Preparedness guide
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Use this step-by-step guide to prepare your firm for the organizer season.
Getting Started
Review your print settings:
Ensure the following conditions are met:
- Include at least 1 standard organizer page in the print for a successful upload.
- The PDF has bookmarks generated by your tax application (CCH® only).
- The questionnaire should be the default; it can't be edited.
- Questions can't be added or removed.
- The default font and margins must be used.
- Due diligence letters are not currently recognized for all tax application types.
- Condensed organizers for Lacerte® are not currently recognized.
- Summary organizers for GoSystem® are not currently recognized.
Batch Gather requests
- A ZIP file containing all organizer PDFs and a CSV file containing client information is required for batch uploads.
- The outlined file naming conventions must be used for the batch to upload correctly.
- Ensure CSV file cells are formatted as plain text; Excel automatically truncates some numbers.
- Don’t add or remove any columns from the CSV file.
- Don’t add any text in any fields outside of the columns provided.
- Ensure clients are sorted in the same order they are sorted in the ZIP file.
- The number of CSV line items should match the number of PDFs in the ZIP file.
- The following fields are required:
- Client ID
- Taxpayer First Name
- Taxpayer Last Name
- Taxpayer email address
Review Firm Wide Settings
- Use our Settings: General guide to make sure your clients and users will have the options and defaults they need.noteTurn on or turn off source document gathering, firm notifications, and automated reminders for clients.
- Set upCustom Questionsto create questions to expand or replace the standard questionnaire.noteDon't copy and paste text into this section. It can cause display issues.
- Set upSaved MessagesandClient Instructionsas needed.
Recognized forms and fields
- Only 1040 organizers are currently recognized.
- Any version of the organizer can be used if 1 standard organizer page is included.
- Due diligence forms are not currently recognized.
- Custom forms are not recognized.
- Organizers for the tax year 2020 and later are recognized for CCH®.
- Organizers for tax year 2021 and later are recognized for GoSystem®, UltraTax®, and Lacerte®.
- To review fillable fields, select the Taxpayer Preview option in the Delivery Options tab.noteFillable fields appear green but can't be filled in the preview window.
Uploading and Processing
Review processing guides
- For individualGatherrequests, refer to Process a Gather Request.
- For batchGatherrequests, the processing is very similar to individual requests except:
- Pages can't be moved.
- An error tab may appear outlining batch errors. These errors can be corrected (in most cases) or ignored.
Engagement Letters (Optional)
- The engagement letter must be printed with the organizer and be included in the same PDF for CCH®.
- Print the engagement letter as a separate PDF and upload it alongside the organizer for GoSystem®, UltraTax®, and Lacerte®.
- For batchGatherrequests, the engagement letter template must be the same for all recipients.
- If the signature location differs from letter to letter, the signature will be misplaced on the signed document.
- Alternatively, the engagement letter can be uploaded to the eSign Documents section during processing.
- For batchGatherrequests, the engagement letter template must be the same for all recipients.
- Signature controls must be added to the engagement letter during processing; they are not added automatically.
- If your firm doesn’t add signature controls, the client is not prompted to sign.
- You can mark the signature block as required or not during processing.
Managing delivered
Gather
requests Reports Dashboard
- Refer to the Delivered Gather Reports Overview article to review your deliveredGatherrequest options.
- There is a separate status column for Engagement Letters, Organizers, and Source Documents.
- AllGatherrequests are in the same Delivered section.
- Column headers can be used to filter and sort deliveredGatherrequests.
Common questions
- Let the client upload source documents
- An administrator can turn on source document gathering by going to .
- Identify when a client uploads new source documents
- The status showsUploadedanytime new documents are uploaded.
- An administrator can turn on email notifications for source document uploads by going to .
- Client email notifications for married filing jointlyGatherrequests
- If email addresses are entered for both the taxpayer and spouse, both receive theGatherrequest simultaneously.
- If you enter an email address only for the taxpayer and there is no spouse signature control, the spouse only receives an access link if the taxpayer selects .
- If the taxpayer selects , the spouse doesn't receive an access link.
- If you enter an email address only for the taxpayer and there is a spouse signature control, the system asks the taxpayer to enter an email address for the spouse. The spouse gets an access link after the taxpayer signs.
- TheErrorssection during processing for a batchGatherrequest
- This section appears if the system detects missing or incorrect information in the batch.noteNot all data mismatches are recognized. Make sure you have the same number of PDF files and CSV line items to prevent incorrect delivery or other errors.
- The section shows a description of the error.
- Some errors can be corrected in this tab, others can't.
- You can opt to ignore the errors and deliver anyway, but thoseGatherrequests are not delivered and appear in the Undelivered Batch reporting section.
