Your engagements
An engagement is a specific piece of work — for example, your 2024 personal return, or your business’s quarterly bookkeeping. Each engagement has its own page so you can see exactly where it is in the process.
You can open this view by selecting Your engagements from the home page or your portal navigation.
What you’ll see
The page shows two groups:
- Active engagements at the top — work that’s currently in progress
- Completed engagements at the bottom — work your accountant has finished
If overdue work needs your action, it appears at the very top of the active list and is highlighted in red.
[Screenshot: Engagements list with active and completed sections]
Each engagement card
Every card shows the essentials at a glance:
| Element | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Name | The engagement title, like “2024 Form 1040” |
| Return type | The form being prepared, like 1040 or 1120S |
| Tax year | Which year the engagement covers |
| Status badge | Active, On hold, Completed, or Cancelled |
| Progress bar | Filled segments show stages completed |
| Due date | When the work needs to be finished |
| Documents progress | A count like “5 / 8 docs” with green dots for each received |
| Extension badge | Appears if an extension has been filed |
[Screenshot: Engagement card with progress bar and document dots]
The stage stepper
When you click a card, it expands to show the full stage stepper:
- Gathering — collecting documents and information
- Preparation — your accountant is preparing the return
- Review — internal quality review
- Signing — waiting on your signature
- Filing — the return is being submitted
A check mark appears on each stage that’s been finished. The current stage is highlighted. On mobile, the stages collapse to a compact bar with a “Step 3 of 5” label.
Recent activity for one engagement
The expanded view also shows a short timeline of what’s recently happened on this specific engagement — a document uploaded, a task completed, a stage advanced, a note added.
[Screenshot: Expanded engagement showing the activity timeline]
It’s separate from the overall portal activity list, so you only see what’s relevant to this engagement.
Quick actions
Inside the expanded view, two shortcuts let you jump where you need:
- View documents — opens the documents area filtered to this engagement
- Send a message — opens your messages so you can ask a question
Overdue engagements
If a due date has passed and the engagement is still active, you’ll see a clear banner at the top of the card:
Overdue — action may be needed 4 days past due
This usually means your accountant is waiting on something from you — most often a missing document or a signature. Open the engagement, check the document progress, and follow up on anything that’s still pending.
Completed and cancelled engagements
Once an engagement is done or cancelled, it moves to the bottom of the list and is shown in muted colors. You can still open it to see its history, download files, or reference it later.
When you’ll see “No engagements yet”
If you’ve just been invited to the portal and your accountant hasn’t created any engagements yet, the page shows an empty placeholder with the five default stages.
This is normal — your engagement will appear once your accountant kicks it off.
Tips
- Open the card to see all the detail. The collapsed view is fast to scan, but the expanded view is where the activity timeline and quick actions live.
- Check the document count. “5 / 8 docs” tells you immediately whether your accountant is still waiting on you for anything.
- Watch for the extension badge. If you’ve filed an extension, the badge stays visible until the return is filed.
What’s next
- Documents — uploading the files your engagement needs
- Signatures — when an engagement reaches the signing stage
- Messages — asking your accountant a question about the engagement