Every January, we see the same thing happen with tax prep.
People start getting emails from their CPA asking for tax documents, and the stress kicks in. Suddenly you’re trying to gather everything that’s needed, remember where things live, and figure out whether you’re missing something important. What should be a straightforward step can start to feel overwhelming and time-consuming.
What most people don’t realize is that this stress usually isn’t about the taxes themselves. It’s about uncertainty and disorganization. When information is scattered across inboxes, folders, and systems, even simple requests can feel heavier than they need to be.
That’s when tax prep turns into a cycle of searching, follow-up questions, and delays. But when things are organized early, the experience looks very different. You know what you have, where it is, and how to send it. The process moves faster, with fewer surprises and far less back-and-forth.
If you want a calmer, more predictable tax season this year, it doesn’t start in March or April. It starts now, with preparation. Here are the five things your CPA wishes you’d do before you send anything over.
5 Things Your CPA Wishes You’d Do Before You Send Your Files
1. Go Paperless and Organize Everything in One Place
If a document comes in the mail, it helps to deal with it while it’s still top of mind. Scanning paper documents as they arrive and storing them digitally prevents them from piling up and becoming something you have to sort through later.
All tax-related documents should live in one clearly labeled electronic folder. When files are spread across email, desktops, cloud storage, and phone photos, it becomes harder to know what you already have and what might be missing.
This matters more than most people expect. When everything is already digital and centralized, it’s easier to send, easier to review, and far less likely something gets overlooked. Searching for documents later in the process takes time and increases the chance of errors or incomplete information.
Organization doesn’t need to be complicated or time-consuming. It just needs to be consistent. Knowing exactly where your documents live makes tax prep smoother and far less stressful.
2. Complete the Tax Organizer Fully
The tax organizer your CPA sends plays a much bigger role than many clients realize. It isn’t busywork or a formality. It’s one of the primary tools your CPA uses to understand what actually happened over the course of the year.
Your tax documents tell part of the story, but they don’t always capture everything. The organizer helps fill in the gaps by surfacing details like one-time events, or circumstances that don’t show clearly in the tax documents alone.
When an organizer is only partially completed or rushed through, it often leads to unnecessary complications. Follow-up questions become more frequent. Timelines slow down. In some cases, your CPA may need to make conservative assumptions simply because they don’t have enough context.
If you want an accurate return and guidance that reflects your full situation, taking the time to complete the organizer thoroughly makes a meaningful difference.
3. Send Files in the Correct Format
How you send documents matters just as much as what you send.
Most CPAs work with documents in PDF format because they’re consistent, readable, and easy to process. Photos taken on a phone, on the other hand, often come through as HEIC files, which can’t be used for tax preparation.
When unusable file types are submitted, someone has to stop and address it. That might mean converting files, requesting replacements, or trying to work around formatting issues. All of that adds time to the process, and additional time increases cost and slows everything down.
Sending documents in the format your CPA requests is one of the simplest ways to keep tax prep efficient and accurate. It reduces unnecessary back-and-forth and helps your return move through the process without avoidable delays.
4. Use Your CPA’s Secure Portal (Not Email or Shared Folders)
Email attachments and shared folders tend to create more issues than most people expect.
Emails can get buried or overlooked, especially when multiple documents are sent over time. When more than one person is sending files, it also becomes harder to track what’s been received and what’s still outstanding. Shared folders introduce a different challenge altogether, often leading to version control issues and extra administrative work.
For these reasons, most firms rely on secure portals to manage document collection. These tools are designed to keep everything organized, accessible, and tied to the correct return. For Stride clients, we use platforms like TaxDome because they streamline the process by securely uploading documents, converting them into usable formats, and delivering them to the right place.
The most helpful step you can take is to ask your CPA where and how they prefer documents to be submitted and then stick to their process. Consistency goes a long way in keeping tax prep efficient and on track.
5. Submit Everything Early
Timing plays a larger role in tax preparation than many people realize. In practice, it’s one of the biggest factors in how smooth the process will be.
Most CPA firms operate on a FIFO basis, meaning returns are prepared in the order information is received. When documents come in early, there’s time to review everything carefully, ask clarifying questions if needed, and prepare the return accurately. When information arrives late, timelines naturally become tighter.
Many firms also work with internal deadlines that fall well before April. Missing those deadlines limits flexibility and can lead to filing extensions or decisions being made with less information than ideal.
Submitting your information early gives you more control over timing and outcomes. It allows the process to move at a steady pace rather than feeling rushed at the end.
Want more tax tips? Read the previous blog in this series: Taxes, Cash Flow, and Growth: How to Balance All Three Without Burning Out
Tax Prep Doesn’t Have to Be Stressful
Smooth tax prep isn’t driven by urgency. It’s driven by preparation.
When files are organized, documents are sent in the right format, and everything lives in a clear system, tax season becomes far more predictable. There’s less scrambling, fewer follow-up questions, and more confidence in the numbers you’re reviewing. Instead of bracing yourself for surprises, you can actually trust what you’re seeing.
January is your opportunity to set that foundation. The more clarity you create now, the easier the process becomes as tax season picks up and deadlines approach.
We’re Here to Help
Whether you need support getting your information organized or want a team that can handle the entire process, Stride is here to help. We work with clients to prepare their books, collect and organize the right documentation, and file their tax returns accurately and efficiently.
Ready to get ahead on your 2025 tax filing?
Schedule a call with Stride to simplify tax prep and take the stress out of the filing process.
