Add groups, contacts and user roles to entities

Modified on Mon, 3 Feb at 2:10 PM

Overview

TaxLab contains a specific feature for bulk entity management, which streamlines the process of managing entity information and user roles within entities. It allows Administrators to bulk add groups and contacts to entities and assign user roles to entities. This is the most efficient way to make these updates when working with multiple entities and users.

To access the Entity Management feature, navigate to the TaxLab homepage, click Administration > under Management > click Entity Management.

Definitions

Groups

A Group in Entity Management is a way to attach related entities, such as family groups or related parties. Adding entities to a group here will help to streamline payment tasks, such as sending provisional tax notices.

Entity Contacts

The contact for an entity is the person who will receive payment notices for provisional tax. If you wish to utilise this feature, ensure that you set up email sending for your TaxLab organisation.

Entity user roles

Assigning a user the role of Partner, Manager or Consultant automatically grants them full access to the entity. These roles allow users to oversee Payment, Return, and Correspondence tasks without needing the tasks to be specifically assigned to them.

Entity user role	Permissions	Recommended for
Partner	Full access to an entity. All payment tasks, return tasks and correspondence tasks are visible. Top hierarchy for task assignment.	Partners or Senior staff
Manager	Full access to an entity. All payment tasks, return tasks and correspondence tasks are visible. Second in hierarchy for task assignment.	Client managers. Relationship managers. Workflow managers.
Consultant	Full access to an entity. All payment tasks, return tasks and correspondence tasks are visible. Bottom of hierarchy, tasks are not automatically reassigned to this permission level.	Client relationship consultant. Staff responsible for tax payment tasks.
User (Unassigned)	Access entity. Cannot be bulk assigned.	Tax return preparers. Tax return reviewers. Tax administrators. Administrative staff.

Bulk update entities

This feature is only available to Administrator users.

The export and import feature in the Entity Management screen allows for the bulk updating of groups, contacts, and user roles for multiple entities. Export the excel file, make the required changes, then reimport it for the details to be updated in TaxLab. This function cannot be used for adding new entities.

Export entity details to Excel

Navigate to Administration > under Management > click Entity Management.
Filter the list as required by selecting any of the filter icons by the table headers, or export the full list of entities.
Select Excel Export, and the file will be automatically downloaded as an .xlsx file.

Update details

After opening the downloaded file, you can add or edit the required information..

In the Group column, enter the group names. You can create new groups simply by writing new names, or copy/paste existing group names to add entities to existing groups
Enter client contact information:
- Under Contact add their name.
- Under Email add the contact email address.
In the Partner, Manager and Consultant columns, add the email addresses of the users who need access to the entity.

Once you’ve entered the necessary information ensure you save the file in the same format you downloaded it (xlsx).

Import entity details from Excel

Go to Administration > under Management > click Entity Management.
Click on the "Browse…" button, then locate and select the updated Excel file, and click "Open."

Refresh your browser to view the updated information.

Troubleshooting and notes on Excel export and import

Do not modify the heading names or order in row 1.
Adding new entities or tax numbers is not supported.
Only users already in your TaxLab organisation can be assigned as Partner, Manager, or Consultant (so they must have already created their account, or you have added them using the “add user ” functionality)
An entity must have a tax number to be able to be updated using the upload function.
When entering contacts and email addresses, only enter a single record for each of these (you cannot add multiple email addresses for an entity)

Manually update entities

If you don’t want to use Entity Manager to update entities, you can manually perform the following tasks at an entity level:

Add a group:

Navigate to Administration > under Management > click Entity Management.
Select the appropriate entities using the checkbox.
Choose "Payment Group" from the dropdown menu.
Click "Assign group."

Provide a user with Partner, Manager or Consultant access to an entity

See our article Overview of users for more information.

Add or change contacts on entities:

Navigate to Administration > under Management > click Entity Management.
Select the appropriate entities using the checkbox.
Search for and select your contact
Click “Assign contact”

If the contact you wish to add isn’t already in your database, you will need to export the record to excel, add the contact, then reimport.

What’s next?

After adding groups, contacts and assigning user roles to entities there are some optional connections and features you can set up for your TaxLab organisation, including:

Tax Management New Zealand Connection (NZ only)
Tax Traders Connection (NZ only)
Set up emailing (for sending tax notices to your clients directly from TaxLab)
Set up branding on your tax returns

You can continue adding or editing details for your entities at the entity level by adding or editing an entity's details; and learn how to archive, restore or delete an entity

Now that all your entities have been added, and permissions assigned, you can start work on tax returns. Learn how to open a tax return by adding a subscription for your entity.