Recipients & signing modes

A signing package needs at least one signer. Most engagement letters have 2–3 (taxpayer plus spouse, maybe an owner). Forms like 8879 have a taxpayer, spouse, and ERO.

The recipient roles

The countersigner is typically the firm itself (you, the partner, or the owner). Viewers are often a co-decision-maker — a spouse who’s a viewer rather than a signer. CC is for accountants or attorneys who should see the final document but aren’t party to it.

How to add recipients

In the package detail (or the letter editor’s toolbar), the Recipients section lists current recipients. Each row:

• Color dot
• Full name and email
• Role dropdown — Signer, Countersigner, Viewer, or CC
• Remove (X)

The bottom of the list has the Add recipient form:

Click Add. The recipient appears in the list, gets the next color in rotation, and stays in Pending status until send.

Auto-add from contacts

When you create a new package against a client, Assure Pro auto-adds up to 6 contacts as signers — but only contacts marked Taxpayer, Spouse, or Owner who have an email on file.

If you want to add a fourth contact later (a child for trust returns, say), use Add recipient.

The auto-add cap (6) prevents accidental spam when a client has dozens of contacts.

How to remove recipients

Click the X on a recipient row. Removal:

• Strips any fields assigned to them (the field placer marks them orphan).
• Asks you to assign their fields to another recipient before send.

You can’t remove a recipient after the package is sent. Cancel the package and send a new one instead.

Recipient statuses

Status displays as a colored badge in the recipient list.

Parallel vs sequential

The Signing mode toggle in the toolbar (engagement letter editor) or in the Settings panel (package detail) picks one of:

When to use sequential

• Form 8879: taxpayer signs first; spouse second. The ERO signs last (via countersign).
• Hierarchical authority: a partner signs after the associate prepares; the firm signs after the client.
• Workflow requirement: any compliance reason to enforce order.

When to stay parallel

• Most engagement letters: taxpayer and spouse can sign in any order. Don’t bottleneck.
• Single signer: no order needed.
• External CCs or viewers: they’re not in the signing path anyway.

Signing order

When mode is sequential, the order is set by the order of recipients in the list. Use drag-handles (grip dots) to reorder. The first recipient is signing order 1, next is 2, and so on.

In parallel mode, signing order is recorded but doesn’t gate access.

Notification each recipient gets

When the package sends:

• Subject: Action required: Please sign (package name)
• Body:
  • “[Firm name] is requesting your signature on [package name].”
  • A “Sign now” CTA — portal sign-in, then signing wizard.
• From: your firm’s branding (logo, color, sender name) — set in Settings → Branding.

In sequential mode, only the first signer receives at send. Subsequent signers are notified when their turn comes.

What signing looks like for the client

The client opens their portal, signs in with email, password, and OTP, and sees the package at the top of their dashboard with a Sign CTA.

The portal signing flow:

1. E-Sign Disclosure — they read and click I consent to e-sign. Recorded in the audit trail.
2. Document preview — the letter or PDF, scrollable.
3. For each field — a sticky guide (“Sign here”) moves through the document.
   • Signature or Initials — type your name or draw with mouse or touch.
   • Date — auto-filled (read-only).
   • Text — they type.
   • Checkbox — they check.
4. Review — full document with their inputs filled in.
5. Submit — captures all signatures. Their status flips to Signed.

If they click Decline at any step, the package’s status flips to Declined (and a reason is captured).

See the Client Portal docs for the portal experience in detail.

Status transitions

Draft  →  Sent  →  Viewed  →  Partially signed  →  Completed
                       ↓               ↓
                   Declined          Declined
                       ↓               ↓
                   Expired           Expired

A package can be Cancelled from any non-terminal status.

Common patterns

”Add a new signer after sending”

You can’t. Cancel and send a fresh package with the new signer included.

”One signer declined — the others want to proceed”

A decline closes the whole package. You’ll need a new package without the declining signer.

”Spouse doesn’t have an email”

Use a CC role with a different email (e.g. the taxpayer’s email), or add the spouse with the same email as the taxpayer. Note: same-email-twice means both prompts land in one inbox — confusing but functional.

The cleaner fix: get the spouse a real email and add them as a contact and portal user (see Client portal access).

”Need to add CC to a sent package”

You can’t. Cancel and re-send.

”Sequential, but recipients keep getting confused”

Add explicit text to the letter content: “Please sign in the order presented.” Or switch to parallel and accept the loss of explicit ordering. Sequential creates support questions (“why can’t I sign yet?”), so reserve it for cases where ordering really matters.

Permissions

Next

• PDFs & field placement — assigning fields to recipients.
• Engagement letters — recipient color coding in the editor.
• Sending, reminding, cancelling — what happens at Send.
• Countersigning & certificate — the countersign role and the audit PDF.