Assignments
A client (or an individual engagement on a client) can be assigned to up to four firm users:
| Role | What they do | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Preparer | Does the actual return prep work. Reviews extracted documents, exports to tax software, prepares the return. | Optional but recommended. |
| Reviewer | Approves prepared returns before sign-off. Larger firms separate prep from review; small firms often skip this. | Optional. |
| Signer | E-signs returns on behalf of the firm. | Optional. |
| Assigned to | The general catch-all assignee — the person responsible for the client overall. Often the same as the preparer in small firms. | Optional. |
You can assign different people to each role, or one person to all four. The same person can carry several roles on the same client.
Why assignments matter
Two reasons:
- Who sees what. Non-admin users only see clients they’re assigned to (unless they’re on a team with the Access all clients permission). Assignments are how a firm controls “this client is mine to work on” vs “I shouldn’t see this”.
- Workflow surface. The pipeline filters by assignee. Tasks generated from engagements default to the preparer. AI-drafted reminder emails route to the preparer’s inbox.
See Inviting your team for how assignments interact with team permissions.
How to assign from the client detail page
Open the client detail page and find the Assignments section in the Info tab.
[Screenshot: Assignments section]
For each role:
- Click the role’s dropdown.
- Pick a firm user. Only users with the relevant permissions appear — only signers show up in the Signer dropdown, for example.
- The change saves immediately.
To unassign, click the × on the dropdown.
How to assign in bulk
Use this when onboarding a new preparer to hand off a chunk of clients.
- From the Clients page, check the boxes for the clients you want to assign.
- The bulk action bar appears at the bottom.
- Click Assign.
- Pick the role (Preparer, Reviewer, Signer, or Assigned to).
- Pick the user.
- Click Apply.
Assure Pro assigns the selected role on every selected client. Existing assignments for that role on those clients are overwritten — not added to.
Bulk assign overwrites existing assignments for the chosen role. To keep existing assignments and only fill in the empty ones, use Smart assign in the bulk action bar — pick Only assign clients with no current preparer.
How to set default assignments
You can set firm-wide defaults under Settings → Onboarding defaults — for example, “every new individual client defaults to preparer Jane and reviewer Marcus”. New clients are created with those assignments already filled in, and you can override per-client.
Tips
- A user must have a permission to see clients and an assignment to a specific client (or be on a team with Access all clients). Without both, the client list looks empty.
- Per-engagement assignments override the client-level defaults. So a client can have preparer Jane overall but preparer Marcus on the 2025 1120S.
Permissions
| Action | Required permission |
|---|---|
| Change assignments on clients you can see | Edit clients |
| Reassign across every client in the firm | Access all clients |
By default:
- Owners and admins can change assignments on any client.
- Members of the Preparers, Reviewers, or Signers teams can change assignments on clients they’re already assigned to.
Next
- Bulk actions — bulk assign in practice.
- Inviting your team — team permissions and how they interact.
- Engagements — per-engagement assignments override the client defaults.