TaxAct® customers can easily transfer their company accounting records into their corporation or partnership tax return by importing a trial balance report generated from their accounting software. This feature is currently only available in TaxAct 1065, 1120, and 1120S.

In order to do the import, you will need to:

1. Generate a trial balance report (or similar report) for the full tax year in your accounting software
2. Select the option to export this report to a .CSV file
3. Save this file to your computer (e.g. Documents\TaxAct 2018).

You are now ready to import your company accounting records into TaxAct. TaxAct will transfer the company records and help streamline the process by auto-mapping identifiable accounts.

The trial balance report must contain three columns: (1) account description, (2) debit and (3) credit. See the sample trial balance report below.

To import a Trial Balance .CSV file into your TaxAct return, follow the steps below:

1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Basic Info. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Basic Info
2. Click Import 
3. If you were a TaxAct customer last year, you can save time by importing last year's return. To skip this step, click Continue Without Importing. 
4. On the screen titled Accounting Records Import, click Import CSV File Now to start your accounting records import. Be sure all accounts have been adjusted for tax purposes prior to importing.
5. Browse to locate the trail balance CSV file (previously exported from your accounting software), then click Continue. 
6. Next, you will need to review and verify the Tax Line auto-mapped for each account listed. For those accounts not auto-mapped, you will need to select the appropriate tax classification from the drop-down menu.
   • Certain accounts, such as items relating to depreciation or amortization, will need to be entered separately in TaxAct.
   • It is suggested you print a summary to help you reconcile this federal return before clicking Import. Select the print icon in the upper right-hand corner to print this summary.
   • Important: All accounts must be assigned before clicking Import. 
7. Click Import to transfer the information into your return.

Verifying Account and Tax Line

It is the responsibility of the taxpayer (or preparer) to ensure the accounting records in their .CSV file match the appropriate Tax Line in the TaxAct program. If these do not accurately match, the program may not calculate your tax return correctly.