What is an organizer?
The client organizer is questionnaire and information document that tax preparers use to gather tax data from their clients. The organizer is a time-saving tool, helping your client plan for their visit to your office and helping you more efficiently prepare their return.
The organizer asks for the same information that IRS forms and schedules ask for, so it helps your client assemble the information you will need to prepare their tax return. It can be printed to paper or PDF depending on how the client will receive it from you.
If you have prepared a client's return in the prior year, information can be pulled into the organizer from their prior year return. The organizer can be mailed or e-mailed to your client before their visit to your office, or it can be used internally for year-end planning, input sheets, etc.
Four types of organizers are available
There are four types of organizers that can be printed for either a C corporation, S corporation, or partnership (where 20xx is either the current year or the prior year, as selected):
- Complete Organizer With 20xx Tax Year Data - The full organizer queries information needed to complete the entity's tax return. (This is the best organizer for passthrough entities.)
- Organizer With Only 20xx Tax Year Forms - This organizer is reduced in size, containing only the pages deemed relevant for a particular client based on the contents of their prior year return. (For passthrough entities, it omits the partner or shareholder information.)
- Basic Organizer With 20xx Tax Year Data - This organizer includes enough information to complete the heading section of the return only along with a cover page. It's enough to get the return started so that it's in the client list and also so that an extension request can be filed.
- Basic Information Page With 20xx Tax Year Data - This is the basic organizer minus the cover page.
Note that when printing a blank organizer, i.e., an organizer not for a particular client, the complete organizer prints.
Are you printing to PDF or to paper?
When printing an organizer, it will either open as a PDF or print to paper depending on your printer preferences. To check this print setting, from the Quick Menu of TaxSlayer Pro select:
- Configuration
- Printer / Copies Setup
- Printer Setup
- Edit Printer Preferences
-
View All Print Jobs - Select YES or No as desired:
- NO - If set to No, the organizer will print directly to the printer specified in the previous menu.
- YES - If set to Yes, the organizer will open as a PDF. From your PDF viewer, you can then select to print it to paper if desired, including which pages to print if you don't want them all to print, or you can save the PDF so that you can e-mail it to a client.
Are you printing for the purpose of e-mailing to the taxpayer?
If you're printing the organizer for the purpose of e-mailing it to the taxpayer, you'll want to print it to PDF rather than to paper.
If you are a TaxSlayer Pro Premium subscriber, before the organizer prints you'll be asked an additional question "Print Return to PDF?" This question is really asking if you wish to save a PDF copy of the organizer in PaperCut for the taxpayer to be e-mailed to them. If you're going to e-mail them a copy from PaperCut, answer this question Yes. (This question assumes you have at least started the return for the current year so that the PDF has a place to be saved to in PaperCut.)
Instructions to print the Organizer
To print an organizer for your business client(s), from the Quick Menu of TaxSlayer Pro select:
- Business
- Print Menu
- Print Business Organizer
First, assess the menu line Currently Using Data from Tax Year indicating whether the current year's client list or the prior year's client list will be used for printing purposes. By default the prior year is selected allowing you to select clients from the prior year's client list. To select clients from the current year's client list, select this line and select "Data from Tax Year [current tax year]" from the menu.
Next, indicate how you want to select organizer(s) to print:
- Print Blank Organizer - Selecting this option will print a complete blank organizer for the entity that you select. The blank organizer is designed to be given to a business that doesn't have prior year data available in TaxSlayer Pro.
- Print Organizer for Selected Clients - Select one or more clients, then select Ok. Next, select the type of organizer that you wish to print for the selected client(s).
- Print Organizer for Clients Marked to Print - Each business client whose prior year return has been marked to print an organizer next year will print using this option.
- Print Organizer for All Clients - Selecting this option will print an organizer for each business client from the prior year TaxSlayer Pro software. Specify the type of organizer that you wish to print. The data from the prior year return will automatically pull in to the correct column on each page of the organizer.
Note: Printing an organizer for all clients is not recommended if you have several dozen or more business returns, as the volume of data can easily swamp your PDF software or if you print directly to paper can require hundreds of sheets. With many organizers to print, it's better to use the "selected clients" option for better control of the process.
Marking a return to print an organizer
To indicate in a client's tax return that you would like an organizer to be printed for them next year, from the Main Menu of the tax return select:
- Heading Information
- Print Organizer for Client Next Year - Select and answer YES.
Additional Information: