The DarkLion Tax Organizer is the firm's document collection system for tax prep season. It replaces the StanfordTax organizer and eliminates manual document request emails. Clients get a personalized, guided experience — and you get a compiled workpaper PDF when they're done.

The Client's 4-Step Experience

Step 1 — Confirm Info

The client reviews their personal information: name, address, dependents. This data is pre-populated directly from their DarkLion record so they don't have to re-enter anything they've already provided. They confirm or flag corrections.

Step 2 — Questions

A set of yes/no questions about their tax situation for the current year:

  • Did you have rental income?
  • Did you receive retirement distributions?
  • Did you have business income?
  • Did you pay for dependent care?
  • Did you sell any investments?
  • Did you receive Social Security?
  • Did you make charitable contributions?
  • Any other changes from last year?

Conditional follow-up questions appear based on their answers (e.g., if they said yes to rental income, a follow-up asks about expenses).

Step 3 — Checklist

A personalized list of documents to upload — built from their questionnaire answers, their prior year return, and their DarkLion profile. Each checklist item has two actions:

  • Upload — They drag or select the file. It goes directly to their DarkLion document record.
  • Not This Year — They mark it as not applicable. No need to explain — just mark it and move on.

Step 4 — Submit

The Submit button is locked until every checklist item is either uploaded or marked "Not This Year." This prevents partial submissions. When the client submits:

  • DarkLion compiles a workpaper PDF: cover page + questionnaire answers + NTY list + all uploaded documents stitched together into one file.
  • The organizer_submitted pipeline trigger fires.
  • The firm receives an email notification.

What You See as Staff

  • All submitted items and the full questionnaire answers
  • Ability to download the compiled workpaper PDF
  • Option to reopen the organizer and request more documents
  • Option to add advisor documents to the compilation

Sentinel Provides Badge

Certain checklist items are marked with a "Sentinel Provides" badge — items that your firm will provide on the client's behalf (Altruist investment statements, K-1s from entities you manage, etc.). Clients see these items on the checklist but know not to upload them — you'll add them yourself.

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The Tax Organizer is the fastest path to a complete, organized document package. Instead of chasing clients for W-2s and statements over email, they go through the checklist once and you get everything in one compiled PDF, ready for the return.