Signing is the last mile of the return, and for most firms it runs through a separate product with its own login, its own bill and its own idea of who the signer is. Here the signers are your contacts, the forms are ones it already knows, and the executed copy files itself.
Who signs comes from the client’s contacts, not from names scraped off the document. A spouse is on it for a joint return and drops off every form in the packet when it is not. That is the whole difference between an e-signature tool and an e-signature tool that knows what it is sending.
It recognizes Form 8879 and its state equivalents and knows where the signature and date boxes go, so nobody spends the first week of the season dragging fields onto forms they dragged them onto last year.
Scan a printed set in and it names which form is on each page and how sure it is. It does not place a field, read a figure or send anything. Where it was unsure it says so, so the one page worth checking is the one you check.
If a newer version turns up while a request is out, replacing it voids the live one and sends a fresh packet. Because the client may already be part-way through, it takes a deliberate action and the override lands on the audit trail.
It goes back to the client record, locked. If someone reprints over it later that is a conflict to resolve, not a quiet overwrite of the document a client actually signed.
Next: Time & Billing — From the timer to the deposit, without rekeying anything.
Read on →One plan for the whole practice — $129 per seat, every Practice module included. Start your free trial today; migration support from your current tools comes standard.
14-day free trial · No credit card required · Cancel anytime