Question

Account Structure for Practice Setup

Accepted Answer

Account Structure

Each TaxAct Professional Edition user should create an account using first and last name, mailing address, and a unique email address. Once each account is set up, they can be linked together to form a practice. See the TaxAct Professional Online Resources Getting Started webpage.

Definitions

Practice Owner Account	TaxAct account used to purchase TaxAct Enterprise Edition. The Practice ID is assigned to this account. If you have multiple preparers in your practice, each preparer will have the same Practice ID assigned when they "join" the practice by entering the Practice ID during the Preparer Invitation Process.
Practice ID	Unique number assigned to Practice Owner account. Preparers "join" the practice by entering the Practice ID (a link in the invitation email will provide a prompt for this entry).
Linked Account	TaxAct account created by a preparer and invited to a practice by the Practice Owner. The account becomes linked to the practice when the invitation is accepted. A linked account cannot be the Practice Owner account.

Important Considerations:

The account hierarchy consists of one Practice Owner account and linked accounts. This is the ONLY hierarchy. A linked account cannot be the main practice account.
It is possible to join more than one practice to work for separate firms. In those cases, the preparer must toggle between practices by using a dropdown menu in Practice Manager.
Each invited preparer account will get a pop-up asking to choose the Practice ID upon sign-in.
The practice owner sets permissions for linked preparer accounts. Permissions are found in the preparer master information section of the program. This is how all program and user-level security is managed. See Setting Permissions for Preparers Invited to Your Practice.
Linked accounts can use downloads and prepaid/unlimited e-filing of the main account.
If the EFIN is verified through a linked account, the linked account must be marked as active in the Preparer Master Information for the EFIN to be used by the practice.
Linked accounts can use any EFIN that has been verified for the Practice ID. If there is a separate EFIN registered to a separate preparer and location, that EFIN must be entered on the separate account, so that the name and address match.
Each preparer must install TaxAct Professional Editions on their local computer. Even in a multi-user practice or network, the program .exe is never shared or run off a network server. Each preparer will need to sign in with the username and password for his or her own account (there is not a username and password for the entire practice). See the TaxAct 2020 Professional Editions Setup Guide
If you have multiple users in your practice, you can share downloads for all Editions for software installation, or returns and preparer data (Enterprise Edition only) by linking accounts with the preparer invitation process. The default preparer (Professional) or Practice Owner (Enterprise) must create additional preparer entries and invite the other preparers. See Preparer Invitation Process