Classic form

Accountant new client form that never asks for a TFN

Half of what an accounting firm needs from a new client is structural, the entity, the ABN, the GST cycle and the software, and the one thing it must not collect in a web form is the tax file number. This sixteen field new client form gets the first list and refuses the second, asking instead how the number will be handed over.

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Top of the accountant new client form that never asks for a tfn example
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New client form

Ledger and Lane, Perth. One form per entity. If you run a company and a trust and a personal return, that is three forms, because each has its own numbers and its own engagement.

Who you are

The entity

Tax file number

Do not type a tax file number into this form, or into an email. A tax file number is protected information and it is handled separately, either in person, read over the phone to the office, or through the secure portal link sent with the engagement letter. The question below only asks which of those you would prefer.

How the books are kept

What you want done

Engagement

This form is a request, not an engagement. An engagement letter follows, setting out the scope, the fee basis, what is needed from you and by when, and how information is stored. Nothing is lodged and nothing is charged until it is signed. The firm will also need to verify your identity before it can be added as your tax agent, which is a separate step done in person or through the portal.

Every field, and what it collects

The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.

Who you are

Your name, and your role in the businessShort textRequired
MobileShort textRequired
EmailShort textRequired

The entity

What kind of entity is this form for?Single choiceRequired
Options: Individual, including a sole trader · Partnership · Company · Discretionary or family trust · Unit trust · Self managed superannuation fund · Not for profit or incorporated association · Not sure, and I would like advice on structure
Entity name, exactly as it is registeredShort textRequired
ABNShort text
Is the entity registered for GST?Single choiceRequired
Options: Yes, reporting quarterly · Yes, reporting monthly · Yes, reporting annually · No, under the threshold · No, and I think we may have passed the threshold · Not sure

Tax file number

How would you like to provide the tax file number?Short textRequired

How the books are kept

What accounting software is in use?DropdownRequired
Options: A cloud accounting subscription in the business name · A cloud subscription held by the previous accountant · Desktop accounting software · Spreadsheets · A shoebox, receipts and bank statements · A point of sale system that exports · Nothing yet, the business has just started
Do you consent to bank feeds being connected?Single choiceRequired
Options: Yes, feeds are already connected · Yes, please set them up · Yes, but read only access to the accounts · No, I will provide statements each quarter · I would like this explained first
Previous accountant, firm and contactShort text
Have they been told you are moving?Single choiceRequired
Options: Yes, they know · No, and I would rather tell them myself first · No, please handle it as part of the transfer · Not applicable, no previous accountant · There is a fee dispute they may raise

What you want done

Which services are you asking for?Multiple choiceRequired
Options: Annual financial statements · Company, trust or partnership tax return · Individual tax returns for the owners · Business activity statements · Bookkeeping · Payroll and single touch payroll · Superannuation guarantee lodgement · Fringe benefits tax return · Self managed super fund administration · Budgeting and cash flow reporting · Structure or restructure advice · An ATO debt or lodgement catch up
Which financial year should the firm start with?Short textRequired

Engagement

Engagement acknowledgementMultiple choiceRequired
Options: I understand an engagement letter will be provided before any work begins · I confirm nobody has typed a tax file number into this form
SignatureSignatureRequired

What each block of this form collects

The contact block is three fields and asks for a role rather than a job title, because director, partner, trustee and bookkeeper each mean something different about who can sign what. The entity block is where the form earns its keep: the type, the registered name in full including any trustee capacity, the ABN with a length check, and the GST cycle. The tax file number block is a paragraph and a single question about method. The books block covers the software, bank feeds and the previous accountant, including the question nobody likes asking. Services and the starting financial year define the scope, and the engagement block makes it explicit that none of this is an engagement yet.

The Australian pieces on this form

Everything structural here is Australian. The entity list separates a discretionary trust from a unit trust and both from a company, because the return, the distributions and the advice differ at every point. The registered name placeholder shows a company acting as trustee for a family trust, which is the shape a great many small Australian businesses take and the one most often written down wrong. The ABN field is plain text that the firm checks against the register, and the GST question asks for the reporting cycle rather than a yes, since quarterly, monthly and annual activity statements are three different workloads. The engagement paragraph notes that identity verification is a separate step before the firm can be added as tax agent, which is the part new clients are most often surprised by.

How to adapt this form

A firm doing mostly individual returns drops the entity block to a single sole trader question and adds occupation, whether there is a rental property, whether there are shares or crypto sold during the year, and whether a spouse return is also needed. A self managed super fund specialist replaces the services list with a fund block: the trustee structure, the members, the auditor, the investment types held and whether a property inside the fund is geared. A bookkeeping practice drops the return services and adds the volume questions that set a monthly fee, transactions a month, employees on payroll and how many bank accounts and cards feed in.

What makes this form work

A paragraph and a field replace the TFN box

The form refuses to collect a tax file number and says why, then asks how it will be handed over instead. The second acknowledgement tick, confirming nobody typed one in, makes the rule visible to the person who was about to.

The entity name placeholder shows a trustee company

Nowak Joinery Pty Ltd as trustee for the Nowak Family Trust. That one example teaches the field what a correct answer looks like, which is the difference between a name the firm can act on and one it has to ring back about.

The GST question asks for the cycle, not a yes

Quarterly, monthly, annual, under the threshold, possibly over it, and not sure. Six answers that between them set the activity statement workload, and two of them are honest admissions rather than facts.

Questions people ask

Why will an accounting firm not take a tax file number on a form?

Because it is protected information with its own handling rules, and a web form and an email are the two worst places to put one. The paragraph says so plainly and the field beside it asks for a method instead: in person, read over the phone, or through a secure portal link sent with the engagement letter.

Why is it one form per entity?

Because each entity has its own ABN, its own GST cycle, its own return and its own engagement letter. A client who runs a company, a trust and a personal return is three engagements, and folding them into one form produces answers that cannot be attached to anything. The introduction says so in its first two lines.

What does the bank feeds question change?

How the bookkeeping is done and what the firm can see. Feeds already connected, feeds to be set up, read only access, or statements provided quarterly are four different workflows and four different fees. The last option, I would like this explained first, is there because plenty of clients have not been asked this before.

Why ask whether the previous accountant knows?

Because the transfer is handled differently depending on the answer. Clients who would rather tell their old accountant themselves should be allowed to, and a fee dispute is worth knowing about before an ethical letter goes out. Five options make an awkward question answerable in one click.

Does the ABN field check that the number is real?

No. The form takes whatever is typed and does not check the digits, so a missing or extra digit reaches the firm as written. Validating an ABN against the register is a lookup no form does, and the firm confirms it as part of the engagement anyway, at the same time it verifies the entity name, the trustee capacity and the GST registration shown on the public record.

What happens after this form is sent?

An engagement letter comes back, setting out the scope, the fee basis, what the firm needs from the client and by when. Nothing is lodged and nothing is charged until it is signed. Identity verification happens separately before the firm can be added as tax agent, which the engagement paragraph names.

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