Automate tax document intake
Unstract sorts the W-2s, 1099s, K-1s and 1098s each client sends, checks them against last year's return and this year's tax organizer, and imports the figures into your tax software.
Trusted by tax and accounting teams around the globe
Every client sends their season in a different shape
One client uploads a single scan of every form. Another emails a brokerage statement in March and a K-1 in April. Staff open each file, rename it, work out which return it belongs to and key the boxes, while the filing deadline gets closer.
A 40-page brokerage 1099 keyed box by box in March
A W-2 photographed at an angle, with the wages box half in shadow
A K-1 that came last year and has not come this year
Forms trickling in by email from February to April
The same 1099 uploaded twice and keyed into the return twice
Until every document is sorted, read and checked, a preparer can't start the return, and the gaps show up in April.
Unstract files each document to the right client and return, reads every box, checks the set against last year's return and the organizer, and imports the figures. Preparers start from a complete file or a short list of what's missing.
From the client's upload to your tax software, without the keying
Five steps, run on their own for every client. Parsing by LLMWhisperer, extraction by Document Studio, the whole run by Flow.
Pick up the client's documents wherever they land
Clients upload W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, 1098s, brokerage statements and receipts to the portal, email them to the preparer, or drop off paper that the office scans. Each file is picked up where it arrives and tied to the client and the tax year, one record per return.
Nothing waits in a shared inbox for someone to save it to the right folder.
Split one upload into the forms inside it
Many clients scan every form into one PDF. The file is split at each form, and every part is classified by form type and tax year, then filed to the right client and return with a name your staff can find.
A 1098 scanned behind a K-1 is still read as a 1098, and last year's stray W-2 is filed to last year.
Read every form, then pull the fields that matter
LLMWhisperer reads each form with its layout kept, so a phone photo of a W-2 or a faint copy of a 1098 comes out as cleanly as a payer's PDF. Document Studio then extracts the payer, the recipient, the TIN, every box amount and the state details, on every form type the client sent.
The same field definitions hold whether a W-2 comes from a payroll provider or a small employer's own template.
Check it against last year's return before anyone touches it
What arrived is compared with last year's return and this year's tax organizer, payer by payer: a 1099 that came last year and not this year, a missing K-1, a consolidated statement whose totals don't add up, a name or TIN that differs from the client's record. A complete set keeps moving. A gap stops in a review screen with the expected form, where it came from and what arrived.
Expected forms, corrected forms, totals that disagree and low-confidence reads are the conditions you set; the rest of the client's documents carry on.
Import the return data where your preparers already work
The extracted figures flow into your tax software, such as UltraTax CS or Lacerte, and the documents are indexed in the workpapers. Your practice management system, TaxDome or Drake Workflow, gets the status, and the client receives one list of what's still missing instead of three separate emails.
Preparers open a return with the data in place, and every decision on a missing form is recorded against the client.
Watch last season's client folders go through it.
Bring a handful of client folders, the messy uploads included. We run them live and show every form filed, every box read and every gap flagged against the prior-year return.
Everything a client sends for the return
Documents
- W-2 forms
- 1099 forms
- Form 1065 and K-1s
- Form 1098
- Individual tax returns
- Form 1120
- Brokerage and investment portfolio statements
- Receipts and charitable donation letters
- Tax organizers
- Engagement letters
- Prior-year workpapers
- Estimated tax payment records
Fields captured
Our agents are extroverts.
Cloud storage like S3, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box. Databases and warehouses like Snowflake, BigQuery, Postgres and SQL Server. Accounting, ERP and CRM systems like QuickBooks, Xero, SAP, NetSuite, Salesforce and HubSpot. Project trackers like Jira, Asana, ClickUp and Linear. And anything with an API.
Running on a few clients before the season starts
No developers on your side and no change to how clients send their documents. The intake run is built on last season's client folders and proven on a group of returns before the whole client list goes through it.
Book a consultation
We go through last season's intake with you: how clients send documents, how your staff name and file them, and what a preparer checks before starting a return.
Built on last season's client folders
The form types, the prior-year checks, the tax organizer questions and the import into your tax software are set up on your own clients' documents, not samples.
Pilot on one preparer's clients, then widen it
One preparer's clients run live first. When the counts and the missing-document lists hold, the rest of the firm moves over, and the checks carry with it.
Built for the firms that prepare the returns
Every client's documents sorted, read and checked against last year's return before a preparer opens the file, so busy season starts with complete returns and a short list of chases.
Years of client records and prior returns filed by form and tax year, so a resolution case starts with the income history already read.
Clients' year-end forms collected in the same place as the books, with 1099s and 1098s read and matched to the ledger before the return.
K-1s from investee partnerships and 1099s issued to the company read on arrival and checked against last year's provision workpapers.
Client documents sorted in minutes, gaps caught before April
Client tax documents, handled with care
A client's tax documents carry Social Security numbers for everyone in the household, wages, bank and brokerage account numbers and the mortgage on the house: enough for someone to file a false return in the client's name.
- Encrypted in transit and at rest.
- Client tax documents are never used to train models.
- Access by role, client and engagement, with every review and correction recorded against the return.
- Retention you set: processed documents are deleted on the schedule your firm's record-keeping policy sets.
- Self-hosted deployment for firms whose security plan keeps taxpayer data inside their own environment.
What tax firms ask before busy season
Unstract classifies each document by form type and tax year as it arrives: W-2, each 1099 type, K-1, 1098, brokerage statement, receipt or organizer. It splits a single scanned upload at each form, files every part to the right client and return, and then reads the boxes.
Decide the folder and naming rules your firm already uses, then let the run apply them: Unstract sorts each document by client, return, form and year, indexes it in the workpapers and records what arrived against what was expected, so nobody renames files by hand.
Look for software that reads the boxes as well as filing the form. Unstract reads the payer, recipient, TIN, every box amount and the state details, checks them against the prior-year return, and imports the figures into your tax software, so staff review values instead of keying them.
Your tax workflow management software, such as TaxDome or Drake Workflow, tracks each return and talks to the client. Tax workflow software moves the return along; it doesn't read the forms. Unstract does the reading and checking inside that tax workflow: it updates the status, sends the missing-document request through it, and leaves the engagement where your team already manages it.
Yes. The answers in this year's tax organizer and the forms on last year's return set the list of expected documents for each client. A new rental property ticked on the organizer adds its documents to the list; a closed account drops off it.
The client's file stops in a review screen with the missing form, the payer and where the expectation came from. A preparer marks it due or not needed, and the client gets one list of everything still outstanding. The documents that did arrive are read and imported in the meantime.
A form with the corrected box marked is held beside the original so a preparer sees which figures changed before the return uses them. On a consolidated statement the 1099-INT, 1099-DIV and 1099-B sections are read separately, and totals that don't add up to the summary page are flagged.
Anything they have: payer PDFs, phone photos of a W-2, a single scan of every form, faint copies of a 1098, brokerage statements of forty pages, handwritten receipts and donation letters. LLMWhisperer reads each one with its layout kept, and low-confidence values stop for a person instead of reaching the return.
Your tax software, such as UltraTax CS or Lacerte, receives the extracted figures, and the documents are indexed in your workpapers. Flow posts them as part of the run, alongside the status update in your practice management system.
Unstract is SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR and HIPAA compliant. Client documents are encrypted in transit and at rest, never used to train models, and kept only as long as your firm's policy allows. Self-hosted deployment keeps taxpayer data inside your own environment; see the Trust Center.
We set it up with you in a consultation, on last season's client folders, your filing rules and your tax software, with no developers needed on your side. One preparer's clients run first, often within days, and the rest of the firm follows before the first W-2s arrive.
Bring last season's client folders to the consultation
A few clients' uploads, the single-scan PDFs and the phone photos included. You watch each form get filed and read, and every gap against last year's return shows why it was flagged.