How do I enter a prior year return in ProConnect?

[uservwscpa]

I am new to ProConnect and need to prepare a 2018 and 2019 return for a client.  How do I access the input for these years?  All I see is 2020 input.

[puravidapto]

One way to do this is:

You click the clients in the menu on the left, and then find your clients and click it, the returns of past years for this client will show up.

Please consider to vote up for my idea, the link is in my signature. Thanks!

[itonewbie · Accepted solution]

Since you are new to ProConnect, I presume you haven't created any returns for the client.  Here're the steps you should take:

1. Add client:
   1. Click on Clients on the left panel;
   2. Click on the Add client button in the top-right corner of the Clients dashboard; and
   3. Enter all the basic particulars for your client in the pop-up.  Note that data entered here will flow to the new return you create but this is a ONE-TIME event and the data entered here will remain static (i.e. not changed by entries you make on your client's returns) until you update these details with the Edit client function;
2. Create a new tax return:
   1. On the line create for your new client on the same Clients dashboard, click on the dropdown on the far right under ACTIONS, and select Create a new tax return;
   2. On the next screen, choose the return Type, select 2018 for Tax Year, and edit the Tax return name as you see fit.  When you are working on multi-year returns, you should always create the earliest year only as you can then rollover the finalized return to the follow year;
   3. Hit the Save button in the bottom-right corner when done.
3. Prepare the 2018 return:
   1. Click on Tax Returns on the left panel to open the Tax Returns dashboard;
   2. On the top of the dashboard (right next to the left panel), you will see Tax Returns 2020.  Click on 2020 or the small triangle next to it and select 2018;
   3. On this screen, you will see ALL the 2018 returns for active clients.  You will notice that one client may have multiple line items depending on whether you have created multiple return types or scenarios for that particular client.  You can identify the return you want to work on by referring to the RETURN NAME (which you gave in step #2 and could be use to distinguish returns with different scenarios for the same client) and the associated return TYPE (again, from step #2).  On the line for the return you would like to prepare (or change or view), simply click on the return name under RETURN NAME or on the dropdown under ACTIONS, which says "View return" (i.e. do not select any other options);
   4. Prepare the return by making all the relevant input; and
   5. Preferably, go to the next step only after completing the 2018 return.
4. Create and prepare 2019 return:
   1. Back on the Tax Returns dashboard, select 2019 (see step #3b);
   2. Click on the Create tax return button in the top-right corner;
   3. From the dropdown, select the client for whom you would like a 2019 to be created;
   4. Select return Type, 2019 for Tax Year, edit Tax return name as necessary (identical to step #2b), and check the box for "Transfer return data from 2018" so that relevant data from the 2018 return will be rolled over.  Note that (i) you cannot update the rollover data automatically once the return is created, short of creating an entirely new return, and (ii) you must choose the Tax return name under the checkbox for the 2018 return to roll over from if there are multiple versions of the same return type (e.g. 1040);
   5. Click on the Save button in the bottom-right of the screen; and
   6. Follow the same step as in #3c to start the preparation of the 2019 return.

Once these returns are created, you can easily navigate to them from either the:

1. Clients dashboard by:
   1. Clicking on the client name under CLIENT NAME; followed by
   2. Clicking on the relevant return name under RETURN NAME; or
2. Tax Returns dashboard by:
   1.  Clicking on the relevant return name for that particular client under RETURN NAME.