How to collect tax documents from clients without chasing all season

1. Send one specific list per client

“Please send me your tax documents” guarantees a back-and-forth. Clients don’t know what a T5 is, or that they need the RRSP receipts from January and February too.

Send a list built for that client, based on last year’s return: one line per document, with a short hint (“One T4 for each employer this year”). Mark what’s optional so clients don’t panic about slips they’ll never get.

2. Give a date, not “when you can”

A due date gives you something to remind against. Two to three weeks after sending works well for personal returns; earlier for clients with a business or rental income.

3. Make sending easier than not sending

Every obstacle (an account to create, a password to reset, a scanner they don’t have) pushes clients back to email attachments, or to nothing at all.

Let them upload from a phone, accept photos and let them mark an item as “doesn’t apply.” Email attachments are also a poor place for documents that carry a social insurance number.

4. Remind on a schedule, and only about what’s missing

Most of the delay is forgetfulness, not refusal. A predictable sequence works better than ad-hoc emails:

• 3 days after sending: a friendly nudge.
• 7 days: a reminder from the firm, listing what’s still needed.
• 14 days: a firmer note.
• 2 days before the due date: a final notice.

Send reminders during the day, not at 11 p.m., and stop the moment everything is in.

5. Check documents as they arrive

The most expensive problem is the one you discover in April: last year’s RRSP receipt, the first page of a three-page T3, a photo too blurry to read. Look at uploads as they come in, and send back the wrong ones with a specific reason (“This is the 2024 receipt; we need 2026”).

6. Name and file everything the same way

Pick a naming pattern and stick to it, for example client_year_item: gagnon-martin_2026_t4.pdf. It makes files easy to find in your tax software, your document management and three years from now.

7. Get the signatures in the same flow

Once the return is ready, the T183 (and the TP-1000.TE-V for Quebec residents) is the last thing standing between you and EFILE. Send it from the same place, so clients don’t have to learn a second tool.

Doing all this without the busywork

AccountantPortal runs this method for you: checklists from templates, a private link with no password, reminders on that schedule with quiet hours, review and send-back, a ZIP named client_year_item, and e-signature built in.

Sources

• Canada Revenue Agency: Line 20800, RRSP deduction (contribution deadline)
• Canada Revenue Agency: Distribute the slips (T4 by the last day of February)
• Canada Revenue Agency: Filing due dates for the tax return

Official pages, last checked on November 11, 2026. Rules change: re-read them before each tax season.