Step 4 - Child Form Association (CFA)

This step enables generic source documents (that is, source documents that can relate to more than 1 input form) to be associated with a parent input form. For instance, a 1099-MISC may relate to a Schedule C, E, or F entity. This step lets you define this relationship for any such document.
note
Associations between source documents and input forms are remembered and rolled forward so they don’t need to be defined every year.

Child Form Association

The screen is segmented into 2 parts: 
  • The
    Child Form Association
    panel: This panel will additionally be separated into the
    Tax return categories and forms
    section listing all possible parent forms, and the
    Unassociated Documents
    section listing all unassociated source documents. You can match unassociated source documents to their parent forms.
  • The
    Document Viewer panel
    : To review the contents of a source document before associating it to a parent form.
Child Form Association and Document Viewer panels
A summarized version of the instructions will appear in the
Child Form Association
panel. You can review these instructions, then select the
-
/
+
icon to collapse or expand these instructions and make space for more pages.
Instructions panel
Every child form in the
Unassociated Documents
section will have a corresponding parent form in the
Tax return categories and forms
section. Thus, you can associate all the child forms to their respective parent forms.
Example: If the form
1099-NEC: FRIDAY
is not related to any of the Schedules (like Business, Rental, and Farm), then you can associate it under its own form (that is,
1099-NEC
) in the left panel.
note
Child forms are displayed in the
Form Type: Document Name
format. You can select the
Search
Search icon icon to search for a specific form if you can't find it listed.
Child and parent documents

Associating child forms

You can select a child form to see its related parent forms bolded and expanded to the left. All other unrelated parent forms that don’t belong to the selected child form will remain closed.
Example: When you select a 1099-MISC document in the
Unassociated Forms
section, its potential parent forms (
BUSINESS INCOME AND EXPENSES
,
RENTAL OR ROYALTY INCOME & EXPENSES
) will be bolded in the left panel.
Bolded potential parent documents
You can select the
Show Auto-Matched
checkbox to expand the
Tax return categories and forms
tree.
note
This checkbox will be selected by default if all source documents have been automatically matched to the parent forms by the system and no additional documents need to be matched manually in this step (that is, no source documents appear in the
Unassociated Documents
section). You can view which forms are automatically associated with source documents.
Select the Show Auto-Matched checkbox
Once both the child form and the parent form are selected and displayed in green, you can select the
Arrow
Associate icon icon in the middle to move the child form to its parent.
Select the arrow icon
If the parent forms are not available, you can drag and drop the child form into the parent form's category. The Add/Edit Form window will appear for users to add the information for this Parent Form.
Trying to erroneously associate a child form with a parent that has no relation to it will display a warning indicating so. When you see this, you must find a new parent that can properly be associated with the intended document.
Documents cannot be associated to folders.
Adding a form
If the form you are searching for is not listed, you can manually add a form to generate the forms correctly in the binder and export the data properly into the tax application. In the
Available Parent Form
section, select
Add Form
.
Select Add Form
The
Add/Edit Form
window will appear. The mandatory fields will be denoted with
*Required
.
You can't leave any mandatory field blank. 
note
If the
Activity Number
field appears, you will only be able to enter integer values. Alphabetical and other special characters are not allowed. Similarly, for the
Employer Identification
field enter a valid SSN.Activity number field
Add/Edit Form window
Enter the required records then select
SAVE
.
Select SAVE
The form will be added in the
Tax return categories and forms
section.
Newly added form
Editing a form
To edit a form, right-click the existing form you would like to edit then select
Edit Form
.
Select Edit form
When applicable, the
Add/Edit
window will automatically increment the
Activity number
each time it's used. If a form is added for the 1st time, then the activity number will always begin with
1
. If it is added for the 2nd time, then the activity number will increment by 1, making the updated activity number 2. If the activity number is proforma’d, then the activity number will always increment by 1 from the proforma’d activity number.
Add/Edit Form window
Deleting a form
If you'd like to delete a form from a client's binder, right-click the form you'd like to delete then select
Delete
from the options listed in the menu.
note
Proforma forms can't be deleted.
Select Delete Form

Disassociating child forms

You can remove pages from their automatically associated parent forms. Select the form listed in the
Tax return categories and forms
section that you would like to disassociate.
Select an associated form
Once selected, select the
Arrow
Associate icon icon to transfer the page to the
Unassociated Documents
section.
Disassociate the form
If the disassociated form is the only one in the selected parent form, you'll see the
Delete Parent Form
window asking you if you'd like to delete the empty parent form. Select
DELETE
if you'd like to delete this, otherwise, select
CANCEL
for the parent form to remain.
Select DELETE
Viewing documents in their own window
An option is also available to view the pages associated with the Parent Forms in a new window. To view the document image, right-click on the parent form and select
View in new window
, the document will open in the
Review Wizard Image Viewer
window.
View in new window
If there are multiple images associated with a particular form, then you can use the navigation bar to move between these pages.
Navigate between pages

Viewing child forms in SPBinder

All of the source documents in the
Unassociated Documents
section will be displayed under the
Unassociated Workpapers
node of the
Index Tree
in SPbinder.
note
If 1099-MISC or 1098 Mortgage Interest are left unassociated in Child Form Association wizard for ProSystem fx Tax (2022 tax year or earlier) or CCH Axcess tax application, they’ll be associated to their respective forms in the Index Tree, and the data from the documents will be exported to the default forms in the tax application.
In such a case, you have to manually link the source documents 1099-MISC or 1098 Mortgage to its respective form as follows:
In the binder, go to the
1099-MISC
section in the
Forms
tab and link these to the respective schedule where you want the data to be linked in the binder and then exported to the tax application.
1099-MISC section in the Forms tab
Similarly, you can link the 1098-Mortgage interest in the
Form
tab.
Create a link through the Form tab
For a without the Leadsheets binder, you can link these directly in the tax application in a similar manner.
1099-MISC in ProSystem:
Schedule Entity Number fields
important
Starting from the 2023 tax year, SurePrep no longer supports integration with ProSystem fx Tax. In FileRoom and TaxCaddy, you won’t be able to create ProSystem fx Tax clients, binders, or DRLs from 2023 tax year onwards. SurePrep will continue supporting the 2022 tax year and prior years. Learn more about ProSystem fx discontinuation announcement and changes to Sureprep products and services.
1098-Mortgage Interest in ProSystem:
1098-Mortgag Interest in ProSystem
Document appearing in the Unassociated Workpapers folder
note
All the forms under the
Unassociated Workpapers
folder won’t have any populated values. Hence it will neither export to tax application nor populate in Leadsheets. You can move the unassociated forms to its corresponding form to enable its values for reverse porting and to populate in Leadsheets. As soon as the form is moved from the Unassociated Workpapers node to the form, then all data in the form will be enabled.
To view the shortcut keys for this review wizard, select the
Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcut icon icon.
Important Note:
Form type
Auto-associated based on
Grantor Letter
Auto-associated based on primary and secondary identifiers - depending on the proforma data. Either in Schedule K-1 1041 or in the Consolidated 1099 category.
Example: If the EIN present on the Grantor Letter matches with the EIN of Parent Form Schedule K-1 1041, then it should get auto-associated.
Schedule K-1 PTP
Auto-associated on the basis of primary and secondary identifiers, and PTP Check Mark. If the PTP K-1 is proforma'd then it will get associated with it, or else it creates a new entity. In this respect, the system will determine PTP K-1 based on PTP Check Mark (if checked) and will be auto-associated if the proforma'd information is available.
The association of PTP K-1 is based on EIN and PTP Check Mark (if checked) as per the proforma'd information. If the proforma'd information is not available then it creates a new entity in the Schedule PTP K-1 category under the
Tax return categories and forms
section and associates all the related pages in it.

Update field value

If you erroneously made a verification error in the
Step 2 Verication
wizard, then you now have the ability to correct the field or value in post-verification wizards like Superseded Documents, CFA (Child Form Association), Duplicate Data, and NFR (New Form Review).
  1. To update the field in post-verification wizards, open the document you'd like to update in the document viewer panel.
    Document Viewer window
  2. Right-click the field that you want to update, then select
    Edit Value
    .
    Select Edit Value
  3. The
    Edit Value
    window will appear. Here, you can review the
    FORM
    ,
    FORM NAME
    , and
    FIELD
    for further context.
    Document fields
  4. Select the correct value from the options listed in the
    VALUE
    dropdown menu. If the correct value is not listed, you can type the correct value instead.
    Select a new VALUE
  5. Once the correct value is provided to the
    VALUE
    field, select
    SAVE
    to save your changes and return to the wizard.
    Select SAVE

Mark the document as
Prior Year

If you erroneously forgot to mark the page as a prior year document in Step 2 Verication Wizard then you have the opportunity to mark the documents as a prior year document in post verification wizards like CFA (Child Form Association), and NFR (New Form Review).
  1. Open the document you'd like to mark as a prior year document in the document viewer panel.
    Document Viewer window
  2. Select
    Mark as Prior Year
    from the
    Mark Document As
    dropdown menu.
    Select Mark as Prior Year
  3. A toast notification will appear indicating that this document has been marked as a
    Prior Year
    document.
    Select Prior Year

Mark the document as
Superseded

If you erroneously forgot to mark the page a superseded document in Step 2 Verication Wizard, then you have the opportunity to mark the documents as a superseded document in post verification wizards like CFA (Child Form Association), and NFR (New Form Review).
  1. Open the document you'd like to mark as superseded in the document viewer panel.
    Document Viewer window
  2. Select
    Mark as Superseded
    from the options listed.
    Select Mark as Superseded
  3. The
    SUPERSEDED
    stamp will appear on the document, and a toast notification will appear indicating that this document has been marked as superseded.
    Notification that the document has been marked as a Superseded

Mark the document as
Thumbnail

If you erroneously forgot to mark the page a thumbnail document in Step 2 Verication Wizard, then you have the opportunity to mark the documents as a thumbnail document in post-verification wizards like CFA (Child Form Association), and NFR (New Form Review).
  1. Right-click on a listed Child Form, the document's menu will appear.
    Document Viewer window
  2. Select
    Mark as Thumbnail
    from the options listed.
    Select Mark as Thumbnail
  3. A toast notification will appear indicating that this document has been marked as a
    Thumbnail
    document.
    Notification that the document has been marked as a Thumbnail

What's next?

Once all of the values have been verified for accuracy, this binder is ready for the next step - Duplicate data. Users can select
NEXT STEP
at the bottom of the screen to move this engagement to the next wizard.
note
Once a binder advances to the next step, it can't return to the Child form association wizard so confirm that you are ready to proceed.
Select NEXT STEP

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