You can import Engagement Manager trial balances into Lacerte Tax. Before you can do that, you'll have to add it as a vendor in Engagement Manager. Follow these steps to get started.
Sign in to Engagement Manager.
Select
Setup
, then
Firm Settings
.
Under Tax Information, mark the
Lacerte Tax
checkbox, then
Save
.
Return to the
Engagement dashboard
and select the engagement you want to update.
note
If the engagement is not on your
Engagement dashboard
, use
Open engagements
to add it.
Select the
Properties
tab from the navigation pane.
Select
Lacerte Tax
from the
Vendor
dropdown list.
note
When you select
Lacerte Tax
as the
Vendor
, the
Entity
dropdown list will include all of the supported entity types you're able to import in Lacerte Tax.
Select
Save
.
Export Lacerte Tax data from Engagement Manager
Before you import balances into Lacerte, make sure Lacerte Tax is selected as a vendor for your engagement.
tip
Confirm the proper tax vendor and entity are selected in
Engagement Properties
.
Confirm your Lacerte Tax codes are assigned to the proper accounts under
Trial Balance
for your engagement.
On the
Engagement dashboard
, select the name of the engagement you want to export.
note
If the engagement is not on your
Engagement dashboard
, use
Open engagements
to add it.
Select
Trial Balance
Data
Export
.
In the
Export Data
window, select
Lacerte Tax
from the
Data Type
list.
note
Make sure to select
Lacerte Tax
so Engagement Manager creates a Lacerte-compatible export file (for example,
.SB5
or
.PB5
).
Select
OK
.
The file downloads to your browser
Downloads
folder.
Copy or move the exported file from
Downloads
to the correct Lacerte export folder for the tax year and entity type.
Typical default locations (replace
YY
with the last 2 digits of the tax year, for example,
24
for 2024):
Standalone installation:
C:\Lacerte\YYtax\?DATA\
Network installation:
X:\Lacerte\YYtax\?DATA\
(where X is your network drive)
Verify your Lacerte data path (the folder where Lacerte stores client data). If you are not sure where your Lacerte data is stored in Lacerte do one of the following:
Press
F10
and review the
System Information
tab (Data Path).
Select
Settings
Options
Setup
(Data Path).
The
?
in the folder name matches the Lacerte module (entity type):
I
= Individual (
IDATA
)
P
= Partnership (
PDATA
)
S
= S-Corporation (
SDATA
)
C
= Corporate (
CDATA
)
R
= Non-profit (
RDATA
)
tip
The 1st letter of the export file extension typically indicates the Lacerte module. For example, save a
.SB5
file to
SDATA
, and save a
.PB5
file to
PDATA\EXPORT
.
The file name will begin with the client number from Engagement Manager by default. The file name must match the client number from Lacerte for the import to work.
Close and reopen Lacerte after you place the file in the folder.
note
Refer to your Lacerte Tax documentation for support.
If the client ID in the export file matches an existing Lacerte client, the balances import into that client.
If the client doesn't exist in Lacerte, you may be prompted to create a new client during the import process.