Table of contents:
Types of Tax Questionnaires (TQs)
There are five TQ types:
Expat (U.S. citizen/G.C. holder residing outside of the U.S.);
USA (U.S. citizen/G.C. holder residing in the U.S.);
NRA (Non-Resident Alien - non-U.S. citizen/non-G.C. holder residing outside of the U.S. with U.S. tax requirements);
NRA USA (non-U.S. citizen/non-G.C. holder residing in the U.S.);
FBAR only is utilized by participants of the Streamlined Program.
Create Tax Questionnaire
To ensure that we only ask you questions relevant to your life situation, fill out a short introductory Questionnaire about each tax year, and the system automatically adjusts the type of questions. For example, we will not ask you about your spouse if you are single.
In your TFX portal:
Go to the Tax Questionnaires page and click Create New Questionnaire.
Select One year or More than one year of tax returns we should prepare for you.
Note: if you file more than one year and you are behind on six or more years, we will offer you the option to join the Streamlined Program for delinquent taxpayers. You will need to create 6 TQs.
Select a year you would like us to prepare and click Next Step.
Indicate whether you were a U.S. citizen, Green Card holder, or none of the above and whether you lived in the U.S. or abroad during the selected year. Later you can change this information at any point if needed.
Click Move to Tax Questionnaire.
Provide answers to Yes/No questions.
Note: once you have created a TQ, you can change your answers by clicking Configure Life & Income if needed:
Click Submit and start filling out your TQ.
Import answers from a prior year
In order to save time when you create an additional TQ, you can easily create multiple questionnaires and copy entered data from one TQ to another. Watch a short video on how to import responses from a prior year below:
Streamlined Program
This program requires filing three tax returns and six FBARs. For detailed information on which years to file, please refer to Streamlined Procedures: Which years to file? Currently, the filing years span from 2017 to 2022, and the following questionnaires are required:
Three standard Tax Questionnaires for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 will inquire about your income;
Six FBAR only Questionnaires for the years 2017 to 2022 will gather information about your non-U.S. bank accounts, regardless of their balances.
Submit Tax Questionnaire
Once you are done with all of your questionnaires, take the following two steps to submit them for review by a tax preparer:
Submit a questionnaire for automatic verification
While editing a specific TQ, click the All Done – Submit TQ button:
Or from the page with the list of all questionnaires, click the Submit button next to each TQ.
Once the TQ is submitted, the system will analyze it and ask you to complete the questions that were skipped:
Required questions were skipped
Unanswered required questions will be listed prompting you to answer them. Please provide answers to all of them, otherwise, the system won't let you submit your TQ for a tax preparer review.
Recommended questions were skipped
If you answered all required questions but skipped the recommended ones, the system will show you the number of questions you skipped. You are not required to answer all the recommended questions, but the more info you provide to us, the better we can prepare your return.
The next step is to select:
Not ready – still making edits to return to the Questionnaire and answer the remaining questions, then click Submit.
Finished – submit TQ, if you do not want to answer any more recommended questions, then click Submit.
❗ Important note: when you submit TQs, you can continue to work on other Questionnaires if needed.
Send a questionnaire for review by a tax preparer
When all Tax Questionnaires you would like us to work on are submitted, click the Send Me an Engagement Letter button on the Tax Questionnaires page:
Or when finished with the last questionnaire:
❗ Important note: if you create several questionnaires and submit not all of them, the Send Me an Engagement Letter button will be greyed out. You should submit all questionnaires to be able to click this button. When you hover over the Send Me an Engagement Letter button, you will see the 'Please submit all tax years' message.
Next steps:
Within three business days, your tax preparer will review your TQ(s), analyze your responses, and send you an Engagement Letter, which includes the scope of work you are asking us to perform and the costs before we start to work on your tax return.
If you have questions about the scope of work, ask them and make a prepayment if required.
Your tax preparer will start working on your tax return.
Manage Tax Questionnaire
View & edit questionnaires
Our Tax Questionnaire saves your information automatically as you go. You can always take a break and return to your questionnaire later. To do it:
On the Tax Questionnaires page, click the Tax Year link.
Edit the TQ and click All Done - Submit TQ when finished.
❗ Important note: if your file cabinet is locked refer to the File cabinet with files & TQs is locked article for more information on how to unlock it.
Change questionnaire type
There are five types of TQs available, each corresponding to a different residency status: USA, Expat, NRA, NRA USA (for non-U.S. citizens who meet the Substantial Presence Test), and FBAR only. If you initially created an NRA questionnaire but later need a U.S. citizen/Green Card holder questionnaire or an FBAR only TQ, you can switch between these types at any time. To do it:
Open your TQ and click the Gear ⚙ icon at the left.
Click Change TQ Type and select the appropriate type of residency: USA, Expat, NRA, NRA USA, or FBAR only.
Click Save.
Search for a specific question
You may use the Search tool to jump to any question. Just type any word from the question title in the Search field at the top, press the Enter key, and click Go to jump to the question.
Highlight unanswered questions
To identify unanswered questions, swipe the toggle for Highlight unanswered on the left side. The empty questions will be highlighted. You will also see exclamation point icons next to such questions.
Check the information about each question
If you are unsure how the question should be answered, please use question help before contacting your tax preparer. Each question has the More info button:
Hover with the mouse over the question to make the More info button appear.
Click More info and read the information carefully.
Click X to return to the TQ.
Add comments to questions
You can provide additional information/comments regarding each question.
Hover with the mouse over the question/file upload dialogue to make the Add comment button appear and click it.
Type your note and click Save Extra Comment.
You will see your comment below the question.
Submit your questionnaire and your tax preparer will review it.
Also, there is a Notes TQ section where you can provide additional details or information unrelated to any question. Click Save and submit your questionnaire to let your assigned tax preparer view your notes.
Mark questions as draft
To mark a question as a draft, hover with the mouse over the question to make the Flag icon appear and click it.
To see all your answers marked as a draft, navigate to the Gear ⚙ icon and swipe the toggle for Show marked draft.
Show question numbers
Suppose there are some questions you would like to discuss with your tax preparer. It is a good idea to refer to the question numbers. To do it:
Click the Gear ⚙ icon on the left side.
Swipe the toggle for Show question numbers to see the numbers next to each question.
Preview all answers on one page and print TQ
Click the Gear ⚙ icon and swipe the toggle for Preview on one page.
Use the Ctrl+P (Windows) or Command+P (macOS) keyboard shortcut. The Print option may also be found in your browser's menu (you can usually access it by clicking three dots or the Gear ⚙ button).
Adjust the print settings and click Print.
History of changes: How to roll back to a previous value
Navigate to Tax Questionnaires, hover over one of your TQs, and click the History button next to it.
A page showing the History Of Tax Questionnaire will open. The changes are sorted by date, and the most recent changes are displayed at the top.
Double-click the value to highlight it, then right-click and select Copy.
Right-click the Tax Questionnaires on the left side, then select the Open link in new tab.
Click the Tax Year link to edit the TQ.
Double-click the value in the TQ to highlight it, then right-click and select Paste.
Delete questionnaire
If you want to start from scratch, you may delete a previously created TQ:
Navigate to the Tax Questionnaires page, hover with the mouse over one of your TQs, and click the Delete button next to it.
Answer a control question, then click Delete.