Getting started with QuickBooks Tax powered by LodgeiT

Once you’ve logged into your QuickBooks Online Accountant file, you can activate LodgeiT from the Benefits page by following these steps.

Additionally, your ProAdvisor subscription tier will determine your level of access in LodgeiT, for example, how many returns you can lodge without an extra charge. You can find out more about the ProAdvisor tier system here.

1. Select ProAdvisor from the Your Practice section on the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Select the Benefits tab (then select Check it out if you’ve never been here before).
3. Within the Your Benefits section, navigate to QuickBooks Tax powered by LodgeiT.
4. Select Activate within your current tier’s column. This will open a new browser window.
5. Select Authorise in the prompt titled Allow QuickBooks Tax powered by LodgeiT to use your profile information.
   1. When you select Authorise, Intuit will grant QuicKBooks Tax powered by LodgeiT access to your information, including profile info, email address, phone number, and address.
6. You’ll be directed to the LodgeiT sign in screen, where you can either sign in with an existing account or create a new account. Select No, create a new account.
7. You’ll then be prompted to set up 2-factor authentication and enter the 6-digit code generated by your app.
   1. For a guide on this process, read LodgeiT’s article on Turning on 2-step authentication via Authenticator app.
8. After you’ve been authenticated, select Connect in the prompt titled Connecting QuickBooks Tax Powered by LodgeiT in [your ProAdvisor subscription tier].
9. From here, you’ll be asked to fill in your company details in the New Organisation from QuickBooks form.
10. Select Create to create your account with LodgeiT, and you’re ready to get started

First, you need to finish setting up your firm. The first time you use Export to LodgeiT, it will ask you for information like your organisation's phone number and address. But there are more settings you need to change before you can fill out and send tax forms. You don't have to start here to use LodgeiT. Feel free to try it out before you finish entering this information.

LodgeiT lets you update these details anytime. It also does a good job of checking for missing information before you continue through a crucial step. For example, you can choose a form before importing financials. But LodgeiT will ask you to import them if you skipped that step.

Of course, you won't be able to send out or lodge forms until you fill in this information. LodgeiT will let you know if there's any missing information before you can complete a form or lodge it. You can complete these steps in the Getting Started section. You can always find it by clicking the question mark menu in the top right corner.

You need to let the ATO know that you'll use LodgeiT as your software provider. To do this, you need to give the ATO the LodgeiT software ID. 

Add clients by selecting Add while in LodgeiT - you can do so manually, or import their details from QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA).  

To import from QBOA, start by clicking the QuickBooks icon.

1. Choose your QBOA Firm from the dropdown under Which company would you like to connect to?
2. The client list will populate.  Select the client you would like to bring in to LodgeiT and select Confirm.
3. Select Connect to authorise LodgeiT to access the file.
4. LodgeiT will bring in the relevant data found in the QBO file.

You can add individual tax returns and company/trust/etc returns for individuals and entities that are related.

To do this, select Add to define these relationships. Each entity or individual must exist in the LodgeiT client list in order to be linked.

You can access this section after completing the initial setup. There are multiple ways to get to this step, and we will cover this when we go through importing financials.

This part is where you can bring in QB data through the integration. But be careful, the Firm might auto-populate the information here. If that happens, you might need to switch to another client.

If you don't, the Your Books information will be imported. We'll explain more about this when we go through how to fill out a return for a client.

After you have exported data from a QBO file, you may need to come back into LodgeiT to continue with the next steps on a form, to accept a signature, or to lodge a form.  Here’s the details you’ll need to know.

1. Sign into LodgeiT.
2. Select Sign in with Intuit
3. Enter in your QBOA credentials.

From the dashboard you will see any forms that are in progress, you can drill into an existing in-progress form, or select a client from the top-left list to use additional features or to create a new form.

You don’t necessarily have to use the Prep for Taxes/Export to LodgeiT functions in order to get data into LodgeiT. This should typically be used for softwares other than QuickBooks Online.

Here’s how to get client financial data into LodgeiT, how to map accounts, and how to create the return.

1. Select a client (or add a new one), and navigate to the Forms page.  
2. Choose Add Form and select the type of form you want to use. The majority of forms will be CTRs (Company Tax Returns).
3. Choose the tax year and select Create and prefill
4. Select Import Financials to bring in data from a software
5. Select your software from the list of providers
6. Follow the prompts to sign into that software and pull in a client file. LodgeiT will then import the financial data
7. Choose the items for the tax return that are applicable to this client. This interview will turn on the applicable sections of the form. 
8. Select Complete.
9. Your data is now in LodgeiT.

The structure of LodgeiT is quite different from QBOA so it can take some getting used to. Here’s how it works:

When you sign in, you’re brought to the Dashboard.  Here you’ll see Getting Started if you haven’t created any forms yet, or a list of forms if you have some in progress.  

In the top left corner, you can find a dropdown menu for clients. Any business or person linked to the LodgeiT file will appear here. This includes business names from QuickBooks Online Accounting (QBOA), signatories within those accounts, and your firm's name. In LodgeiT, people and clients can be linked. For example, a signatory for a business may also have a personal tax return within LodgeiT. These can all be connected to make a complete tax package that includes both personal and business tax responsibilities.

The Clients link at the top right brings you to the LodgeiT client list.  The best way to populate this list is by Exporting from QBO to LodgeiT, but you can manually add clients here as well.

The icon you see for Create will change depending on where you are. - If you haven't chosen a client, you can only add a new client. - If you have chosen a client and can see their forms, you'll see new options under "Create" to add new forms.  

The gear icon contains settings. The Settings option is your organisation setup.  Team allows you to invite and track other users to the LodgeiT file- note that LodgeiT works completely independently from QBOA in this sense, so the team members from your firm would need to be invited into LodgeiT directly if they need their own login.  Settings also houses a few other options:

• Billing details: Edit or update your billing information for LodgeiT. 
• Branding: Allows you to add a logo and other brand details that will be used in email templates
• Esign: This houses the details that are auto-populated when sending esign requests to clients
• Software ID: Links you to the getting started option to grab the software ID to use on the ATO site.
• Organisation log: The Lodgeit version of the audit log

Dashboard

This screen will show Getting Started when Firm setup is not yet complete.  If you have completed setup tasked and move on into creating forms, then you will see any forms in progress here.

Getting Started

For optimal results, ensure that all the indicators on this page are green, indicating that you have finished all the necessary setup tasks. This page ensures that LodgeiT has all the required information to fill out and submit forms for your clients. You can access this page anytime by clicking the question mark and selecting Getting Started.

Clients and Forms

List of all clients brought into LodgeiT.  You can do this manually one by one, import from your QBOA client list, or have LodgeiT import from an excel file.

Tools

Once you choose a Client, LodgeiT’s tools will appear across the top. The client landing page shows all forms started for them and their current status. To add a new form for the client, use the Add Form button or the Plus (+) icon. Under Add Form, you'll see options based on how this client was set up.  

Other tools

You can access tools like SPFR and Working Papers from the top menu, these will all be specific to this client.  Starting the form process for a client will guide you through the necessary steps to populate financials.

A vital step when setting up LodgeiT is to map accounts, which can be done automatically through its integration with QBO via Export to LodgeiT. LodgeiT will match the QBO chart of accounts with the corresponding tax categories for each account. 

Once your financials are imported, a notification will appear at the top of the page prompting you to review the mapping. You can also access the mapping by clicking on the alert or the Accounts button at any point.

Note: The lightning bolt icon indicates that LodgeiT prepopulated the account mapping.  

e.g. GST Liabilities Payable in QBO becomes Net GST Payable to align with ATO account structure.

If LodgeiT can't find a matching tax mapping, you'll see an alert. Go to the account and choose from the account mapping tree. You can change any mapping if you want. If you're importing financials from another software, you'll need to do this mapping manually.  

For more information, visit LodgeiT's article on getting started with mapping accounts.

Note: If you find a missing part of the form, it's because that section isn't turned on yet. To edit which sections are turned on, click the four squares icon in the top-right corner and answer the interview questions.

You can use the form editor to answer individual questions and populate the tax form.  Answer the interview questions, and select Validate to confirm everything is completed.  Select any validation errors to be taken to the right spot in the form to correct them. Once you have completed a section, move on to the next tab.

The Company tab is an overview of the company, fill out any details missing and answer the interview questions to make sure you have filled out any applicable settings. This information needs to be updated from the General Settings menu.

The other tabs fill in the financial details and map them against the tax form based on the interview you filled out.  Once completed select Validate to check the data, and then Complete.

Form Statuses explained

• Draft: This is the status while completing the form.
• Complete: After the whole form has been filled out, it is marked as Complete.
• Out to Sign: After completing the form, you can select Out to Sign to either mark this for sharing with your client to obtain their signature, or you can use the integrated e-signature function.  
• To Sign: Client has signed the form and it is awaiting the accountant signature. After a form is in To Sign status, tick the box next to it and choose the options to Sign and Lodge in order to Lodge this with the ATO.