Processing a Gather request

Before a Gather request is delivered to the taxpayer, it must be uploaded and processed. The steps below outline how to upload, process, edit, and deliver a Gather request. The processing steps outlined may or may not be available, or may appear in a different order, depending on the options selected on upload. 

Upload Gather Request

1. Navigate to Send in the left panel.  
   • This is where In Process items appear. 
2. Click Single for the type.  
3. Click New Gather. 
4. Select a saved Template OR
5. Select the Task Options you would like to include in the request. 
   • Sign Document(s) allows you to include documents to be e-signed. 
   • Ask Custom Questions allows you to include custom questions. 
   • Send Fillable Gather sends the fillable organizer to the client. 
   • Request Documents allows you to include a document request list.
6. Select an Engagement Type. 
7. Drag/drop the selected tasks to reorder them for the taxpayer.
8. Click Get Started. 
9. Drag the Organizer PDF or click Choose File to upload the organizer. 
10. Select the Tax Software, Engagement Type, and Tax Year. 
11. Click Submit. 

Client Information 

The Client Information section displays the client, taxpayer, and spouse information. 

1. Fill or edit the Client Information section. 
   • Use the Client Search to locate a client from Client Management. 
   • Engagement Type cannot be edited if there is an Organizer included with the request. 
2. Enter Taxpayer Information.
   • Email for the taxpayer is required.
     • The email is not required for the Spouse. See the Married Filing Jointly article for more information. 
   • Mobile number and country code are not required. This is only applicable if your firm has MFA enabled. View Multi-Factor Authentication for Taxpayers for more information. 
3. Click the Deceased checkbox to mark the spouse or taxpayer as deceased.
4. Check Add Additional Taxpayer if a spouse needs to be added.
5. Click Next. 

Organizer Section

The Organizers section displays all pages in the Organizer PDF. 

1. Use the arrows to navigate through each page. 
2. Filter by Bookmark type.
   • Any unchecked form type will be moved to Deleted section. 
3. Click any Bookmark to view that page. 
4. Toggle Required Signature to On to add signature controls to the page (feature is not available for batch Gather requests). 
   1. Drag/drop a Signature Block onto the selected page.
      • The block will be assigned to the selected taxpayer from the drop-down. 
      • See the Placing Checkboxes and Radio Buttons guide for specific instructions related to those features. 
   2. Select or de-select the Required checkbox for added Signature Field blocks. 
   3. Click Save. 
5. Check Deliver without Fillable Organizers to send the Gather request without the fillable organizer. 

Info

Deleted Section

• All deleted documents will be moved here. Click on the Re-do icon to move back into the Bookmarks section.

E-Sign Documents Section

The E-Sign section displays the Engagement Letter and allows you to add any additional documents needed for E-Sign. Taxpayer and spouse signature blocks need to be added to the page.

Important

Any signature block option, like a Name or Initials field, are required on the taxpayer side, even if the Signature is not marked as required. 

1. Click Add Documents to upload additional documents that need to be signed. 
   • This step is not required if engagement letters are already present in the tab. 
2. Click an Engagement Letter bookmark OR select the Arrows to locate the page where you will place the signature blocks. 
3. Click the Signer drop-down to select the taxpayer or spouse (if applicable).
   • Signature blocks associated with the selected signer are highlighted in yellow. 
4. Drag/drop any signature block onto the selected page.

Important

By default, Signature Fields are marked as required. Once the field is placed on the page, a prompt appears that allows you to change this setting.

1. Click on the Signature field to open the Signature Settings. 
2. Select/ De-select the checkbox to your preference.
3. Click Yes. 

Custom Questions Section

See the Custom Questions article for more information about setting up custom questions.

1. Select the Choose Template drop-down to apply the template type. 
2. Click the Remove icon next to each section you need to delete. 
   • Removing a section removes all questions within that section.
3. Click the Remove icon next to each question you need to delete. 

Request Documents

Individual Requests

Document types appear here that were automatically generated from the organizer. We recommend you look over the list and remove/add the document types as needed.

Please note:

Due dates do not display for the taxpayer on mobile devices. 

1. Click Remove for each document you do not need to request.
2. Click Add Due Date to assign a due date to the selected item.  
   1. Check box next to one or more items to select the due date option. 
   2. Click Add Due Date. 
   3. Select a Due Date. 
   4. Click Save.
3. Click Delete All to remove all requested document types. 
4. Click Add Documents to manually add new document types. 
5. Check Use a template to disable the generated list and use your own template that is pulled from the DRL templates in Exchange. View the Document Request List Overview for more information on how these are managed. 

Entity Requests

The Import File feature is only available for entity requests. Entity organizers are not currently supported, so an AI-generated document request list cannot be created. All other options outlined above are also available for entity requests. When a document request list CSV is used, uploaded documents will not be automatically recognized and categorized on the taxpayer side. 

After uploading the CSV, you can choose which column corresponds to the Document Name and which column corresponds to the Document Category. There are no strict requirements for the CSV template. 

1. Click Import File to upload a CSV copy of your document request list. 
2. Drag files to this area to upload or click Choose File.
3. Click the CSV contains header row checkbox if applicable. 
4. Click Next.
5. Select the column header that corresponds to the Document Names. 
6. Click Next.
7. Select the column header that corresponds to the Document Categories. 
8. Click Import.

Delivery Options Section

The Delivery Options section is used to review and edit the default settings before the request is delivered. 

Taxpayer Dashboard

1. Click the Contact Person drop-down to select who is listed as the firm contact for the taxpayer. 
2. Click the Message Template drop-down to select a pre-made template to apply. See the Settings: Saved Messages article for more information. 
3. Click New to create a new Message from Preparer. 
4. Click Edit to edit the existing Message from Preparer (setting must be enabled by an administrator under Settings >Saved Messages). 

Preparer Notes

Add internal notes to the Gather request for other firm users. This information does not appear on the taxpayer side. The notes can be viewed from the More Action Items menu in the Delivered or Archived section. 

1. Type into the Preparer Notes section. 

Email Notifications 

Click the drop down field to change the user assigned to the email notification. Multiple users can be selected to receive notifications. 

1. Sender Name is the name that appears on emails sent to the taxpayer. 
2. Engagement Letters is the user who will be notified when the engagement letter is completed. 
3. Completed Organizers is the user who will be notified when the organizer is completed. 
4. Uploaded Files is the user who will be notified when the taxpayer uploads documents. 

Source Document Retention

Set how long source documents will be retained before they are deleted. Records related to the documents will still be available after they expire, but the documents can no longer be downloaded. 

1. Toggle the Automatically delete. . . option to enable or disable Source Document Retention.
2. Select the . . .delete received source documents after drop-down to select how long the source documents will be retained. 

Reminders 

Adjust scheduled automated reminders to the client so that they can finalize any unfinished tasks. Automated reminders are not delivered for Archived items or for items marked as completed or closed.

1. Toggle the Send Gather Reminder option to enable or disable reminders. 
2. Select the Send Reminder every.. drop down to select the period of time between each automatic reminder. 

Finish Processing

1. Click Finish.
2. Select to have the Taxpayer or Spouse sign first.  
   • Please Note: If both Taxpayer and Spouse emails are entered in the Client Info section, the initial email will be delivered simultaneously. 
3. Click Deliver without Fillable Organizers to remove the organizer from the client experience (optional). 
4. Click Send to deliver.