Tax Letter Customization

There are customization options at both the individual letter level and the firm-level.

Individual Letter Customizations:

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• Default Activity Types, Documents, and Cost Basis Information

  • The 15 activities below, as well as any custom sections created by a firm admin, are available for all Holistiplan members to add to their clients' tax letters. Click on any activity (e.g., QCDs, 60-day rollovers, contributions to DAFs, etc.) to add that activity to the client's Tax Letter. 

There are also default options to add tax documents (e.g., 1099-Rs) and cost basis information to their respective sections as well.

 

• Additional Notes

  • Add a one-off unique section to a specific client's Tax Letter, like for the sale of a primary residence that qualifies for an exclusion of the gains on the sale of the home, by clicking on the "Additional Notes" option to add a note.

Firm-wide Customizations (Firm Admins Only):

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• Custom Tax Letter Sections 

  • Firm Admins can create custom sections to add items to the firm's Tax Letters beyond Holistiplan's default choices. Rather than adding Miscellaneous Freeform text (which only adds to the specific letter you're editing at the time), custom sections are available for all Tax Letters across a firm.

To create a custom section, navigate to any client's tax letter and click Edit Section Types:

On the subsequent screen, click the "Create" button:

 

• Title will determine how the section shows up in the "bullpen" of the possible section choices

• Tax Letter Title is how the section will read in the actual Tax Letter
• Activity Description Help Text refers to help or guidance text within the Tax Letter construction screen to explain why this section exists. This text will not show up on the actual Tax Letter
• Year Applicable Start/End allows for limiting the section to relevant tax years, expiring after the End date. Leave blank to apply the section to all years.
• Tax Letter Description is the text that accompanies the section in the Tax Letter. Note that there are options to have different text for clients and tax professionals.
• The last line offers a reminder to the advisor on where to locate the subject of this custom section on a tax return and, by extension, on the Tax Report associated with that return. The text entered here will show up on the Tax Report for the corresponding year if the client has this custom section in their Tax Letter.

• Pinned Sections

  • Admins can also pin a number of sections to keep them at the top of the list shown on the Tax Letter screen by clicking on the Actions button next to the section to be pinned.

When on the Tax Letter screen, users will have the ability to add those pinned sections one at a time or in bulk using the Add All Pinned Sections button, creating an opportunity for a singular Tax Letter "Template" for the firm!

 

• Headers and Disclaimer
  

  • Firm Admins can set a header and/or disclaimer at the firm level. Navigate to Settings > Features and Tools > Tax, then scroll to the Tax Letter Customization section to update headers for both the client and CPA/EA Tax Letters. To save those changes, click Update Tax Letter Header.