We investigate the experimentally-accessible kinematic distributions of theB → D ( * ) τ − (→ −ν ντ )ντ decays. Specifically, we study the decay rates as functions of the B → D ( * ) transferred squared momentum, the energy of the final charged lepton and the angle of its 3-momentum with respect to the 3-momentum of the recoiling D ( * ) . The angular distribution allows to introduce new observables, like a forward-backward asymmetry, which are complementary to the total rates. We present analytic formulas for the observable 3-fold 5-body differential decay rates, study the predictions in the Standard Model and investigate the effects in different new-physics scenarios that we characterize using an effective field theory framework.