Abstract: A physical overlay instrument is described that is manufactured for use with a particular form, such as a specific version of a tax form. The overlay instrument comprises a sheet of material including transparent regions and opaque regions positioned such that when the overlay instrument is placed over the particular form filled out by a user, a first set of personal information of the user included on the form is visible through the transparent regions while as second set of personal information of the user included on the form is obscured by the opaque regions. In addition, the opaque regions include one or more prompts to gather additional information from the user based on the first set of the personal information of the user that is visible through the transparent regions. The overlay instrument is manufactured from a single sheet of material and may be one-sided or two-sided.