01 · AI Intake
The 30-Page Organizer
Nobody Finishes.
The organizer builds itself from last year's return and asks each client only the questions that apply. Most finish in minutes, and the follow-up runs without a preparer writing it.
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All modules
The Problem
Sent in January.
Answered in March.
Firms send the same bloated organizer to every client and get a fraction of it back. What follows is four weeks of reminder emails written by the person who should be preparing the return, and a February spent waiting on documents nobody has chased.
A typical 1040 client
1,600
questions in the repository, covering federal and all 50 states
10–12
actually asked, once branching resolves
How It Works
Four Things Happen
Before You Send It.
Step 1 of 4
It Reads Last Year's Return
First.
Before a single question is written, SignalsHQ pulls the prior-year return apart: income sources, entities, dependents, carryovers and the schedules that were filed. That becomes the shape of this year's request.
Step 2 of 4
Each Client Sees Only
Their Questions.
The repository holds roughly 1,600 questions. A given client sees the 50 to 60 that could apply, and answers around a dozen once branching resolves. Nobody reads a question about farm income who has never filed a Schedule F.
Step 3 of 4
Documents Are Requested
As They Answer.
Every answer that implies a document adds it to the checklist in real time. The client uploads from a phone camera, a scanner, email or a spreadsheet, and sees what is still outstanding without having to ask.
Step 4 of 4
It Chases
So Nobody Has To.
Reminders go out on a schedule the firm sets, naming the specific documents still missing rather than sending a generic nudge. The firm can pause or stop them for any client at any point.
Next: what happens to the documents →
Capabilities
What Intake
Handles for You.
Built from the prior year
Income sources, entities, dependents and carryovers are read off last year's return and carried forward.
Adaptive branching
Answers open follow-ups and close irrelevant sections, so questionnaire length matches client complexity.
Pre-filled, not re-asked
Known data appears for confirmation instead of blank fields, which is what gets returns finished in one sitting.
Any format a client sends
Phone photos, PDFs, Excel, Word, CSV and HEIF, with auto-crop and orientation correction.
Reminders that name the gap
Follow-ups reference the specific missing documents, and the firm controls cadence or stops them entirely.
Your firm's branding
The client portal carries your name, logo and colours. SignalsHQ is not mentioned anywhere in the experience.
What Firms Ask First
What about a brand-new client?
With no prior-year return, intake falls back to a full profile questionnaire and builds the checklist from those answers instead. The client experience is the same, just longer.
Does it cover state questions?
Yes. The repository spans federal and all 50 states, so a multi-state filer is asked the residency and apportionment questions their situation actually requires rather than a generic set.
What if a client will not use it?
The checklist works on its own. You can collect documents by email or upload them on the client's behalf, and the rest of the workflow proceeds unchanged.
In the chain
01 Intake
→
02 Workpapers
In: last year's return. Out: a complete document set and a dozen answered questions, ready to be organised.
See intake run on
one of your clients.
Bring a prior-year return to the call and we will generate the checklist and questionnaire from it live.
Book a Demo →
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