Drake Workflow is designed to help you monitor all your tax returns in a single system, organized by status and preparation stage. Drake Workflow gives you complete control of your tax preparation firm’s productivity by helping you track tasks, assignees, and progress. This will help you ensure that your workflow is on track - from tax return creation, to preparation, and through to payment collection.

Drake Workflow is integrated with Drake Hub. The beta version of Drake Workflow is available to try for free!

Key Benefits

• Integrated Workflow: All apps work together with automations that update a client’s status as their return progresses. You can also update statuses manually to match your office workflow.

• Task Delegation: Assign clients to team members in Drake Workflow. Each person completes their task and reassigns the client back to the preparer.

  • For example, a client submits documents through Drake Portals, the data entry clerk sees the status, enters the data, then updates the status so the preparer can filter for returns ready for review – all from within Drake Workflow!

• Practice Overview: Get a high-level view of all returns, broken down by category and status type. You can apply filters to pinpoint returns that require your immediate attention and ensure that all returns move through to complete by the due date that you set.

Overview

To access Drake Workflow, log into Drake Hub and select Workflow on the left.

The board displays the five main stages of return preparation.

• New Returns

• Gathering Info

• In Preparation

• In Review

• Completed

Each return has a more specific status displayed below the taxpayer’s name. When the status is updated through an automated or manual process, the return moves to the applicable stage (details below). Within each stage, returns are ordered in alphabetical order by the taxpayer’s last name or entity name.

When reviewing a particular return on the board, click Show Details to get more information. The suggested next step is shown. In this example, the return was updated from the prior year, but data entry has not been started, so the suggested step is Open Return.

Stages and Status Types

Most workflow statuses update automatically as a return progresses through the preparation stages in a connected application. You can also manually select or adjust the status as needed as it moves through your office’s workflow.

New Returns

• Rolled from prior year – updated from the prior year of Drake Tax, but data entry has not begun.

• Created new in Drake Tax – return created in the current year of Drake Tax, but data entry has not begun.

• Prospect in Drake Hub – client information was added in Drake Hub (prospective), but a return has not been created in Drake Tax Desktop or Drake Tax Online.

Gathering Info

• Pending Proposal – file uploaded to Drake Portals that is marked as Proposal. See Drake Portals – Request File Approval (Preparer View) for details.

• Proposal Approved – taxpayer has completed their review of the proposed file in Drake Portals and marked Approve. See Drake Portals – File Approval Requests (Taxpayer View) for details.

• Pending Engagement – engagement letter uploaded through Drake Portals (KBA not required).

• Signed Engagement – taxpayer has signed the engagement letter using Drake Portals.

• Pending Extension e-File Acceptance – an extension has been e-filed for this client’s return, but it has not yet been accepted.

• Extension e-File Accepted – an extension has been e-filed for this client’s return, and it has been accepted.

• Extension Filed on Paper – this status must be manually selected, if applicable.

• Pending Data – the preparer requested taxpayer information using Drake Portals and at least one tasks has not yet been completed by the taxpayer.

• Data Submitted – the preparer requested taxpayer information using Drake Portals and all tasks have been completed by the taxpayer.

In Preparation

• Preparation Started – this status must be manually selected, if applicable.

• Amendment Started – this status must be manually selected, if applicable.

• e-File Rejected – a return for this taxpayer was e-filed, but it has received an e-file rejection.

• Extension e-File Rejected – an extension for this taxpayer was e-filed, but it has received an e-file rejection.

In Review

• Preparation Complete – this status must be manually selected, if applicable.

• Pending Approval – file uploaded to Drake Portals that is marked as Draft Return. See Drake Portals – Request File Approval (Preparer View) for details.

• Return Approved – taxpayer has completed their review of the Draft Return file in Drake Portals and marked Approve. See Drake Portals – File Approval Requests (Taxpayer View) for details.

• Pending Signature – preparer has requested an e-Signature using Drake Portals e-Sign Online (KBA required). See Drake Portals - Drake e-Sign Online for details.

• Signed – taxpayer successfully e-signed their return. See Drake Portals - Drake e-Sign Online (Taxpayer View) for details.

Completed

• Pending e-File Acceptance – a regular return (not an extension) has been e-filed and is pending e-file acceptance.

• e-File Accepted – a regular return (not an extension) has been e-filed and has been accepted.

• Filed on Paper – this status must be manually selected, if applicable.

• Return Cancelled – this status must be manually selected, if applicable.

Status Colors

Gray

Indicates that the return is in the normal process, and there are no urgent action items.

Yellow

Manual review is necessary to move the return through the process, but there are no urgent action items. Used for the Data Submitted status.

Red

Review of the return is urgently required. Used for e-File Rejected and Extension e-File Rejected.

Green

The return is ready to be completed. Used for Return Approved and Preparation Complete.

Outline Colors

Generally, the status color and client outline color will be the same, however, if the return due date is within 3 calendar days or overdue, the box outline will be red even if the status is gray, yellow, or green.

You must select the due date as it applies to each return. Due dates are not set by any automatic process and are primarily used for filtering.

Search or Filter

Enter a client’s name in the Search box to quickly find them on the board.

Click the Filter icon to narrow the client list by selecting one or more of the following:

• Client Type

• Status

• Due Date

• Owner

On the right, toggle between Urgent and All Returns to focus on items needing more immediate attention. The urgent list is populated if the return has a red status or a red outline (triggers for each color are discussed above).

Return Paid

The Return Paid indicator indicates that the client has paid for their return. You can manually indicate this by clicking the edit icon in Drake Workflow, toggle Return is paid, and click Save.

Then, on the board, you will see Return Paid below the client status:

Frequently Asked Questions