standinfor.me

Email templates · Accountant

Email template to get your documents back from an accountant

You are moving to a new accountant, or your current one has stopped answering, and you need your paperwork back: the original documents you handed over, copies of every return they filed for you, and the working files a new preparer needs, like depreciation schedules (the records showing how equipment or property costs have been written off over the years). Under the IRS rules for tax practitioners, known as Circular 230, a preparer must promptly return the records you gave them when you ask, even if you are in a dispute over fees. Asking by email creates a dated request, which matters if you later need to show that you asked and when.

Before you send

  • A list of what you handed over: the years, the types of documents, and whether they were originals or copies.
  • The tax years the accountant prepared for you, so you can ask for complete copies of each filed return, including the state returns.
  • Whether a new accountant is waiting on these files. If so, get their name and secure upload address so the records can go straight to them.
  • Any unpaid balance. Say whether you are paying it, disputing it, or think it is settled, so the two issues stay separate.
  • A realistic deadline, typically two weeks.
Subject Request for return of my records and copies of filed returns 
Hi [accountant name],

I'm [changing accountants / closing out our engagement] and need my records back. Please return the following by [date]:

- The original documents I provided for tax years [years], including [W-2s, 1099s, receipts, bank statements, or whatever you handed over]
- A complete copy of each federal and state return you filed for me for [years], as filed, with all schedules
- Any depreciation schedules, carryover worksheets, or other files a new preparer would need to pick up where you left off

Electronic copies through a secure link are fine for everything except the originals, which I can [pick up / have you mail to my address]. If you'd prefer, you can send the files directly to my new accountant at [name and email].

[My account with you is paid in full. / I understand there is a balance of amount, and I'll settle it separately; my records are not tied to that.]

Please confirm you received this and let me know when the files will be ready.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your phone number]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • A responsive firm sends a secure download link within a few days and arranges pickup for originals. Silence, or a reply that ties your records to paying a disputed bill, is the bad answer.
  • If nothing comes by your deadline, send one short follow-up quoting the date of your first request. Keep it factual.
  • You do not have to wait for copies of past returns: you can order a transcript of any return you filed, free, from the IRS website, and most states offer the same.
  • If the firm still will not release your records, a licensed CPA answers to your state board of accountancy, and any paid preparer can be reported to the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Get my records back from my old accountant 
Hi StandIn,

Please get my records and copies of my filed returns back from my former accountant.

Accountant: [name, firm, email, and phone].
Tax years they prepared: [years].
What I gave them: [list of original documents, and roughly when].
Where the files should go: [my email / my new accountant's name and email].
Account status: [paid in full / balance of amount that I am paying / balance I dispute].
I need everything by: [date].

Send the request, follow up if they go quiet, keep the records question separate from any fee question, and tell me as soon as the files arrive or if they refuse.

Thanks,
[Your name]

Related templates