Who this is for: Firm owners, admins, managers and staff who prepare tax returns.
What you’ll learn: How to move a return forward or back to any stage, see exactly what the move will do first, and record work that happened outside Debits.
Before you begin
- A return can be moved to Intake, Workpapers, Prep, Review, Delivery or Filed. Returns in Engage or Advise cannot be moved this way, because there is no organizer, binder or tax return to act on yet.
- A move does real work, such as creating or finalizing a workpaper binder or marking a return filed. Read the plan before you confirm.
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Click Move to stage
On the All returns tab, click the Move to stage icon at the end of the return’s row. The same option is in the row’s More actions menu on the Organizers, Workpapers and Delivery tabs.
Step 2: Pick the target stage
In the Move to stage window, open Target stage and choose where the return should go.
Step 3: Read the plan
Debits lists every step the move will take, for example “Moving Hank Schrader from Review to Filed will:” followed by each action. A step marked Completed outside Debits — documentation required is one Debits will not do for you, such as sending a signature request, because the work already happened elsewhere. The reason is shown under the step. If a later step cannot run, a note says where the move will stop.
Step 4: Document work done outside Debits
If any step needs documentation, describe what happened in Document how this was completed outside Debits, for example “Client signed the 8879 in our office on October 9”. The note is recorded permanently on the return’s activity log. Move return stays greyed out until you fill it in.
Step 5: Click Move return
Click Move return. Each step runs in order.
Step 6: Check the new stage
The return’s Stage column shows its new stage, and the stage chips update their counts.
What happens next
The move is recorded on the return’s activity log, along with any note you entered. If a step fails part way, the window shows what was done and what failed, and says which stage the return is now in.
If a client only needs to change an answer in a submitted organizer, the window may offer Reopen organizer only. This lets the client edit their organizer without moving the return back to Intake, so the workpaper binder and its documents stay as they are.
Troubleshooting
- The Move to stage icon is greyed out: the return is in Engage or Advise.
- Move return is greyed out: a step needs documentation and the note is empty, or Debits is still working out the plan.
- A yellow message replaces the plan: the move is blocked. The message says why.
- “Plan updated” appears: the return changed while the window was open. Read the new plan before you confirm.