Every spring, fiduciary firms go through the same ritual: clients are written to, reminded, and reminded again. Yet payslips, bank statements or pillar 3a receipts often only turn up shortly before the deadline – incomplete, and scattered across three different channels: once by e-mail, once as a photo sent via WhatsApp, once on paper at the next meeting. The time lost gathering tax documents is then missing when it comes to the actual tax return itself.
Why Gathering Tax Documents Becomes an Annual Test of Patience
Anyone who has to collect tax documents knows the underlying problem: it's rarely obvious at a glance what's still missing for which client. An e-mail inbox shows attachments in chronological order, not by completeness. With twenty, fifty or a hundred dossiers on the go at once, it's almost impossible to keep track of who has already submitted their documents and who hasn't even replied. So you call, you ask, you call again. There's also a point that often gets too little attention: payslips, bank statements and receipts are sensitive financial data. As loose e-mail attachments, they often sit unencrypted in the inbox, get forwarded, linger in attachments, and are barely findable again months later.
Requesting Exactly What's Missing With a Per-Dossier Checklist
The most effective lever isn't yet another reminder e-mail – it's a clear requirements checklist per dossier. Instead of a generic request for "the usual documents," the client sees exactly which items are required for their specific case in the client portal: payslip, bank statements, pillar 3a receipts, and, for the self-employed, the profit and loss statement as well. Each item can be tracked individually as outstanding or submitted. The client uploads the matching documents directly to the relevant item, rather than sending one bundled attachment from which someone later has to work out what belongs where.
This noticeably reduces follow-up questions, because it's clear from the outset what's needed – instead of only discovering afterwards that something is missing.
Live Status Instead of Chasing Up: Who Has Submitted, Who Hasn't?
Once the checklist is in place, a large part of the chasing becomes unnecessary on its own. Within the dossier, it's clear at a glance which items are still outstanding and which have already been submitted. Across all clients, this makes it possible to prioritise who genuinely still needs to be contacted, rather than writing to everyone as a matter of routine. During peak season, that saves exactly the time otherwise spent on status phone calls, and it makes communication more targeted: whoever gets called receives a specific question relevant to their case, rather than a generic reminder.
Digital Sign-Off and an Access Log Instead of E-Mail Chaos
A clean process also means that, at the end, it's clearly documented who submitted and approved what, and when. A digital sign-off in the dossier records that the client has confirmed the documents are complete. An access log additionally shows, in a traceable way, who viewed or downloaded which documents in the dossier. For a fiduciary firm, this is more than just tidiness: if questions come up later, whether from the client themselves or as part of an audit, the whole process can be traced seamlessly – without having to dig through old e-mail threads.
Working Securely and in Compliance With Swiss Data Protection Law
Tax documents contain income and asset data, bank details and personal information. This kind of information doesn't belong in an e-mail inbox as an open attachment – it belongs in an environment built precisely for this purpose: hosting exclusively in Switzerland, encryption, and clean separation between client dossiers. That way, collecting receipts stays not only faster, but also clearly documented in compliance with the Swiss Data Protection Act (revDSG).
finra was built as a client portal for fiduciary firms precisely for this process: dossiers with a requirements checklist, live status and digital sign-off for every client, plus your own subdomain with your logo, so access feels familiar and trustworthy to your clients. finra runs directly in the browser – no installation required. You can find an overview of all features as well as answers to common questions in the FAQ online at any time. Plans start at just CHF 29 per month, and you can try finra free for 30 days, no credit card required.