Client login

[michelleg]

All of my clients - including existing clients that have used link with me in years past with no issue - have been unable to move past the initial "Hello there!  You've found intuit link!" page where it tells them that they either need an invitation or to sign in under another username.  I even had one client call a 844 help number to no avail.  Everyone is using Chrome.  I have tried uninviting and re-inviting.  I have tried sending them document requests.  What is the solution before I pull my hair out this tax season??  Thanks!!!

[itonewbie]

Which tax product do you use?

Were the invites/requests sent from within your tax product or from Link?

[michelleg]

Hi!  I'm using ITO and the invitation is sent directly from link.  I've done it this way for the past 3 years without issue.

[itonewbie]

ITO is no more.  It was rebranded PTO, I think two years back.

Anyway, two possibilities come to mind.  You may want to verify your records and/or inquire with your clients just to rule these out.

1. Your client used a bookmark to the old (pre-TY2017) Link portal to access their account.  The portal for TY2017 and later is prolink.intuit.com; or
2. Your client used a previous email address to open their Intuit account but you have since updated that to a new one using Edit Client within the PTO dashboard.  The invite and requests will be sent to the new email address but all your requests will still be populated only under the account with the old email address - this was reported to Intuit earlier this week but I have yet to receive an update from them.

[michelleg]

I have clients that are following directions from an email either reminding them to collaborate or new invitations to use link so I think that rules out both of those possible issues.  Any other ideas?  

[itonewbie]

Other than these two, I can't think of any.  Perhaps you can call Support and have them look into these for you.

It'd be great if you could update us also on what you find out.

Good luck!

[OldCPA]

I am having the same issue.  I gave up trying to use Intuit Link last year with Lacerte but thought I would try again for 2020 tax filings.  I tried sending the Link Organizer out of the 2019 program.

I sent to my husband's email when I clicked on the Sign In from the email it opens in Microsoft Edge where there are no bookmarks or any cache history for the website as he doesn't use it,  The link in the email the takes me to as screen that says this.  I tried  re-inviting and it still gives me this.  I tried signing out and signing in with the email address I sent the invite to and still no luck.

I'd really like to use this but if I can't figure it out I can't explain it to my clients, some of which are older but are willing to try using this.  Any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong?

[itonewbie]

@OldCPA  What you described is one of the biggest obstacles that trip people up.  When your client changes email address, you cannot simply update the email address within Lacerte or Link.

Although (1) you will be prompted when you send the invitation whether to use the updated email address, (2) the invitation will, indeed, be sent to that new email address, and (3) your client will even receive the invitation at the new email address, your client will end up seeing the blank screen upon login (like the one in your screenshot).

One simple explanation is that your update of the client's email address will not and cannot change the account your client has with Intuit, which is owned and can only be updated by your client.  Your invitation (with a token) to your client will simply connect your account with your clients once it is accepted by your client via Intuit Link as a common portal between the two of you.

Here's the process you and your client should follow, importantly, in sequence to ensure Intuit Link works properly when your client changes email address and that access to current as well as prior year data will not be affect by the change:

1. Your client needs to first change the email address associated with the Intuit account:
   1. Log into https://accounts.intuit.com/ using the existing email address;
   2. Click on Sign in & Security on the left panel or Manage sign in & security on the dashboard;
   3. Click on Email address, enter the new email address in the box for Email address, re-enter the new email address under Confirm email address, and enter the existing password under Password, and hit Save;
   4. Your client will receive an email at the new email address to validate the change.  Click on the button in that email to validate the email address;
   5. Although changing the User ID is optional, I would suggest that your client update that by clicking on User ID to make that change to be consistent with the new email address, unless your client uses something else for User ID;
2. You update your client's email address and send the invitation:
   1. Update your client's email address in Lacerte;
   2. Complete the process to send a Link Organizer as usual; and
   3. If you are prompted with a list of the old, new, and other email address when sending the invitation, select the new email address.
3. Your client receives the invitation at the new email address and logs into Intuit Link:
   1. Click on the button within the invitation to open Intuit Link (this is important as there is an embedded token in that hyperlink);
   2. Log into Intuit Link on the browser screen that should open automatically with the existing password (it should default to the new email address and do NOT attempt to create a new account with the new email address);
   3. Your client should now be able to see both current and prior year requests by selecting the tax year from the dropdown.

As you can see, this is a very complicated process.  That's why both accountants and clients run into problems whenever there is an email address change.  Experience has shown that Intuit Support is of no help at all because their folks are not familiar with how Intuit Link works themselves.

[RoamingCPA]

Thanks for the response itonewbie.

By your description of what needs to be done I believe I will pass on trying to make this work.  It is was to complicated and clients will not be willing to go through this process.  

I've worked with other tax software that have client portals that web organizers are uploaded to and they are not complicated at all.  Intuit needs to work on a way to make this more user friendly, on both ends.

Thanks again.

[itonewbie]

NP, @RoamingCPA.  That's not ideal from a customer service point of view.  It is that complicated because of how Intuit builds out the Intuit ecosystem, making sure the ownership of your clients' accounts (not necessarily the clients) is with them and not you.

That also explains why you have so little control over how Intuit Link works as oppose to client portals you may subscribe to - Intuit Link being just a common platform that facilitates communication between two parties, each with their own Intuit account.

[jfshortfinancial]

Thank You!  You are correct that was not something customer service knew about.