Exporting Tax Balances to a Tax Return

You can export current and prior year tax balances for an engagement to a tax return in CCH Axcess™ Tax or CCH® ProSystem fx® Tax.

There are two ways to export tax balances to a return:

• Using Link. Link creates a persistent link between the engagement and the tax return. After establishing this link, you can send updated tax balances to the tax return with the click of a button. The next time a staff member with edit rights opens the tax return, a prompt to import the Engagement tax data displays automatically. If the staff member doesn't perform the import at that time, the import prompt displays each time the return is opened until the import is completed.
• After a link has been established, if you make changes that might affect the balances already sent to a tax return, an alert displays to indicate that you might need to send the data to the return again. Which changes might prompt the alert to display?
  • An account is grouped or regrouped on the tax trial balance.
  • Data is reimported into the trial balance.
  • A sub-group assigned to an account on the tax trial balance is edited or deleted.
  • A journal entry is created, edited, or deleted.

  • The unadjusted balance for an account is modified on the trial balance.

  • The Schedule M-3 toggle is turned on from the Send to Tax tab.

  • The Schedule M-3 toggle is turned off from the Send to Tax tab.

  • An M-3 option is changed for a tax group on the Send to Tax tab.

  Click Send to resend the data, or click at the far right of the alert to dismiss it without resending the data.

  Notes:

  • You must create the tax return in Tax before you can link it to an engagement.
  • The Link option is only available when linking to a tax return in CCH Axcess Tax. This is not available for CCH ProSystem fx Tax.

• Performing a manual export. In this method, you export the tax data to an export file (or compfile), which you then manually import into Tax. This method is only available if there is not an intact Tax link in place between Engagement and the return.

Note: The Retained Earnings amount (Corporation, S Corporation, and in some cases, Exempt Organization) or Partners' Capital (Partnership) include the adjusted balance net income (loss). The lines in the compfile that are affected are:

• Corporation (1120): L24 RETAINED EARNINGS (tax conversion code 75400)
• S Corporation (1120S): L25 RETAINED EARNINGS - UNAPPROP (tax conversion code 75400)
• Partnership (1065): L21 Partners' capital accounts (tax conversion code 77000)
• Non-Profit /Tax Exempt (990): 10-32.01 Retained earnings/accum.inc-990 (tax conversion code 75230)

Select the Data to Send to Tax

You can choose which data to send to Tax using the Send to Tax tab in the Trial Balance section. Any tax groups that either have accounts assigned directly to the group or to a sub-group within the group display on this tab.

To specify which data to send to Tax:

1. Click the engagement on the Engagement List page.

   Note: See Using the Engagement List Page for information about using the pagination and search features to find an engagement in the list.

2. Click on the navigation bar and select Trial Balance.
3. Click the Send to Tax tab.

4. To turn on M-3 expanded processing for an eligible tax grouping list, select the Schedule M-3 toggle on the top right of the page.

   Notes:

   • When the Schedule M-3 toggle is turned on:

     • Additional tax groups will display in the group drop-down under the Tax trial balance as well as the tax group drop-down within the Add New and Edit panes.

     • The M-3 balances will be automatically transferred to the tax return.

     • The M-3 temporary (T) and permanent (P) default can be modified for each JE line in a tax journal entry.

   • Schedule M-3 for a consolidated tax trial balance is not supported currently.

5. Change the Send to Tax option for tax lines as appropriate. To send the data for a group to the tax return, set the group to Yes. If you do not want to send the data, you can set the group to No.

Note: Some tax groups by default are set not to be sent to Tax. See the full list of tax groups that default to No in the knowledge base article Which tax lines in CCH Axcess™ Engagement are not sent to the tax return by default?

6. When Schedule M-3 is toggled on for the tax grouping list, change the M-3 option by selecting the drop-down for each tax line as needed.

Export Tax Balances to a Return Using Tax Link

1. Click the engagement on the Engagement List page.

   Note: See Using the Engagement List Page for information about using the pagination and search features to find an engagement in the list.

2. Click on the navigation bar and select Tax Summary Report.
3. Do one of the following:
   • Establish the link and send data initially.
     1. Click Link on the toolbar.

        Note: The button label is "Unlink" and displays a green icon when a link to a return already exists.

     2. Select the version of the return you want to link to.
     3. Click Link and Send.
   • Send subsequent tax data updates.
     1. Verify the tax link is intact. The link button label will read "Unlink" and the button icon should be green. If the link is broken, reestablish the link using the previous procedure.
     2. Click Send on the toolbar.
4. Open the return in CCH Axcess Tax, and then follow the Tax import wizard instructions.

Note: You can break the link between an engagement and a return at any time by clicking Unlink on the toolbar. If you have sent data to Tax that hasn't yet been imported, that data will no longer be available for import after the link is broken.

Export Tax Balances to a Return Manually

1. Click the engagement on the Engagement List page.

   Note: See Using the Engagement List Page for information about using the pagination and search features to find an engagement in the list.

2. Click on the navigation bar and select Tax Summary Report.
3. Click Download Compfile in the toolbar to create the Compfile.txt export file. The file is saved to your downloads folder.

   Important: 

   • The Download Compfile button does not display if the engagement is already linked to a tax return.
   • If another file named Compfile.txt exists, then (1) is appended to the filename. You must rename this file back to Compfile.txt before attempting to import it into Tax, as this is the file name required by Tax.

To import the Compfile.txt file into CCH Axcess Tax, do the following:

1. In Tax, open the return that is to receive trial balance data.
2. Click G/L Bridge in the Import group on the Import / Export tab.
3. Select Tax
4. Select the Compfile.txt to be imported.
5. Click Import.

Important: You cannot cancel an import once it has begun.

6. When the import completes, click Details to view information about the imported data.
7. Click Finish.

To import the Compfile.txt file into CCH ProSystem fx Tax, do the following:

1. Open CCH ProSystem fx Tax. If a return is open, you must close the return before you can continue.

2. Select File > Import > G/L Bridge.

3. Select CCH Axcess Engagement Essentials or Pro (formerly known as Financial Prep or Engagement) from the drop-down list.

4. Click Select Import File to select compfile.txt file.

5. Select the drive, directory, and the extension of the file you wish to use.

6. Highlight the import file and click OK. The import file information displays in the top box of the G/L Bridge dialog.

7. Now that you have the import file selected, you can select a new return, an existing return, or a Pro Forma to process through G/L Bridge.