Practice Forms
What this is
Forms lets your practice ask clients for information in a short online form instead of an email thread. You build the form once, send it to as many clients as you like, and each client gets their own secure link. They do not need an aligned.tax account.
A form can ask for anything you need, such as yes or no answers, dates, amounts and files. It can also ask for income and expense lines. For a client who keeps their records in aligned.tax Transactions, those lines become draft transactions for you to review.
Forms is for practice accounts. It appears in the sidebar when it has been switched on for your practice.
Who can do what
| Task | Who can do it |
|---|---|
| See the Forms list, a form’s questions and who it was sent to | Anyone in the practice |
| Read a client’s answers | Reviewer or above for that client (a form contact’s answers: anyone in the practice) |
| Create and edit forms, add or send to people who are not clients, switch Repeat each quarter on or off | Practice Owner or Practice Manager |
| Send a form, chase it, review answers and send questions back | Preparer or above for that client |
If you cannot do something, the button is greyed out and the page tells you why.
Build a form
- Open Forms and select New form.
- Pick a starting point. There are three starters: Quarterly rental records for a landlord client, Quarterly business records for a sole trader client, and Information request for details and documents that do not feed an MTD update. You can also choose Start from blank.
- Give the form a name and select Create.
The editor has three tabs: Questions, Who gets it and Chasing.
On Questions, pick a question to edit it. Each question has its wording, a type and a Required switch. The types are Yes or no, Short answer, Long answer, Single choice, Date, Amount, File upload and Transaction lines. A question can be set to show only when an earlier answer is a particular value. A follow-up question must stay after the question that controls it.
Your changes save as you go. While a form has never been sent it is a Draft. The first send locks that version. Later edits make a new version and only apply to new requests, so a client who already has the form keeps the version you sent them.
Select Preview to see the form as your clients will.
Ask Aligned can draft it for you
If your practice has Ask Aligned, select Ask Aligned to change it in the editor, or ask in Ask Aligned for a new form. Aligned drafts or amends the questions and shows you the draft with what it checked. Nothing is sent: you check the form and send it from Forms.
What a form will not ask for
Every save checks the form for requests for passwords, logins, card details or photos of identity documents. A question that must not be asked blocks the send until you remove it. A question that only might be a problem shows a warning, and you confirm you need it before you send.
Income and expense lines
A Transaction lines question asks the client for one line per item: date, description and amount, plus the HMRC category for expenses, the property if you ask for it, and an optional receipt (PDF or photo).
To feed MTD, the form must say what it is for (UK property or self-employment), and the question must have Feeds MTD switched on. Every other question type is information for you only and never creates transactions.
Send it to clients
Select Send in the editor. On the send page:
- Who gets it: search your clients, filter by UK property or self-employment, and tick who should get the form. You can only choose clients you are a Preparer or above for. A Practice Owner or Practice Manager can also select Add someone who isn’t a client, such as a landlord’s partner or a bookkeeper.
- Which quarter: choose the quarter the form is for, and optionally a Need by date. Clients see that date, and the final reminder goes out on it. Leave it empty to use 5 days before each client’s HMRC deadline. A form that is not for UK property or self-employment can be sent with No period.
- Options: switch on Ask for a one-time code for sensitive requests, and choose whether Automatic reminders are on. Links work for 30 days.
- Check before sending: aligned.tax lists every client with what will happen to their answers, under Answers go to. Clients left out are listed with the reason.
Then select the Send to button, which shows how many clients will get the form.
If a client already has another live form for the same quarter, you choose to cancel the other request or skip that client. A client with an open records link, or one Ask Aligned is already collecting records from for that quarter, is left out of the send.
What the client sees
The client gets an email with their own link to the form. If you switched on the one-time code, they enter the 6-digit code that aligned.tax emails them when they open the link.
Answers save as they go, so the client can leave and come back to the same link at any time. When they are done they send it to your practice. If one of their files did not upload, or the form would not take it because it is too big or the wrong type, nothing is sent: the form tells them a file did not upload, and they can add it again or select Send again to go on without it. A link stops working when it expires or when you cancel the request.
Reminders and scheduled emails
The Chasing tab shows the reminder rules:
- Not started: 3 days after the form is sent, then every 5 days
- Started but not finished: 2 days after the client last saved
- Deadline is close: a firmer reminder on the need-by date, or 5 days before the HMRC deadline
- Limits: at most 4 reminders, weekdays 9am to 5pm UK time. Reminders stop as soon as the client submits
Choose a client to see Scheduled emails: every email that request will send, and each one already sent. From there you can send a reminder now, or a new link if theirs has expired, switch off automatic messages for that request with No automatic messages, open their answers, or cancel the request. Cancelling stops the link working, and answers they have saved are kept.
Who gets it lists everyone the form was sent to, with their status, where their answers go, and their own Automatic reminders switch.
Repeat each quarter
Switch on Repeat each quarter on the Who gets it tab to send the same form again every quarter. When the next quarter opens, aligned.tax prepares the requests but does not send them. They wait under Forms ready to send on Work and on the Forms page. Check the list, then send it, review it first, or select Not this quarter.
Review the answers
When a client sends their answers, open them from the Chasing tab or the Who gets it tab. Each answer starts as To review. For each one:
- Select Approve, or
- Select Ask for another look and write a note so the client knows what to change. You can add an internal note that only your practice sees.
When every answer is reviewed, select Finish review. The request is marked complete and chasing stops. If you marked any questions to go back, the button sends them back instead. The client gets one email listing what to look at, sees “Please take another look” on just those questions, and approved answers stay locked. Their changes appear on the same page when they send it again.
Submitted is not the same as done: a request stays open until you finish the review.
Where the answers go
What happens to the answers depends on the client, as shown under Answers go to before you sent the form.
Clients filing from Transactions
For a client whose quarter is filed from aligned.tax Transactions, income and expense lines become draft transactions for that business and quarter as soon as the client submits. They are tagged Client form in Transactions, and the answers page has a link to open them there. You review and confirm them in Transactions like any other draft, so lines on their way to Transactions count as reviewed on the answers page. If lines could not be sent, the question says so, and Send to Transactions above the answers lets you try again. If the person who sent the form can no longer add transactions for that client, the answers page says so in the same place, and sending again adds the lines under your name. When some lines went across and others did not, the question is marked Partly in Transactions, and you can either send the rest again or select Approve to keep them here as information.
If the client removes a line when they take another look, its draft stays in Transactions and is marked Removed by the client. The answers page says how many lines that applies to.
Information-only clients
For other clients the answers stay in Forms as information and documents. This includes clients on summary filing, clients filed with other software, clients who are not MTD clients, and clients with no matching UK property or self-employment business, for example a client with only foreign property. Files the client uploads stay in Forms for you to download, and you can select Download answers (XLSX) to keep a copy of the answers.
Common questions
Can I change a form after sending it? Yes. Edits make a new version that applies to new requests only. Clients who already have the form keep the version they were sent.
Does sending a form submit anything to HMRC? No. Forms collects information. Draft transactions still need your review in Transactions, and you file the quarter as usual.
What file types can a client upload? PDF, PNG, JPG, Word (DOCX) and Excel (XLSX) files, up to 20 MB each.