The Tax Assessment AutoFile processes automatically file batches of tax assessments (received electronically via Xero Tax). This is a trigger to let your team know when a notice of assessment comes in. You can use the process to send out the assessment, or as a trigger for your team to download and attach the actual assessment.
The Tax Assessments AutoFile process is only triggered when the return is a refund or nil, or if it has a date payable populated. The Xero Tax app settings can be toggled to ignore the payable date if preferred; if this is toggled Off payable notices without a payable date will not trigger the Xero Tax Return process.
Note: The notice of assessments does not generate the BPay details. The FYI Notice of Assessment is a replication of data and not the actual NOA from the ATO.
This article contains the following sections:
- Using the Tax Assessments AutoFile Processes
- Editing the Tax Assessment AutoFile (Agreed)
- Step 1 - Create Word Document
- For Agreed and Not Postal: Step 2 - Create Email
- Information that is not Included in Tax Assessments
- Download Files
Using the Tax Assessments AutoFile Processes
The Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed) processes check that the tax assessment agrees with the original assessment.
There is also another process, Tax Assessment AutoFile (Variance) which runs different steps when the tax assessment does NOT agree with the original assessment (refer to Tax Assessment AutoFile (Variance) (Australia Only)).
Notes:
There is an acceptable variance of 50 cents. If the assessed amount is within 50 cents plus or minus the estimated amount, it is accepted as agreed.
FYI runs the Notice of Assessment process overnight, usually between 1am - 4am AEST. If the document is created when your Tax Assessments AutoFile process runs, this may be a timing issue and the data has not been processed by FYI.
FYI do not receive the details regarding amended returns. If needed, you can set up another Custom Process Automation that can be run manually to cover this scenario.
There are two processes for Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed). These check the client details and Filing Defaults for the clients to determine how the tax assessments should be sent out. Refer to Send Attachments in Setting Filing Defaults for a Client.
- Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed & Not Postal)
Assessment agrees with the Estimate
AND
The clients' preferred way to communicate is "Email" or "Collaborate"
AND
An Email address is held for those clients - Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed & Postal)
Assessment agrees with the Estimate
AND
The clients' preferred way to communicate is "Postal Service"
OR
An Email address is NOT held for the clients
For the Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed) the following actions are taken:
- FYI will call out Xero Tax on a scheduled daily basis to retrieve all newly issued assessments since the process was last run.
- The tax assessments are compared with the original assessment from Xero Tax to check they agree.
- For tax assessments that agree with the original assessment, the tax assessment is filed as a document with the relevant Cabinet and Categories.
- For Agreed and Not Postal
A Word document is created for the tax assessment.
An email is created with the tax assessment as an attachment.
The document and email are pre-filed and include the relevant template wording, the year, etc.
For Agreed and Postal
A Word document is created for the respective client. The document is pre-filed and includes the relevant template wording, the year, etc.
A task is created which is assigned to the relative client's manager asking them to check the letter and prepare it for posting.
For a summary of the requirements for when the FYI Tax Automation Process is triggered from Xero Tax, refer to the FAQ When are the FYI Tax Automation Processes triggered from Xero Tax?
Editing the Tax Assessment AutoFile (Agreed)
- From FYI, click the Automation menu option.
- Go to the Processes tab.
- In Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed & Not Postal) and Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed & Postal) click the cog icon to edit this process.
The following is an example of the Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed & Not Postal) process.
The following is an example of the Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed & Postal) process.
The Trigger for the Tax Assessments AutoFile is "Scheduled Daily".
The Filter for this process is "Notice of Assessment agrees with estimate".
For Agrees & Not Postal the Filter is additionally set as "Client Contact method is Email".
For Agrees & Not Postal the Filter is additionally set as "Client Contact method is not Email".
To make the process active, change the Status to "Active".
The Owner is set by default as the user who made the process active and this can be changed if required. If the process fails, an email will be sent to this user as a notification. You can set this as "Me" to set yourself as the owner.
Start From Leave as the default date as the process will not retrospectively look back into the past for any Notice Of Assessments received from Xero Tax. The process will only run for any new NOAs received after activating the process and the Xero Tax connection is active. Refer to Xero Tax Return AutoFile (Australia Only)
Last Run shows the date the process was last run. It includes a green tick or a red x icon to indicate if the process ran as a success or with an error. Refer to Automation History.
Note: If you need to reset the process, for example if the step was deleted, click Reset. This will restore the process back to the default configurations.
Step 1 - Create Word Document
The first step in both Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed) processes is to import from the Application Xero Tax and Action set to check the tax assessment agrees with the original assessment, and to file the assessment.
The options for Filing are set up with Merge Fields to include the tax year in the filing Year category. The Workflow is set with the Owner as the respective client's Manager and the Status as "Completed".
The Word document is created using the selected Template as relevant for whether this is Not Postal or Postal. Depending on the requirements of your practice, the Templates can include merge fields.
A sample of the Word template for the Income Tax Return Checklist can be downloaded from this link (click here) or from the bottom of this article.
For the Agreed & Postal process, a Task is created so that the document that has been generated is sent to the client by post.
For Agreed and Not Postal: Step 2 - Create Email
The second step for the Tax Assessments AutoFile (Agreed & Not Postal) creates an email.
Action
The Action creates the email.
Recipients - The Recipients is initially set as the "Client Primary Email' as the To recipient. This will use the email address held for the Client selected for the Process and this can be changed, if relevant. Additional Recipients can be added as the To, CC or BCC recipient(s). Refer to Create Email in Process Step Details - Creating Documents and Tasks.
Template - The email is created using the selected Template which, depending on the requirements of your practice, can include merge fields to create the email text.
Attachments - The document from Step 1 is attached and sent as a PDF to the client
Sender - The Sender is set as the name of the relative Partner for the client.
Send attachment(s) - The document is set to be sent as an attachment to the email. This can be set as send via Collaborate if relevant for all clients.
Attachments as PDFs - This is set as default to "Yes".
For Send or Save, select whether to save as "Draft in FYI", "Draft in Outlook" or Send Immediately". Refer to Creating an Email in FYI. Note that emails saved as "Draft in Outlook" are marked as "Sent" in FYI immediately, and should be managed from Outlook directly from that point onwards. The Workflow Status will be set to "Completed".
Filing
The Filing section determines how the email is filed.
Name - the Name is set as Notice of Assessment.
AutoFile - AutoFile is disabled so the document will be filed using the settings in the process step.
Cabinet and Categories - are set as relevant for the type of document being processed.
For Year, this includes the merge field "TaxYear" so the email will be automatically filed in the relevant tax year for the Year category.
Filing - defaults to "Filed" so the email will be automatically filed.
Information that is not Included in Tax Assessments
There is certain information that is not sent either by Xero Tax or by the ATO and the following is not included in tax assessments:
- Tax Assessment reference number
- Tax Assessment payment details
If your practice needs to include these in what is sent to the client, you can change the Automation Process to allow your practice to leverage the power of the FYI process so you are automatically informed when an assessment is issued, but then allow you to attach the actual assessment. We recommend the following as best practice.
- Use all the settings in the Tax Assessment automations.
This will stream them into the agreed method for sending the assessments (email or postal) and also checks if there is a variance. - For Not Postal, change the setting in the Create Email step so that the assessment is not attached.
- Change the Task that is created so the manager can download the actual assessment, check it and then send it to the client.
- For Not Postal, change the subject of the Task in the Create Email step, for example, to "Attach actual assessment, check and send".
- For Postal, change the subject of the task in the Create Word step, for example. to "Download actual assessment, check and send via post".
Download Files