UltraTax CS holds the return, its diagnostics and the e-file. Outcomer shows your tax preparers each step of your firm's own procedure, on screen, while they work.
Book a 10-minute demoAfter the demo, we’ll set up your department free of charge. A small trial confirms it’s accurate, then a larger trial measures the drop in support queries.
We check every step works before your staff see it.
Outcomer isn’t a library of ready-made UltraTax CS guides. We build your guides from your own procedures, on your own UltraTax CS set-up, and test each one before your staff use it.
Your tax preparers get the answer on screen, in UltraTax CS and the systems around it, instead of interrupting a colleague or raising a ticket.
Training covers the basics. When a question comes up later, Outcomer answers it inside UltraTax CS, from your own procedures, while your tax preparers work.
General answers for the standard product. Your own set-up may differ, and that’s what Outcomer follows.
Common causes are a prior-year entry that stops proforma, such as 'Suppress next year's proforma', a final return or a date of death. Others are a data location that doesn't match last year, a client still locked in the prior year, or the Focus filters hiding the client. Check each in turn before you reproforma.
Client documents may not proforma when taxing authorities change their requirements, when the document format setting differs from last year, or when file locations differ. In years with big changes, edit the documents released with the current year instead.
Go to Utilities, then Electronic Filing Status. Find the client and open the details for its status. The reject code is at the end of the message and usually starts with 'rule'. You can copy the details to share with a colleague.
Find the reason first: use Check e-file for application errors, or the e-file status for the agency's rule number. Fix the problem, then re-create and re-transmit the e-file. You can print an ELF History Report showing when you filed and when it was rejected.
Correct the diagnostics, then print the return again with 'Create electronic file' ticked. When asked, choose to re-create the e-file so it replaces the existing one. Fix anything on the E-File Error Report before you transmit.
UltraTax CS won't create the electronic file until every error on the E-File Error Report is fixed. Print the report, correct each error on the input screens, then recreate the file.
UltraTax CS works out name controls for you, but the IRS may hold a different value. Check the names on the input screens and override the name control if needed. Take particular care with partnership, trust and corporation names.
It marks a pending state e-file made with an earlier version of the program that may break the ten-day rule. Re-create it with the current version. The Client ELF Summary reports list e-files created but not sent, and rejected ones.
A lock file says the client is already open. Check it isn't open in another year or by a colleague. If nobody is using it, a user with access can delete the lock under Help, Repair, File Locks. Deleting a lock while someone is working can lose data.
Open the Diagnostics window from the View menu or with Ctrl+D. Critical messages need fixing before filing, and ELF Critical ones before e-filing. Select a message to jump to the field.
Right-click the FYI message and choose Acknowledge to move it to the acknowledged list. Turning off specific FYI messages for everyone is an office set-up option, so your set-up may differ.
Back the client up from the File menu and tick the option to check out the selected clients. Include all related clients for a consolidated return. To check it back in, restore the updated backup. Your firm may have its own rules for this.
If your tax preparers ask questions like these every week, Outcomer answers them on their own screen, using your own UltraTax CS set-up and procedures.
See which UltraTax CS tasks staff ask about most, which procedure answered each question, and whether it was finished or passed to your support desk. Your IT team can export it at any time.
Outcomer never reads, uses or keeps the data in your systems. It finds each box and button by its label, never what’s typed in it, takes no screenshots, and works from your procedures, not your records.