Table of Contents:
- July 2024: Harness Product Updates
- New Tax Practice Management Guides
- ICYMI: Recent Harness Product Updates
July 2024: Harness Product Updates
In our latest update, we’ve improved the navigation of our tax client portal.
Our client portal updates include:
- Giving you more screen space when working in the client portal.
- Main menu items will be collapsed into icons. Simply hover over and click the icons to view the complete navigation.
- You can also expand and collapse the navigation menu using the icon at the bottom left of your screen. The client portal will remember your preference when you log back in.
New Tax Practice Management Guides
Below are new guides and articles from the Harness tax practice management blog to help provide your tax practice insights from what has made Harness and our advisors successful.
- How to Price Your Tax Practice’s Services to Drive Revenue Growth: Pricing is a key component to effective tax practice management. The right pricing strategy can help you attract high-value clients. In this guide, we explore strategies aimed at optimizing your pricing and improving profitability for your tax firm.
- The Best Marketing Strategies for Tax Advisors: This marketing guide for tax advisors is designed to help you identify your ideal tax client, build your tax firm’s brand, learn how to potentially get curated client introductions for your firm, and more.
- Tax Practice Management: 3 Ways to Run a More Efficient Tax Firm: In this article, we will cover three tips (including examples) for running an efficient tax firm, helping you provide top-notch service to your clients while maintaining effective business operations.
- Financial and Tax Planning: A 10-Point Checklist for New Parents and Families: Starting and raising a family is no small task, costing an estimated $310,605, according to the Brookings Institution. This is a good checklist to share with your clients to help them navigate the financial life of being a parent.
ICYMI: Recent Harness Updates
In case you missed our previous updates, here are additional recent product improvements.
🏷️ New! Additional tags for client files
We’ve added new tags for uploaded and auto-generated files, including e-signature authorization files, final return and extension acceptances, client questionnaires, and bank account information. Files will automatically be tagged as they are uploaded to specific tasks within the engagement. These tags will also be visible to advisor’s clients when they log into the client portal.
Please note: files requiring e-signatures will be tagged based on the task they were uploaded to – for example, uploading an e-signature file to the extension authorization task will tag that file as Extension authorization. It’s important to use the right task to ensure that files are tagged correctly and clients understand what they are signing.
Reminder: Quarterly Estimates template available
Harness offers tax advisors a convenient template for quarterly estimates, engagements for clients to upload files, and an ad hoc task to upload their payment receipts, which serves as a reminder of payments they have to make.
In the Harness platform, advisors can click on + New Engagement, select the Taxpayers, choose Quarterly estimates, Tax year and quarter, due date, and send to the client. This will create tasks for clients to upload any relevant documents for advisors to review. Additionally, advisors can send a task for clients to upload their receipts after they’ve paid their estimated taxes.
New! Improvements to the Client signup experience
As we continue to learn more about our clients and how best to serve them, we wanted to share improvements to the new client onboarding questionnaire that are a result of these insights. These changes demonstrate our commitment to delivering an exceptional client experience, regardless of the reason they’re working with Harness.
- Retired clients. This past season we saw an increase in retired clients (vs. clients planning for an upcoming life milestone), so we’ve introduced an option to choose “Already retired” under Career.
- Business clients. Similarly, we saw an increase in clients who were working with a Harness advisor primarily for business purposes vs. for individual tax support. These clients will bypass onboarding questions related to personal tax matters and go directly to questions meant to support entity tax engagements.
New! Client Document Filters
As clients continue to upload files to different engagements, we created an easier way for advisors to navigate their documents. Now, advisors can filter client uploads by category to make their workflow more efficient. For 1040 clients, files are tagged based on the category that the client chose when uploading the document in their portal experience. We also tag documents such as e-file authorization forms and e-file acceptances that the client did not directly upload.
Ready to Modernize Your Tax Practice?
Schedule an intro with Harness today to see how our modern tax practice management software, in-house concierge team, curated client introductions, and professional community can support your tax practice.
Tax related services provided through Harness Tax LLC. Harness Tax LLC is affiliated with Harness Wealth Advisers LLC, collectively referred to as "Harness" or “Harness Wealth”. Harness Wealth Advisers LLC is a paid promoter, internet registered investment adviser. This article should not be considered tax or legal advice and is provided for informational purposes only. Please consult a tax and/or legal professional for advice specific to your individual circumstances.