I currently use a portal software, where I can attach a link in my emails that the client can click and simply upload their documents. They do not need to log into the portal themselves. I then get an email to check my portal to get the documents. They are identified by client email. It makes it much more user friendly since they do not have to log in or signup for anything.
Will the TaxFolder portal have a similar feature?
Could you identify the portal software?
Thanks
Neal
I use ClientTrack Portal.
I use ClientTrack too. It works very well for our accounting firm.
TaxFolder does have a client portal where each client can drag and drop documents to send to you and can also review and download documents you send to the client. For security reasons each client portal does require the client to login with a username and password from any web browser. They would have access only their own engagements and related documents. For an added layer of security the client can also turn on Two Factor Authentication (2FA) for their account.
In addition to getting signatures on tax forms, can you send along a request to sign engagement letters or the like?
Just wondering when TaxFolder will be available.
I have carried a subscription to ClientTrack Portal almost since the time it became available. It is a decent product, and I do like that you can change from folder view to list view for files and folders. I find they don’t respond to suggestions and ideas very well, and the portal itself does need quite a bit of improvement. I find the synchronization to be a bit flakey sometimes… and almost seems to hang for a while when you want to add a client and have them show up on the portal. I don’t think ClientTrack allows you to add clients directly to the online portal, you need to add them to the Client Track desktop and wait for them to populate on the portal. Also, ClientTrack does not have signature capabilities, although I think Mark may have mentioned they were going to be working on an e-signature feature?
I feel that TaxFolder has the potential to be quite a bit more powerful than ClientTrack Portal for e-signatures and for storing documents. Client Track is good in so much as the online portal incorporates workflow… but I don’t need to use it for that.
TaxFolder will be generally available with this week’s EFILE TaxCycle release.
You can send any of our templates that require a signature or tax forms where there is a signature required to TaxFolder. You also have the option to upload other documents or forms not supported in TaxCycle directly to TaxFolder.com. The Preparer portal has a tool to allow you to place the signature and date fields where you want them or alternatively send the document for approval only.
Can you request a client up load documents without requesting a signature? If I already have authorization on file I don’t need the authrep signed but I would like the client to send me their documents via tax folder. Everything I see about it says to request it when you send a signature request. Thanks!
Yes, a client can upload documents to you Via TaxFolder as a secure online portal or file exchange service. TaxFolder isn’t just limited to requesting signatures and client approvals. The portal allows drag and drop directly from desktop.
Thanks for the reply! Do you know how to initiate the request without a signature request?
I don’t think you really initiate a request for documents the same way the system sends out a request for a signature. Presumably, if you need documents from a client you could email, text message, or call them with what you are looking for… they log into their TaxFolder and upload the requested documents.
@rachel From the Client Dashboard in TaxFolder, select to Add Engagement. This will trigger the email to the client to upload documents. Make sure to add an engagement label so you can select it later to print from TaxFolder so you don’t end up with a duplicate engagement.
Thank-you! I’ll give that a try.!
Just wondering about first steps. What is the difference between add engagement T1 and add engagement Forms? I have just added a few clients. Each client has two lines. One for T1 and one for Forms. Does this mean I have duplicated them? Why do you have to “Start” engagement before any forms can be uploaded?
This is the “Return Type”. Forms can be used for other engagement types or elections.
If you print to TaxFolder from TaxCycle the preparer will be assigned and the engagement will be set to started automatically. If you are creating the engagement directly in TaxFolder, it will show in your “Pending” until you start the engagement. This allows you to track new engagements versus ones that have been started. This will be more important when we start to add other planned features.
When I sent our preseason letter from Taxcycle to Taxfolder, the message to the client was “… has requested your approval and signature”. Even though, in Taxcycle I had not selected “request signature”.
I want the client to be notified to upload documents to TaxFolder. Not to approve or sign a document, yet.
What am I doing wrong?
There are only two states currently that are available for sending documents to a client one is to request a signature, and the other by default for approval. We have had requests to add a third option to send for the client’s information only which we have in our queue.