A task in BrightTax represents a specific piece of work for a client — for example, an Individual Tax Return for the 2024/25 tax year, or a Corporation Tax return for an accounting period. You must have a client record in place before you can create a task.

• The client must already exist in BrightTax. See Creating Your First Client if you have not done this yet.
• For Corporation Tax and Year End Accounts tasks, you will need to assign a template before the task can be opened — have this ready.

You can start creating a task from three different places in BrightTax:

• Dashboard — Task List: click the Create Task button in the top-right corner.
• Dashboard — Client List: click the create task icon next to the client you want to create the task for.
• Client Record: open a client record in read-only mode and click Create Task in the bottom-right corner.

1. Click Create Task using any of the methods above.
2. Select the task type from the list:
   • Individual Tax Return
   • Corporation Tax Return
   • Year End Accounts
   • Partnership Tax Return
   • VAT Return
3. Select the Tax Year (or accounting period for CT and YEA tasks).
4. If you started from the Dashboard, search for and select the client.
5. Click Create Task to confirm.
6. Click Open [Task Name] to open the task.

Corporation Tax Return — Assign a Template

Before you can start entering data on a CT return, you must assign a Corporation Tax template:

1. From the CT task Summary tab, click Template Details in the left-hand menu.
2. Select either Express or Advanced from the template dropdown.
3. Click Save, then click Open Corporation Tax Return.

Year End Accounts — Assign a Template

Before opening a Year End Accounts task, assign an Accounts Production template:

1. From the YEA task Summary tab, click Template Details in the left-hand menu.
2. Select the appropriate template for the client's entity type (see Accounts Production Templates for the full list).
3. Click Save, then click Open Year End Accounts.

If you need to remove a task:

1. Open the task and click the three-dot menu on the bottom toolbar.
2. Select Discard. The task status changes to Discarded.
3. Return to the Task List and click the bin icon (now active in red) to permanently delete the task.

I cannot open the task after creating it

• For CT and YEA tasks, you must assign a template before the Open button becomes active. Go to Template Details in the task Summary and assign a template first.

The task is in read-only mode and I cannot edit it

• Use the toggle in the bottom-left corner of the screen to switch from Read Only to Edit mode.

Fields are greyed out and I cannot type in them

• Grey fields are calculated automatically by BrightTax — they cannot be edited directly. Enter data in the relevant input fields and the calculated fields will update automatically.

Q: Can I have multiple tasks of the same type for the same client?

A: Yes — for example, you can have an Individual Tax Return for 2023/24 and another for 2024/25 for the same client. Each tax year requires a separate task.

Q: Can I reassign a task to a different user?

A: Yes. Open the task, go to the Summary tab, and update the Responsible User field.

Q: What is the difference between Discard and Delete?

A: Discarding marks the task as no longer active but retains it in the system. Deleting permanently removes the task and all its data. You must discard a task before you can delete it.