return lodgement guidance for the calendar deadline and agent engagement requirements.

Set your practice’s records deadline before the client’s applicable due date, allowing time for missing statements, review and client approval. Send the checklist before year-end and separate early record collection from the decision to lodge. For a client lodging their first return, use the first tax return guide alongside this records request.