For support, go to or call

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1 Use e-form RS (Remote Server) to access the most current tax forms. Pass-Thru Users: Access e-form RS from Speedlink or by clicking the link under Go to. Direct Login Users: If your administrator has created direct login credentials for you and e-form RS is already installed, you should launch from Start>Programs> Thomson Reuters>e-Form RS or from a desktop shortcut. Note: Direct Login requires an Account#, your Login ID and Password from your e-form RS Administrator. First-Time Install: For a first-time install only, go to Note: Direct logins are not the same as your Checkpoint User Name/Password! For support, go to or call Thomson Reuters/Tax & Accounting. All Rights Reserved.

2 e-form RS launches with its Home (Quick Start) screen displayed by default. All e-form RS menus and features can be accessed using either: The top-toolbar containing all e-form RS menus along with File, Home, Help and Logout. The navigation panel on the left with the ability to customize menu display styles From Home (Quick Start) screen, take the quick e-form RS Tutorial, send product and Form Enhancement related enquires and contact e-form RS Support Team using the Product Assistance link at the bottom-left of the screen. Use Clients menu to set up a client database. Manage client profiles, assigned preparers and associated forms. Use Forms menu to add forms to clients or the display list. You can further print and export forms to PDF or Excel. Access Form Instructions, Federal & State Publications, and useful tax links (such as Checkpoint and IRS Official Website) under Publications & Research menu. Use Options & Security menu to define your user preferences for various application and form field options. As an e-form RS Administrator, add, modify and manage user IDs, rights and application settings for the users in your account using the options under Administration menu. You will also find the options to add, modify or delete Paid Preparers for your account on My Preparers screen. 2

3 The Program Options screen lets you manage workstation-specific settings. You can also set certain options at the form level using Page-Level Options (see the table on page 11). Access Program Options screen under Options & Security menu. 1 On the screen, you can set application preferences for various Program Options, Remember Last Selections, customize Toolbars, specify form-related Font, Compute, Currency, and Date and Time options.. 2 Select your default Startup Page that will be displayed every time you log in. Options on the top toolbar: Save Settings After your make your selections on the screen, make sure you save them! Restore Default Settings Revert back to the application default settings. Help Options are mostly self-explanatory. However, if you need more information, click Help. 1 2

4 You can enter a preparer s name, address, SSN, employer ID, telephone number, etc., which will automatically flow to the appropriate fields on the forms. This data is stored by account number in the client database and is available to all account users. Click My Preparers under Administration menu in the left navigation panel. All existing paid preparers will be listed out on the screen Manage Preparer profiles stored in your database using the options available in the top-toolbar: Add New Preparer: Create a new preparer profile. Edit: Modify existing Preparer Profiles in your account. Delete: Remove a preparer profile from the account. Selecting an existing preparer from the displayed list will display the selected preparer s record form in the right column. You can then Edit the profile as required. Each client in an account can use a different paid preparer. If a default preparer is selected, the default preparer information is assigned to any new clients automatically. 4

5 To set up and manage your client database, select My Clients under Clients menu in the left navigation panel. This will display My Clients screen with a list of all existing clients in your account: Searching: Search methods are common throughout e-form RS. Select any criteria pertinent to your search and the screen will be updated instantly, based on your selections criteria. Additionally, use the golden search bar, which is actually a filter like those used in Excel, to update the list automatically as you type. Top-Toolbar Options Add New Client Edit Client Delete Client Add Forms to Client Client Form List Client Custom Forms Display Client s Form Export to Spreadsheet Column Chooser Display Notes Preprinted Forms Save List Format Restore List Defaults Description Add new clients to your account. On Add Client tab, enter the client s particulars in the New Client s Personal Information form and click Save. Modify an existing client profile in the Personal Information screen that displays. Remove client profiles you no longer need. Add new forms to a client. View lists of previously saved client forms by tax year. You can also Print multiple forms without displaying them and view Form Instructions. Select a Custom Template to add to a client, much like adding a blank form to the client which can be edited later. Note: Custom Forms are not year specific, and any changes you make to the form saved to a client do not affect any other custom forms or templates. View any form saved to a client. Export required client data for off-application use. Customize the columns of information that you want to view in the Client List. View previously added notes in the client profiles. View a list of all Preprinted form pages for the selected client. You can also Print the preprinted pages. Retain any changes previously made to the Client List display format, including the Columns chosen to be displayed. Revert back to original display format of the Client List. 5

6 Set up client profiles using the Add Client option under Clients menu or from the top-toolbar of My Clients screen. You can also Rollover a client s previous year tax form information and use it for the current tax year. Clicking Add Client option will display New Client s Personal Information form: 1. Type your client s account data in the appropriate fields either the client name information (First Name, Last Name, SSN) or the company information. This information carries over to any forms added to this client. 2. You can assign a Password to your client in the Password Setting section of the Client Information form.. Under Preparer section, select a Paid Preparer to be assigned to the Client. If a default preparer has been set up for the account, the preparer will be automatically added to all new clients. 4. Add notes for the Client under Notes. Remember to save your input by clicking Save Changes. To roll over a client s previous year tax form information and use it for the current tax year, select Rollover Text Data under Administration menu. Select the client from the displayed list and click Run Data Rollover. Note: The Rollover Text Data feature applies to text fields only. Currency fields and profile fields do not rollover. Also after the rollover from one year to the next, any form names in red text are currently not available (but will become available as the forms are released). 6

7 To see a list of all forms associated with a client, first select the client on My Clients screen. Then click Client Form List option from the top-toolbar to open the Client Forms tab: All forms added to the selected Client record will be listed out on Client Forms screen. To recover a client form that has been deleted, click Undelete Client Forms from the top-toolbar. This will open Undelete Client Forms tab where you can select the deleted forms that you want to restore to the client. Select the check boxes next to any of the forms you want to undelete and click Undelete the Client Forms from the top-toolbar. 7

8 Click My Forms to display the list of forms. In addition to tax year, the options you select at the top of the screen, such as Federal and Individual, determine which forms are displayed. Searching: To narrow down your search from this screen or from other e- Form RS screens, select any criteria pertinent to your search and the screen will be updated instantly, based on your selections criteria. Additionally, use the golden search bar, which is actually a filter like those used in Excel, to update the list automatically as you type. Click Y (Yes) under View Instructions to access instructions for completing a form. Important: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF instructions. 8

9 If you are an Administrator or a Power User, you can enable Show Existing Client Forms feature to display Existing Client Forms column on My Forms screen. (Clear the check box to remove this column.) Note: Adding the Existing Client Forms column could slow down form list retrieval. When you click a number next to a Form in the Existing Client Forms column, the Client Form Count window displays which forms a client has or which forms have been deleted for a client. 9

10 The different types of fields on a form are color-coded: Data Field Color Type of Field Blue represents a simple data-entry field. You can type any data into the blue fields. Some blue fields are used in calculations whose results are then placed into the yellow calculated fields. In addition, if you type a letter into a field that requires a number, the field will change to pink automatically. Lavender represents a field that has word-wrap capability. Calculated or carried from page to page. The three types of yellow calculated fields are Calculated (number) fields, Client data fields, and Preparer data fields. Limitations may be applied to a green field. Check the result carefully. Pink represents a number that is normally calculated automatically but has been overridden by the user. You can override any calculated field simply by typing data into it. All calculations using this field use the overridden data instead of the previous calculated value. (To revert back to the previous value, right-click in the field and select Reset from the drop-down menu.) In a gray typewriter emulation field, you can use the Typewriter option on the Forms Viewer menu bar to add these fields anywhere on the form. (Typewriter emulation fields are never used in calculations.) Orange represents a mandatory entry field on certain machine-readable forms. (Before you can print a form, all mandatory fields must have an entry.) 10

11 The Display Form toolbar at the top of a form contains several navigation buttons and functions: Toolbar Options Form Save Save As Print Export to PDF Add Forms to Client Page Level Options Calculate Typewriter Form Instructions Wizard Description Save, close, print or export a form to PDF. Saves the active form on the Display Form screen. Saves the displayed form to another client. Sends the active form to your printer. Exports the displayed form to PDF format. Displays the My Forms screen where you can add forms to the client s form list. Set specific options for the form, such as Currency Fields, Date and Time Stamp and Font Size. Saves the active form and calculates the formulas in the form. Activates the Typewriter Emulation feature so you can type outside of the normal data entry fields. View the instructions (in a separate browser window) for the active form, if available. View special instructions or completion requirements for some forms. Note: Unavailable buttons are grayed out. Also note that the toolbar options change, depending on which tab is active. Each function has its own tab. If you are using a schedule and you run out of room on a form that has two or more pages, you can add unlimited number of additional copies of pages to the form set. 1. To add a page, save the form to a client. Then click Display Client s Forms. 2. Open the form and right-click the form name in the form tree.. Select add a page copy. From the pop-up window that opens select the page you want to copy and click OK. 11

12 To create a memo for a displayed form, right- click anywhere on the screen and select Add/Edit Memo from the resulting context menu. Type your memo. After you close the Memo window, notice the red dot, which indicates that there s a memo for this form. Note: The context menu for the displayed form also provides quick access to various options for the Form in display, such as formspecific Page-Level Options, Typewriter Emulation feature, Form Instructions, Clear All Data Fields and Calculate the Form. To view publications, click the desired option under Publications & Research menu in the left navigation panel. Double-click a publication title on the screen to read it. Note: Under Publications & Research, locate Federal, State and Canadian publications along with Form Instructions and links to important tax websites such as Checkpoint or IRS Official website. 12

13 Administrators can customize the rights given to different user types. 1. Access the Set User Rights screen by clicking Set User Rights under Administration menu in the left navigation panel (circled in red below). 2. Check/uncheck the boxes under each user type to grant/revoke application rights (listed below User Rights column) and click Save. Click My Users to assign a user type to the different users in your account. Pass-thru Users of e-form RS can be designated as one of the three user types. Note: Pass-thru users have e-form RS assigned to them by their administrator. When they try to access e-form RS from Checkpoint because they are a recognized user they will bypass the e-form Login screen and go directly to the e-form Home page. 1