Why is my tax questionnaire read-only?
When you submit your tax questionnaire (TQ) and request an engagement letter (EL), your tax preparer is assigned after you sign the EL. Once your tax preparer begins reviewing your questionnaire and preparing your tax return, they will lock the TQ by switching it to read-only mode. This prevents accidental edits to a completed questionnaire while still allowing you to view all of your responses.
What if I need to make changes?
There are situations where you may have submitted an incomplete TQ — for example, while waiting for documents or figures from your non-U.S. resident country. If your tax preparer has already locked your TQ by the time those documents arrive, you will need to temporarily unlock it to make edits. Your file cabinet will be locked as well. Refer to How to unlock your file cabinet with documents & TQs for more information on how to unlock it.
❗ Important note: Before submitting an incomplete TQ, always add comments next to unanswered questions or in the Notes section of the tax questionnaire explaining why it is incomplete. This gives your tax preparer important context and reduces back-and-forth questions during their review.
How to edit a read-only tax questionnaire
Go to the Tax Questionnaires tab and click on the relevant tax year.
A warning message will appear:
"Our records indicate that this year is done for you. Currently the TQ is set to read-only. Do you need to make changes or just looking around?"
Click Make Changes to temporarily unlock the questionnaire.
Edit your answers as needed.
When finished, click All Done – Submit TQ to resubmit. This will automatically return the questionnaire to read-only mode.
Send your tax preparer an email describing what you added or removed. This keeps them informed, so your changes don't cause confusion during preparation.
How to view a read-only tax questionnaire
Go to the Tax Questionnaires tab and click on the relevant tax year.
A warning message will appear:
"Our records indicate that this year is done for you. Currently the TQ is set to read-only. Do you need to make changes or just looking around?"
Click Read Only to open the questionnaire in view mode. All fields will be disabled — no changes can be made.
When you are done reviewing, click Back on the yellow warning banner at the top of the page.
If you have questions, contact our Customer Success team via phone, chat, or email.