Can a lawyer mail tax information worksheets to clients to help them prepare their income tax returns?

Plain-English summary

An attorney engaged in extensive tax work asked whether he could mail his clients information worksheets to help them gather and organize the data needed to prepare and file their income tax returns. The worksheets, filled out by the client at home, would contain the essential information for the attorney to prepare the return, saving the client time and the expense of an interview. The committee answered yes.

The committee compared the practice to the "Annual Legal Checkup," a program sponsored by many state and local bar associations and approved in ABA Formal Opinion 307. Although the tax worksheets covered only income taxes and were far less extensive than the legal-checkup forms, the committee treated them as a part of that approved form and measured them by the same principle, concluding the extra service did not violate the Canons of Professional Ethics.

The committee added one limitation: the worksheets should not be mailed to any party with whom the attorney had not previously established an attorney-client relationship. Doing so, the committee stated, would be a direct violation of Canon 27, the Canon then governing solicitation of professional employment.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1970 under the former Canons of Professional Ethics, which were in effect in Kentucky from 1946 to 1971, and predates both the 1990 adoption of the Rules of Professional Conduct (SCR 3.130) and the substantial 2009 revisions to those rules. Canon 27, governing solicitation, has no direct modern counterpart; mailings to clients and prospective clients are now governed by Model Rules 7.1 through 7.3 (Kentucky SCR 3.130(7.1)-(7.3)), and the constitutional limits on lawyer solicitation set by later Supreme Court decisions did not yet exist. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against the current rules before relying on any specific rule or requirement mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Could a Kentucky lawyer send tax-preparation worksheets to his clients?

A: Yes. The committee concluded that mailing income-tax information worksheets to existing clients was a permissible extra service and did not violate the Canons of Professional Ethics, likening it to the bar-approved Annual Legal Checkup.

Q: Could the lawyer mail the same worksheets to people who were not his clients?

A: No. The committee stated the worksheets should not be mailed to anyone with whom the attorney had not previously established an attorney-client relationship, because that would be a direct violation of Canon 27.

Q: What made the practice acceptable to the committee?

A: The committee tied its approval to ABA Formal Opinion 307, which approved the Annual Legal Checkup program, and treated the tax worksheets as a narrower part of that already-approved form.

Background and rules framework

The opinion applied Canon 27 of the Canons of Professional Ethics, which restricted a lawyer's solicitation of professional employment. The committee read the Canon to permit service mailings to existing clients while barring mailings that would reach people with whom no attorney-client relationship existed. The modern analogs are Model Rules 7.1 through 7.3 (Kentucky SCR 3.130(7.1)-(7.3)), governing communications about a lawyer's services and solicitation.

Citations and references

Rules of Professional Conduct:

• Canon 27 (Canons of Professional Ethics); modern analogs Model Rules 7.1-7.3

Other opinions cited:

• ABA Formal Opinion 307 (approving the "Annual Legal Checkup" program)

See also

• KBA Ethics Op. E-72: Notice of Specialization to Other Attorneys
• KBA Ethics Op. E-74: Practicing Law and Operating a Real Estate Business

Source

• Landing page: https://kybar.org/For-Members/Rules-Ethics-Information/Ethics-Opinions
• Original PDF: https://kybar.org/Portals/0/Admin/Ethics%20Opinions/KBA_E-036.pdf

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION
Ethics Opinion KBA E-36
Issued: April 1970

This opinion was decided under the Canons of Professional Ethics, which were
in effect from 1946 to 1971. Lawyers should consult the most recent version
of the Rules of Professional Conduct and Comments, SCR 3.130 (available at
http://www.kybar.org/237), before relying on this opinion.

Question:

May an attorney engaged in extensive tax work mail to his clients
information work sheets to aid in the preparation and filing of income tax
returns?

Answer:

Yes.

References:

Canon 27

OPINION
An attorney engaged in extensive tax work requests an opinion as to whether he
may mail to his clients, information work sheets to aid in the preparation and filing of
income tax returns.
These sheets, when filled out by the client at home, on his own time, will contain all
the essential information necessary for an attorney to prepare the return. The client may
compile the information required, recheck it with his records and mail, or deliver, to the
attorney, thereby saving the client loss of time from his work and the expense of an
interview.
The nature of this practice falls exactly within the category of the “Annual Legal
Checkup,” a program sponsored by many state and local bar associations and approved by
ABA Formal Opinion 307. While the information requested by these forms apply only to
income taxes and are not nearly so extensive as the legal checkup forms, they nevertheless
constitute a part of this approved form and thereby should be measured by the same
principle. An attorney offering this extra service to his clients does not violate any of the
Canons of Professional Ethics. However, it should be pointed out that these work sheets
should not be mailed to any party with whom the attorney has not previously established an
attorney-client relationship. Such action would constitute a direct violation of Canon 27.

Note to Reader
This ethics opinion has been formally adopted by the Board of Governors of the
Kentucky Bar Association under the provisions of Kentucky Supreme Court Rule 3.530
(or its predecessor rule). The Rule provides that formal opinions are advisory only.