Bring last year's folder in, let FinishTax read it, approve each client's list, send everyone their request, then see who still owes and mark returns filed.
Import last year's folder
Open Documents and click Import a folder. It's there on a wide screen, for anyone at the firm who can upload files.
Drop last year's folder on the page, or click Choose a folder. A network drive works like any other folder.
Each file is matched to a client by the names in its path. Nothing uploads until you've checked the list.
Matched shows each folder's files and the client they go to. Change any that look wrong.
Unclear is where more than one client fits. Pick the right one.
Unmatched is where no client fits. Click Pick a client, Create client to add one named after the folder, or Skip. Create a client for every folder does them all at once.
FinishTax checks your plan's storage, then uploads. A file already on its client isn't uploaded twice.
Imported files are firm-only: clients don't see them in their portal. To share one, open the file's actions in Documents and choose Show to client. Hide from client takes it back.
Let FinishTax read the files
When the import finishes, Read these documents offers to read what came in. FinishTax reads each file to find the form, the year and who issued it, so it can build each client's list. Nothing is read until you click.
It needs your consent to use AI. If you haven't given it, FinishTax asks first.
Reading carries on if you leave the page, and the progress is there when you come back. What was read shows on each file in Documents.
A file that was already read isn't read again.
During the free trial FinishTax reads up to 100 files. A practice can read up to 5,000 files a month.
Approve each client's list
Open Documents and click Season lists, and pick the tax year at the top. Each client with tax-return work, or with last season's documents or checklist, gets a proposed list for that year, built from:
last season's checklist items that were received or requested,
one item for each form and issuer FinishTax read, such as W-2 from Acme Corp,
or your New client setup template, when a client has neither.
Click Edit to change a list, Approve to approve one, or Approve all. Approving needs permission to edit clients, and approving again adds nothing twice.
Approving moves a client with a single tax year on to the new year. Last season's checklist stays on their profile as that year's history.
If a client still has requests open from last season, Close last season's requests is ticked. Closed requests stop being chased, and what was sent stays as history. Untick it, or tick Keep for the new year on a request, to keep it going.
Send everyone their list
On Season lists, click Send requests. Or pick clients in Clients and click Request documents for the year shown, your firm's default tax year.
Each client gets one document request, by email, with their own list.
You can leave the page while it sends. The results show how many were sent, who was skipped and why, and anyone who couldn't be sent to.
A client is skipped when they have no email address, nothing is left to ask for, their list isn't approved for the year yet, or they're already in another send.
Up to 1,000 clients go in one send. If you picked more, the results offer to send the next ones.
During the free trial each send reaches up to 25 people. Start your plan to send to everyone at once.
Open Documents and click Who still owes. It's also Everyone on the Requests tab, and Who still owes in the dashboard's Needs attention.
There's one board for each tax year: every client with an open request that still asks for something, oldest first.
Narrow it with Assigned to me, Owes for more than 7, 14 or 30 days, Never opened, and Reminders stopped.
Each row shows what's owed, the oldest request, the last reminder, reminders left, when they last opened it, and who it's assigned to. If reminders stopped, it says why.
Tick clients, or Select everyone, and click Resend to email their open requests again. Each email lists only what's missing.
Resending needs permission to edit clients. Anyone else sees the board without Resend.
Mark returns filed
When a return is filed, click Mark filed with the year on the client's profile. Or pick clients in Clients and click Mark filed for the year.
It marks the return filed as of today and closes what they still owe for that year, so they're no longer chased.
The client's portal says their return is filed.
Unmark takes the marker away, but doesn't reopen what it closed. Ask again from the request if you need to.
Plan: Solo and up, during a trial too. Compare plans
Still stuck?
Email us what you were trying to do and where it stopped.