Contacts and accounts explained
Contacts and accounts are the two building blocks of client management in TaxDome. Understanding how they relate helps you set up clients correctly from the start.
Accounts at a glance
Client accounts are the entities you work for and bill — either a company or an individual. All client-facing work in TaxDome is organized within accounts: documents, invoices, jobs, messages, and organizers all live there.
Because one tax situation can involve more than one person, an account can be linked to multiple contacts . For example, spouses filing a joint return can both have portal access through a single account, and a business owner can be linked to their personal and company accounts at the same time.
Contacts at a glance
Contacts are the people you interact with during your work. The Contacts feature lets you store their personal details, including information about clients, coworkers, prospective clients, partners, and clients’ family members.
Each contact linked to an account can independently have login access, receive notifications, or sync email — giving you precise control over who sees what. Every account must have at least one contact linked to it.
Account setup examples
Generally speaking, you will want to create an account for each person or group that will be filing a return, then link contacts depending on the situation. This can vary from case to case.
Business, payroll and bookkeeping: one account with multiple contacts
First, create an account for the company, then link all relevant contacts to it: business partners, controllers, managers, and so on. For each contact, configure the desired settings so they can log into the portal, receive notifications, or sync their email.
Spouses with a joint tax return: one account
For a married couple who file jointly and both want portal access, create one account, then link the two contacts (their separate email addresses) to it. If there are other family members, such as children, grandparents, and so on, who also need portal access, they too can be linked to the account.
Tip
If only one spouse has an email address, you can use plus addressing (e.g., [email protected] ) to add both spouses as separate contacts and request their e-signatures in the same inbox. Learn more about plus addressing in this article .Spouses with individual tax returns: two accounts
If you’re preparing two individual returns for a couple, create a separate account for each person. Link spouse one to their own account. If they want access to the other’s account, link their contact to it and check the Login box for their email address. This way, they can log into either account — or receive the same notifications and sync their email if they choose to.
A dependent who requires their own tax return: a separate account
If you’re preparing a tax return for a dependent, use a separate account — you can then link other contacts , such as those who claim this dependent, to the account.
See a video below for different examples of how to set up dependents as TaxDome accounts and contacts.
Linked accounts
When you are preparing a tax return for spouses with different accounts, you may want to check something in the spouse’s account. The same option may be useful when searching for an individual account of a company’s CEO who is also your company client. You don’t need to search for that account — all accounts with shared contacts are listed in the Linked accounts section at the bottom of the account’s Info tab. Clicking the account name opens that account’s Info tab.
Work with contacts and accounts
In general, the contacts and accounts workflow is:
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Create an account for each client entity — either an individual (or family) or a company. The account holds all client-facing work: documents, jobs, messages, invoices, and organizers.
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Link one or more contacts to the account . Every account must have at least one contact. The same contact can be linked to multiple accounts — for example, a spouse can appear in both their personal and a joint account, and a business owner can appear in their company account as well.
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Configure contact settings for each linked contact. You can independently control whether each person can log in to the portal, receive system notifications, have their emails synced in TaxDome, and sign proposals and recurring invoices.
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Invite clients to the portal . Once login is enabled for a contact, they receive an invitation by email, create a password, and gain access to the account. If a contact is linked to multiple accounts, they can switch between them after logging in.
Tip
If you already have clients in another tax software, you don’t need to create them from scratch — you can import them to TaxDome in bulk.
Access and permissions
Creating a contact is an internal action visible only to your firm. It does not grant clients access to the portal. To allow clients to log in , you must check the Login box for their contact and invite them to the portal.
New contacts and accounts can be added to TaxDome by a firm owner, admin, or any employee who has been given access rights to manage contacts or manage accounts.
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