The primary task required to setup TaxPoint is to create Offices for each location where you prepare tax returns. Each of these locations typically will have a unique EFIN which is distributed by the IRS. Once you have all of your EFINs you will need to create a TaxPoint Office for each EFIN. Offices describe the location for which a tax return is prepared. The information needed to create an office is described in the table below.
| Setting | Description |
| EFIN | The unique ID assigned by the IRS |
| Display Name | A friendly name used on taxpoint.com to distinguish the TaxPoint Office. |
| Company Name | The company name for the TaxPoint Office |
| Address, City, State | The address, city, and state of the physical tax preparation office location. This information is used on refundpoint.com to help guide customers to the location of the tax preparation office. |
| Client Phone Number | The client phone number is a number which clients can use to get additional information regarding their tax return. This number is given out with an IRS Reject notification. |
| Time Zone | The time zone is used to determine how to display date and time information on taxpoint.com when referencing the TaxPoint Office. This information is also used when outbound phone calls are made notifying customers of tax return status information so as to not call during off-hours (all outbound phone calls occur between 9am, and 9pm of the time zone for which the office is configured). |
| Hours of Operation | The hours of operation information is displayed on refundpoint.com when users visit the site and check the status of their tax returns. |
| Check Ready Status Settings | Please see Check Ready Status Settings for more information. |
| IRS Reject Status Settings | Please see IRS Reject Status Settings for more information. |
Once each TaxPoint Office has been setup the EFIN(s) will be transmitted to Drake Software where they will be enabled and tax return information will be shared with TaxPoint.
It is important that all Offices be setup as soon as possible. There is a 3 day delay between when the office is setup and when tax return information is available for the office. Waiting to setup TaxPoint Office locations until after tax season has started may result in tax return status information not being immediately available.
Tax return information associated with the EFIN(s) for your TaxPoint Offices is synchronized between Drake Software and TaxPoint over a 128bit SSL encrypted connection. As new tax return data arrives a status for each return is calculated. The information collected includes data which is needed to ascertain the status of the return and any additional optional information which the customer may have provided should they have elected to be contacted by phone, email, and/or SMS text messaging.
Drake has added a “CALL” screen to the tax return options menu which can be found under the “Miscellaneous” tab or you may type CALL to quickly access the screen.
Customers whom do not wish to have their information shared with TaxPoint can opt out of having this information sent to TaxPoint by not signing the "Content to Disclosure" form. It is important to understand that all customers whom wish to be notified about the
status of their tax returns or whom may want to use one of the inbound client notification options available from TaxPoint must approve the "Concent to Disclosure".
Customers whom do not opt to have their tax return information shared with TaxPoint will not have their information sent to or available to TaxPoint. As a result any attempts to retrieve tax return status information by any means will result in no status information being available.
The CALL screen mentioned previously can be used to select which method(s) which the customer chooses to be contacted. The options include Voice (a phone call to their phone), Text (SMS Text messaging to a cell phone), and/or email. Optionally they may choose to have the message sent in either English or Spanish. If the customer chooses to receive a SMS Text message the Cell Phone textbox must include the phone number to receive the text message. The customer should be aware standard text rates may apply. If the customer chooses to receive an email the Email textbox on the CALL screen must be populated with the customer’s email address. Finally, if the customer chooses to be notified by phone (Voice) they may provide a cell phone number to be used or TaxPoint will attempt to use Phone1 from the main screen to contact the customer when their tax return check is available. Also note it is possible to choose more than one option on this screen and doing so may result in the customer being contacted multiple times.
Regardless of the notification option selected each option will honor any Check Ready Status Settings and IRS Reject Status Settings which may be set on the tax return’s associated TaxPoint Office.
If you have enrolled in the Gold or Platinum services, at the end of each month during tax season (January, February, March, and April) your primary credit card on file will be charged according to the pricing structure outlined on the Pricing page. You may change your primary credit card at any time by navigating to Credit Cards and adding a new credit card and then making it the primary card. Once a charge has been made to your credit card you may review the charges and print invoices from the Billing section of taxpoint.com.
If enrolled in the Silver service plan there is no need to add a credit card as there is no charge for this service.
There is no special setup for Drake Software which must be performed however if you wish to integrate the CALL screen into your tax preparer’s standard workflow you may want to follow the Drake Software Setup instructions. By following these setup instructions you can ensure the message page will trap the return if you open the CALL screen and don’t select a “Consent to Disclosure” field or you may choose to ensure each prepare has to navigate to the CALL screen on every return to complete the Tax Return.