Overview of the Tax Suite
Tax return tasks
Tax tasks are any tasks that are part of the annual tax return preparation process, from sending out initial information requests to reviewing and filing the return.
Due dates
All assignees and due dates will repeat when a new return is started. The structure is copied from the latest tax return, similar to how closing tasks are created for new closes.
For example, if you're working on the 2024 tax return, and you've assigned a task to User A and made it due on April 15th, 2025 when you start the 2025 tax return, that task will be assigned to User A and due on April 15th, 2026.
Assigning users
You can assign tasks and due dates in two ways.
1) Manually choose a due date or assignee for each task by clicking the pickers on the task.
2) Bulk-add assignees per section by clicking the (...) at the top right of the section.
Roles
Enable Tax Preparer, Reviewer, and Manager roles in your Practice Settings:
Go to Practice Settings > Practice Management > Workflows (Quick link)
Scroll to Tax Return Settings
Sections
Each return in the tax suite comes with pre-defined sections.
Rename, reorder, delete, and create new sections from your section manager in your settings. To get there, click the gear icon in the top right corner (⚙️), then click the Sections tab.
General | A custom task section. See Custom Tasks |
Gather information | Work you need to do leading up to kicking off the tax prep work, including sending out engagement letters, sending out organizers, reviewing prior year tax returns, etc. |
Financial review | Where you can review your client's Trial Balance, Profit & Loss, and Balance Sheet - See Financial Statements. |
Prepare tax return | For tasks encompassing the preparation and review of the tax return. |
File tax return | For tasks related to filing and completing the return project. |
Creating new tasks
Create a new task by clicking the + Add Task button below each section. Reorder any tasks by dragging and dropping them within the section.
Client portal tax tracker
More on the client portal experience 👉 HERE!
To enable a visual Tax Tracker in the Client Portal:
Go to Practice Settings > Practice Management > Workflows (Quick link)
Scroll to Tax return settings
Toggle Show tax tracker to ON
At the bottom of the Tax return settings section are the options to add, remove, and update tax tracker status options.
Choose between Internal status and Tax tracker status options.
Preview the client's experience in the portal under Portal Settings
Posting a filed tax return to the client portal
Once the tax return is filed, attach the return by clicking on the tax return folder icon at the top of the page, next to the due date and filing status.
Once added, any contact with tax access will see the filed return under their Files tab > under the auto-organized "Tax files" folder.
E-Signatures (Optional KBA verification)
Double's E-Signature feature streamlines the process of sending, signing, and verifying documents electronically.
In addition, you can optionally enable Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA) for enhanced signer identity verification.
This guide walks you through the steps to create and send an e-signature request. First, ensure that your Tax Suite is enabled. Need help with this? Reach out to sales@doublehq.com.
Creating a signature request
Starting a Request: Click on Add Signature Request. (Note: Soon, you will have the option to create a request from a template.)
Name Your Request: Provide a clear title for the signature request.
Upload a Document: Choose the file you wish to have signed.
Review Fields: Certain fields will be pre-detected in your pdf. You will be able to verify the pre-detected fields and add new ones when you customize your document.
Pro tip: Add your signers before customizing the document fields so you can specify who should complete the various fields.
Adding recipients and signing order
Add as many signers as needed. For each recipient, enter their email address and full name.
If the signing order matters, check the box to "Set signing order" and drag and drop the recipients to set the proper sequence.
Customizing document fields
Select the recipient for which you'd like to customize, and switch between signers without losing work.
Click the Save button before returning to the Signature request screen. Closing the pdf editor without saving may cause your fields to be reset.
Field types and customizations
Customize fields to be required or read-only.
For read-only fields, you can pre-fill text (e.g., for a signer's contact info, EIN, email, URL, zip code, etc.).
Supported field types include:
Text Box
Signature
Initials
Date
Number
Requested Image
Checkbox & Multiple Checkboxes
File Upload
Radio Button
Drop Down Menus
Stamp
Phone Number
Field validation
Set validations such as numbers only, letters only, or custom rules to ensure accurate data entry.
Saving your pdf edits
Click the Save button to save your fields and return to the signature request page.
Clicking out of the pdf editor without saving may result in the reset of fields.
Finalizing the request
After adding the recipient(s) and customizing the document(s), add an optional message to appear in the e-signature request email sent to your recipients.
Ensure all required fields are filled out.
Choose to either Send the signature request to the listed recipients or Delete the request if needed.
Recipients will receive an email with a link to open the signature request. If they have KBA verification enabled, they will follow the prompts listed below. If KBA verification is not required, they will be taken directly to the document.
Completed signature requests
Notifications
If your recipients are also client contacts with portal access, they will see signature requests as an action item in their portal.
After the document has been signed by all parties, each recipient and the sender will receive an email letting them know the document is complete.
Accessing completed requests
Client contacts: Client Portal > Files tab
Users: Files > Auto-organized folders > Signatures
Reverting back to a draft
Once the request has been sent, you can revert to draft by clicking the three dots [...] next to the Send button. This will remove any signatures or fields completed by your recipients. You will need to resend the request if you need the document to be signed.
KBA verification
Admin users can enable KBA to verify signer identity for an extra layer of security.
To enable KBA verification select KBA signature required from the Role drop-down for each recipient you need to add KBA verification to.
KBA requirements
Ensure that each recipient's email address is provided. There is the option to pre-fill the following details for each recipient following the KBA process.
If not pre-filled, the signer will be prompted to provide these details during the KBA verification:
First Name & Last Name
Street Address, City, State, Zip Code
Date of Birth
Social Security Number
Once a signer successfully completes the KBA process, they will be redirected to the document to complete the required fields and sign.
Pricing
Pricing for each KBA request is as follows and helps cover our cost of providing the verification:
US: $1 USD per signature
Canada: $1.40 CAD per signature
Australia: $1.60 AUD per signature
Organizers
Video overview
The Organizers tool allows for automated, user-friendly requests for tax information from clients.
Creating an organizer
Click on the Organizers badge to enter the draft section or go to Templates to create an organizer template and apply to your client once built.
Once in Organizers, click 'Add Organizer' - choose between creating a draft from scratch or browsing templates.
Organizer templates
Double has pre-built templates for certain return types - to save time, apply a Double default template and tweak from there!
Once you've selected your template, click Apply to client to apply to an individual client or bulk select multiple clients.
You have the option to apply the organizer as a draft for further editing or publish directly to the client portal if your template is reviewed and ready to be worked on.
Building the organizer
If you've applied the organizer template as a draft or are building an organizer from scratch, give the organizer a name and review or add new slides.
Slide types
Short answer
Text box for client responses
Best for questions requiring open-ended responses
Number input
Validates the response to ensure clients are entering a number
Best for questions about specific values (estimated tax payments, account numbers, etc.)
Dropdown
Define custom options for clients to select from a drop-down
Best for questions where there is only one correct answer (ie. filing status). For yes/no questions (ie. Do you have dependents?) use the Yes/No question type below.
Multiple choice
Define custom options that can all be selected
Best for "select all that apply" type questions (ie. What types of income did you have this year?)
Address
Date picker
Multi-input question
Allows multiple fields within the same question grouping
Best for questions where you're gathering different types of information that are related (ie. Dependent name, DOB, SSN, etc.)
File upload
Section header
Allows you to create groupings of questions and organize your organizer into different sections (ie. General Information, Income, Deductions, etc.)
After creating a section header slide type, you can create any other slide type within a section. Slides can be added within existing sections, or dragged and dropped into different sections.
Slides will maintain their conditional properties if conditional logic is applied when moved between sections.
If a section header slide is hidden by default for purposes of using conditional logic, then all slides within the section will be hidden by default until a response reveals the section and underlying slides.
Yes/No
Best for questions where yes or no are the only options (ie. Are you filing with a spouse?)
Actions on slides
Delete a slide
Duplicate a slide
Allow multiple entries for certain questions (e.g., dependents)
Set default visibility (for using conditional logic)
Slide settings
Allow the client to mark a slide as not applicable.
Set questions as required to ensure completion.
Clients cannot complete (submit) an organizer until all required slides have been filled out.
Conditional logic
To add conditional logic to a slide, open the slide settings and set its visibility to hidden by default. This will hide the slide unless the client selects a response that prompts it to be shown during the completion of the organizer.
To configure the conditional logic, select the Logic icon to open up the conditional logic settings.
From the Add logic screen, add a title for the logic.
You can add one or multiple conditions for each set of slides:
A standard conditional logic flow would look something like this: You want to ask the client if they have dependents, and if the answer is yes you need more information from them.
Click Logic
Label: Dependents
Condition 1
If [Slide - Dependents] state [is equal to] is [Yes] then [show] slide [Dependent Info]
In this scenario, the dependent info slide is hidden unless the client selects "Yes" for the question "Do you have any dependents?"
Preview drafts
Preview how slides will appear to clients by toggling the Preview button on each slide.
Publish to the portal
Actions you can take on an organizer in draft state:
Duplicate the organizer.
Create a template from the organizer.
Change access permissions for responses.
Unrestricted - all firm users with access to the client can see organizer responses.
Tax users and above - standard and manager bookkeeping users cannot see responses.
Admins and above.
Super Admins and above.
From the draft, publish the organizer to the client portal 🎉
The client portal experience
With tax access enabled, clients see open organizers in their action required area of the portal.
Contacts can fill out information, navigate forward and backward through the organizer, and and mark it as complete once all required slides have been completed.
Clients must complete all required slides to mark the organizer as complete.
Not applicable slides will not trigger completion warnings.
Monitor responses
Responses can be viewed in real-time as clients fill out the organizer by viewing the "In progress" organizers by client.
Completed organizers will show a timestamp of the completion date and all responses.
Uploaded files can be accessed by navigating to Files -> Auto-organized Folders -> Organizers -> Organizer name
Completing the organizer
Mark the organizer as complete on behalf of the client. Revert a published organizer back to a draft if changes are needed.
Exporting
From your Published organizers, select the organizer you'd like to export and click the Download button. There are options to download organizers in the "In progress" and "Completed" statuses.
Choose to download only the organizer and responses as a pdf or select Download PDF & files to a zip file.
If you select this option, the organizer and responses will be exported as a pdf and included with your client's uploaded files in a downloaded zip file.
Tax suite-related merge tags
Double now supports new merge tags for email templates that go beyond just client questions. These merge tags allow for notification and reminder emails to include organizer requests, e-signature requests, and bank feed connection requests, giving your clients a complete picture of everything they need to action in their portal.
The existing {Unanswered_Questions_Count} merge tag only accounts for transaction and non-transaction questions. It does not include organizer requests, e-signature requests, or bank feed connection requests.
The new {Requests_Count} and {Requests_Detail_List} merge tags cover all client portal action items, making them ideal for reminder and notification emails where you want to ensure your clients are aware of everything that needs their attention.
Updating existing email templates
To start using the new merge tags, you'll need to update your email templates:
Go to Templates > Email Templates (Quick link)
In the template editor, replace the existing {Unanswered_Questions_Count} merge tag with {Requests_Count} or {Requests_Detail_List}
Save your template
Merge tag | Function |
{Requests_Count} | Displays the total number of open requests a contact has across their client portal(s). This includes transaction questions, non-transaction questions, organizer requests, e-signature requests, and bank feed connection requests. |
{Requests_Detail_List} | Displays a detailed, itemized breakdown of all open requests by type. For example: "25 transaction questions, 2 non-transaction questions, 1 signature request for 'Form 8879', 1 organizer request for '2025 1040 Organizer'." |
Best practices
The {Requests_Detail_List} merge tag is especially useful for reminder emails because it shows your clients exactly what items are waiting for them, broken down by type and name.
For contacts with access to multiple client portals (merged portals), the new merge tags aggregate all open requests across all of their portals.
The existing {Unanswered_Questions_Count} merge tag will continue to work as it always has — it is not being removed or replaced automatically.
Users assigned as Tax Preparer, Reviewer, or Manager for a client's tax project will receive an email notification when a client completes an organizer.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I un-publish an organizer?
Go to Organizers > Published
From here, select the 3 dots
Choose Revert to draft
Reverting a published organizer to a draft will remove the organizer from the client portal.
How do I delete an organizer draft?
If the organizer is published, revert it to a draft first before deleting it.
Go to Organizers > Draft
From here, select the 3 dots
Choose Delete organizer
