Every tax preparer has a version of this list. The difference between a smooth season and a long one is usually how the list is written and sent, not what is on it. This is a starting point for Canadian personal (T1) returns. Adjust it for each client, and check current CRA requirements each year.
The checklist
Three sections cover most personal returns. Identity and employment income apply to nearly everyone; the rest depends on the client.
Identity
- Photo ID: a driver’s licence or passport. A photo of the front is fine.
- Last year’s notice of assessment: downloaded from CRA My Account, or a photo of the paper copy.
Income
- T4 slips: one from every employer the client had during the year.
- T5 and investment slips: interest, dividends and other investment income (T5, T3, T5008).
- Self-employment income: a summary of income and expenses, or a bookkeeping export.
Deductions and credits
- RRSP contribution receipts: contributions from March of last year to March of this year.
- Medical expense receipts.
- Donation receipts.
- Childcare receipts.
This list is the T1 checklist in Sealio’s starter library, ready to copy and edit. Open the T1 personal tax return template.
When each document becomes available
Clients often cannot send everything on the day you ask, because the issuer has not sent it yet. The CRA’s guidance on tax slips sets out the usual timing:
- T4 (employment income), T4A (pension and other income) and T5 (investment income) slips are usually sent by the end of February.
- T3 (trust income) slips are usually sent by the end of March.
- RRSP contribution receipts for contributions made in the first 60 days of the year arrive after that period ends.
Two consequences for your request. Send it in January or early February, so clients upload each slip as it arrives. And expect T3 slips last: a client with trust or mutual fund income cannot complete the request before late March, so make that item one you do not chase early.
If a slip is missing
The CRA’s advice is that a taxpayer who has not received a slip should ask the issuer, meaning the employer or financial institution, for a copy. Slips that issuers have filed are also visible to the client in CRA My Account. Put that in the item’s instructions. It turns “I never got my T4” into something the client can solve without calling you.
Write it for the client, not for the file
Clients do not know what a T5008 is, and they should not have to. Put the plain description first (“investment slips”) and the form number second. Say where to find a document when it is not obvious. “Download it from CRA My Account” saves a phone call.
Say how many. “T4 slips” invites one upload. “One from every employer you had this year” gets all of them, and saves discovering a second employer when the return does not reconcile.
Mark what is optional
Identity and employment income apply to almost everyone. Deductions do not. If every item is required, clients with no childcare costs get stuck on a slot they cannot fill, and your “complete” column never fills either.
A useful rule: an item is required when the return cannot be prepared without it, and optional when its absence is itself an answer. No donation receipts means no donations.
Deadlines to build the request around
For most individuals the filing and payment deadline is April 30. Self-employed individuals have until June 15 to file. Work backwards from your own capacity, not from the deadline: a due date on your request of mid-March leaves time to return unusable files and still file on time.
Send it early, with a due date
A request sent early, with reminders every few days, collects documents as they become available instead of all at once in the last week of April. Each reminder should list only what is still missing, so the client who has sent six of seven documents is asked for one.
After filing: what the client should keep
The CRA asks taxpayers to keep receipts and supporting documents for at least six years after filing, in case of a review. Tell clients this when you confirm the return is filed. It also informs how long your firm keeps what it collected: decide a retention period, write it down, and apply it to every client the same way.
For clients in India
The same structure applies to an income tax return: identity (PAN and Aadhaar), income (Form 16, Form 26AS or AIS, interest certificates, capital gains statements) and deductions (Section 80C proofs, health insurance premiums under 80D, home loan interest). Form 26AS and the AIS are downloaded by the taxpayer from the income tax e-filing portal.
Sealio India includes that list as a starter too. Open the ITR template.
Turning the list into a routine
- Copy the checklist and adjust the wording to match how your firm talks to clients.
- Send it to every personal tax client on the same day, with the same due date.
- Review files as they arrive, and return unusable ones with a specific reason.
- In the first week of March, look at who has sent nothing at all. Those are the calls worth making.
For work that repeats monthly instead of yearly, use a schedule. Open the monthly bookkeeping template.