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For owners of small tax and accounting firms · US and UK

How small tax firms get client documents before the rush, and get paid extra by the clients who still send them late.

The Early Docs System gives you three dates with consequences, 28 emails and texts that go out before each one, client checklists, and a late-fee clause your clients agree to in advance. Set it up in about an hour, before the season opens.

Yes, I want the system — $67Instant download · The Tax-Day Guarantee · Works with TaxDome, Canopy, Karbon, Gmail and Outlook

Your season, this year

15Feb
Early

Complete files keep last year's fee

E05 goes out 14 days before

15Mar
Standard

Normal fee, filed by April 15

E09, E10 and S05 remind them

31Mar
Late

+10% after March 15, +25% after March 31

E12 applies it, as agreed

Example dates for US individual returns · you choose yours

#1

challenge named by US tax and accounting firms: late or unprepared clients

Wolters Kluwer survey of 1,983 US firms (2022)

65.2%

of firms picked getting information and documents from clients as their top workflow challenge

Financial Cents 2024 workflow report, 367 respondents

69%

of US accountants say they spend too much time gathering documents from clients

Canopy study of 150 US accountants (2022)

Dear firm owner,

It's 9:40 on a Tuesday night, eight days before April 15.

Your inbox pings. It's the client you emailed in January, again in February, and twice in March. Now there's a folder of phone photos, a 1099 with a page missing, and one line at the bottom: “Need this by Friday, thanks!”

You'll do it. You always do. You'll stay late, your staff will give up another weekend, and the client who sent everything neatly on February 9th will wait an extra week behind the one who didn't.

And both of them will pay you exactly the same fee. That's the part that should bother you.

It isn't a client problem. It's a pricing problem.

Your late clients aren't lazy. They're rational. Gathering documents early costs them an evening of digging through drawers. Sending them on April 7th costs them nothing at all. You absorb the cost: the overtime, the rushed review, the stress.

Every reminder you send without a date and a consequence is a suggestion. And people put off suggestions.

You're not imagining how big this is. In a Wolters Kluwer survey of 1,983 US tax and accounting firms, late or unprepared clients came out as the number one challenge. In Financial Cents' 2024 report, 65.2% of firms picked getting information and documents from clients as their top workflow problem.

What the firms who fixed it do differently

Some practitioners stopped absorbing that cost years ago. On UK accounting forums, owners describe simple ladders: a set percentage extra for information that arrives in December, more for January (AccountingWEB). A CPA Journal article describes a US firm charging 25% extra after one date and 50% after the next, paid before work starts (The CPA Journal).

One practice with a 30-day deadline written into its engagement letter reported that it hadn't lost a single client to the policy, but that it does make them sit up (AccountingWEB).

The idea is simple. Getting the details right is not. Which dates? How much? What exact words go in the engagement letter? What do you say when a client calls it unfair? What goes out, and when? That's what this kit is.

A confession first

I'm not an accountant, and I'll never tell you how to prepare a return.

What I do is build the systems that get a service business's clients to reply, show up and pay on time. When I read the profession's own surveys and years of practitioners' threads about late clients, the pattern was obvious: the firms with calm seasons don't have better clients. They have dates with consequences, announced early, and the words to enforce them politely.

So I packaged exactly that. No course. No new software to learn. Words, dates, a spreadsheet and a checklist.

The method

The 3-Deadline Method

Three dates, each with its own consequence. Announced before the season, written into the engagement letter, and reminded automatically before each one.

Early

Reward the organized

Complete files by this date get a benefit that costs you little: last year's fee, a priority slot, a faster turnaround.

Standard

The date you really want

Complete files by this date pay the normal fee and are filed on time. Every reminder points here.

Late

The stragglers pay

After Standard, late fee 1. After the final cutoff, late fee 2 and no guarantee of the deadline. Third-party delays exempt.

What's inside

Here's some of what you'll get

See one for yourself

The email most firms never dare to send

The day after your Standard date, this goes to every client whose file is still incomplete. No apology, no lecture: what was agreed, what happens now, and one last clear chance. Here's message E12 exactly as it comes in the kit. The green blanks are what you fill in once.

E12Day after Standard

“Your return is now in the late queue”

Hi [first name],

We didn't receive your complete documents by [Standard date], so as agreed your return has moved to the late queue, with a late-preparation fee of [late fee 1].

You can still finish this calmly: if everything is in by [Late date], we'll prepare your return and file by [filing deadline]. After [Late date] the fee becomes [late fee 2] and we can't guarantee the deadline.

Still needed:
[missing items]

[secure portal link]

If a form is late from a third party, reply and tell me which: no fee in that case.

[Your name]

Why it worksYou state what was agreed, what happens now and the next clear chance. Calm firmness is what keeps the relationship.

This isn't for everyone

It's for you if

  • you own a small tax, accounting or bookkeeping firm (from solo to about ten people)
  • a big share of your clients' documents arrives in the last weeks before the deadline
  • you're tired of the organized clients waiting behind the late ones
  • you want a policy you can defend, in words that don't sound like a debt collector

It's not for you if

  • you'd rather keep absorbing late files than ever charge for them
  • you're looking for tax training or new practice software
  • you won't spend one hour setting it up before the season

The offer

Let's do the math

You choose your late fee. Say it's 10% and your average return is $500. Two late clients and the kit has paid for itself. (Example numbers: put in yours.)

Then there's your time. If personal checklists and automatic reminders save ten minutes of chasing per client, a firm with 200 clients gets back about 33 hours this season. That's most of a working week, in your busiest month.

Why so little?

Two honest reasons. First, I want this to be an easy yes before the season, not a budget meeting. Second, some firms that start here ask us to set everything up for them. That's how this business grows, so the kit doesn't need to be expensive.

Everything you get today

  • The Playbook (PDF): the 3-Deadline Method, every message, the fee policy, the scripts and the 60-minute setup
  • Client Messages (Word / Google Docs): 18 emails and 10 texts, plus the 6-message UK Making Tax Digital pack
  • The Late-Client Fee Kit: four clauses, the announcement letter, a client FAQ, objection scripts and a waiver log
  • Client Checklists: six US and five UK, including quarterly MTD records
  • The Missing-Docs Tracker (Excel / Google Sheets): who's complete, who to chase today, who owes a late fee
  • The Quick-Start Card: your dates, the send calendar and the daily routine on one page
  • The Tax-Day Guarantee
$67one-time payment, instant download

Pre-season price. On January 1 it goes to $97. This switches automatically: it's not a countdown trick.

Go to the order form

The Tax-Day Guarantee

Use the system all season. If it doesn't make this season calmer, email us any time up to April 15 and we'll refund every cent. One email, no forms. The risk is ours, not yours.

Order form

Yes, Luca! I want The Early Docs System.

I understand that:

  • I get instant access to the Playbook, the 28 emails and texts, the Late-Client Fee Kit, the US and UK client checklists, the Missing-Docs Tracker and the Quick-Start Card.
  • It works with the tools I already use: TaxDome, Canopy, Karbon, Gmail and Outlook, or anything else that sends email.
  • If it doesn't make this season calmer, I can ask for every cent back any time up to April 15.

Your engagement letters go out now, which makes this the one moment of the year when a fee change feels normal. Four ready letters (straight increase, packages, minimum fee and a graceful goodbye), phone scripts for "why did my fee go up?", a price menu and a timing checklist. Pairs with the early-bird benefit: organized clients keep last year's fee, everyone else moves to the new one. One-time offer: only on this order form.

The Early Docs System$67
Total today$67

Pre-season price: $67 until December 31. On January 1 it goes to $97.

Secure payment with PayPal · Pay with your PayPal account or a card · Instant download

Not ready yet? Try the free late-fee clause generator first.

Questions

What firm owners ask before buying

I already use TaxDome, Canopy or Karbon. Do I need this?

Yes, because those tools send what you write, when you tell them. This kit is what to write and when, plus the policy behind it. Every message works inside them, or from plain Gmail and Outlook.

I'm in the UK. Does it work for Self Assessment?

Yes. The kit includes a UK calendar built around 31 January, five UK client checklists, UK wording wherever the rules differ, and a quarterly pack for Making Tax Digital.

Won't a late fee upset my clients?

That's why the kit announces it early, puts it in the engagement letter and exempts documents that arrive late from employers, banks or brokers. You also get word-for-word answers for the clients who push back. And you choose how firm to be: one clause sets the dates and the queue without charging anyone.

Is this tax or legal advice?

No. It's client communication: messages, a policy, checklists and a tracker. You adapt the fee clause to your engagement terms and your professional rules.

How long does setup take?

About an hour, following the checklist in Part 6 of the Playbook. You schedule the date-based messages once, at the start of the season.

Can I text clients with this?

Yes: the texts are for clients who agreed to receive them. Each one points to an email, and none carries personal details.

What format are the files?

The Playbook and Quick-Start Card are PDFs. Messages, the Fee Kit and the checklists are Word documents that open in Google Docs. The tracker is an Excel file that works in Google Sheets and Numbers.

Do I get a receipt for my books?

Yes. Your account has a printable receipt for every order. Need an invoice with your firm's details? Reply to your receipt email.

What if it doesn't work for me?

Email us any time up to April 15 and we'll refund you in full.

You have two options

Option one: send the same reminders as last year, with no dates and no consequences, and spend another April doing the late clients' homework at night, for the same fee.

Option two: spend one hour now. Announce three dates before the season, let the messages go out on their own, and let the stragglers pay for the overtime they cause.

Yes, I want the system — $67

The Tax-Day Guarantee · Instant download

To a calmer season,

Luca

Luca Troiano
Founder, Docs First

P.S. In short: three dates, 28 ready emails and texts, a late-fee clause with the letter and the scripts to back it up, US and UK checklists and a tracker, set up in an hour, for $67. If it doesn't make this season calmer, you get every cent back up to April 15.

P.P.S. Timing matters more than price. The earlier you announce your dates, the more clients send early. And on January 1 the price goes to $97. Get the system now.