Roles involved: CA Staff creates and progresses tasks. CA Manager reviews and marks tasks as Filed. CA Partner is escalated to when a task is overdue by more than 7 days.
What is a Compliance Task?
A compliance task is the unit of work for any statutory filing or obligation. Every return, form, or filing the firm handles for a client lives as a compliance task with its own due date, assignee, and status. Tasks are named automatically in the format CTASK-YYYY-##### (for example, CTASK-2025-00143). You never need to assign names manually.
How tasks are created
Tasks are created in two ways: Automatically by the obligation engine: When a CA Engagement becomes Active, the system reads the applicable statutory forms from the engagement’s applicability settings and generates a compliance task for each form that falls due in the period. This runs daily in the background and is idempotent: re-running never creates duplicates. Manually: A CA Manager or CA Staff member can create a task directly from the Compliance Task list or from within the client’s engagement record. Use this for one-off obligations or tasks outside the standard calendar.Who Uses This Feature
Before You Start
- The client must have an active CA Engagement. Without it, the obligation engine cannot generate tasks and you cannot link a manual task to the client.
- The relevant Compliance Task Template must exist for the form you are tracking. Templates define the recurrence pattern, penalty rate, and reminder schedule.
- If you are creating a task manually, confirm with the CA Manager that it is not already auto-generated for the period. Check the Compliance Task list filtered by client and form before creating.
Status Lifecycle
A compliance task moves through the following statuses:- Overdue: Applied automatically by the system when the due date passes and the task is not yet Filed.
- Waived: Set manually by the CA Manager (with partner approval) when the obligation is exempt for the period, for example a nil return that does not need to be filed.
Workflow: Moving a Task Forward
Step 1: Start Work (Pending to In Progress)
Who: CA Staff Open the compliance task assigned to you. Confirm the due date and the linked document request. Click Start Work. The status moves to In Progress. Path: CA Practice Management workspace shortcut: Compliance Tasks, or Work section in the portal.
Step 2: Prepare the Filing
Work through the filing. As you complete each section:- Use the linked CA Document Request to confirm all required documents have been received. A task cannot be reviewed without the documents.
- Update the Remarks field with any issues, assumptions, or points the reviewer should know about.
- Attach any working papers or drafts using the Attachment field. The final filed return will be attached later.
Step 3: Submit for Review (In Progress to Review Pending)
Who: CA Staff When the filing is ready for the manager’s check, click Submit for Review. The status moves to Review Pending and the assigned CA Manager receives an in-app notification.
Step 4: Review and File or Reject (Review Pending to Filed or back to In Progress)
Who: CA Manager Open the task in Review Pending status. Check the filing details, attached documents, and the Penalty Risk figure. Then either:- Mark as Filed: Enter the Filing Date and Acknowledgement Number, attach the filed return or acknowledgement receipt, and click Mark as Filed. Status moves to Filed.
- Reject: Click Reject and add a note in Remarks explaining what needs to be corrected. Status returns to In Progress. The assigned staff member receives a notification.
Step 5: Archive (Optional)
Who: CA Manager Once a filed task is fully closed and no further action is expected, click Archive. Archived tasks remain in the system for audit purposes but are excluded from active list views and report counts.Compliance Task Templates
A Compliance Task Template is the reusable master record that describes a recurring statutory obligation. The system reads templates to auto-generate tasks. Staff and managers rarely need to edit templates, but understanding the fields helps you interpret what a task is tracking. Path: Compliance Management group in the workspace navigation cards.Field Guide
Penalty Risk
The Penalty Risk field shows an auto-calculated estimate of the penalty amount that would apply if the filing is not completed today. The system multiplies the Penalty Per Day rate from the template by the number of days past the due date. This is an estimate for planning purposes only. The actual penalty levied by the authority may differ based on waivers, circulars, or revised orders. Do not use this figure in correspondence with clients without verifying it against the current statutory position. The Penalty Avoidance report shows the cumulative penalty avoided across all clients for the period, based on tasks filed on or before the due date.Automatic Document Request
When a compliance task is created (automatically or manually), the system immediately creates a linked CA Document Request using the per-form document checklist template. This means the firm can start requesting documents from the client the same day the obligation is generated, without waiting for a staff member to manually trigger the request. The document request status updates automatically as the client uploads documents:- Open: No documents received yet.
- Partially Received: Some documents uploaded, others still pending.
- Received: All required documents have been uploaded and acknowledged.
Auto-Assignment
When tasks are auto-generated by the obligation engine, the system assigns them using one of two methods:- Form-specific default assignee: If the Compliance Task Template specifies a default assignee for that form, the task goes to that person.
- Round-robin: If no default assignee is set, the system distributes tasks evenly across all CA Staff and CS Executive role holders.
Reminders and Escalation
Reminder cadence
The Reminder Engine sends notifications automatically on the following schedule for each compliance task:
Each reminder is logged to prevent duplicates. If a client’s preferred channel is not configured, the reminder falls back to an in-app notification on their portal.
Escalation for overdue tasks
If a task reaches Overdue status and remains unresolved for 7 or more days after the due date, the Escalation Engine creates a high-priority to-do for the CA Partner. This to-do appears in the partner’s task queue and Command Centre view. The partner then decides whether to intervene, reassign, or waive the task.
Workspace Access
Desk workspace: Open the workspace shortcut tile labelled Compliance Tasks (orange tile) for one-click access to the task list. The Compliance Tasks navigation card in the Compliance Management group gives the same access. Portal: Go to the Work section and open Tasks. Staff see their own assigned queue. Managers and partners see tasks across all staff and all clients. Command Centre (portal): Shows all overdue and due-soon tasks in one view, across the entire firm. Use the Command Centre for daily triage. You can bulk-reassign tasks directly from here.What Happens After Filing
When you mark a task as Filed:- The system automatically generates the next task in the obligation chain. For example, filing Form 26Q for Q3 automatically creates the Q4 task with the correct due date.
- If the filing status reaches Client Approval at any point in the chain (for example, for ITR-related tasks), the client receives an in-app notification on their portal prompting them to review and approve.
- The compliance task’s acknowledgement number and filing date are recorded and appear in the Compliance Ageing report, the Client Compliance Health Score, and the Penalty Avoidance report.
Best Practices
- Always fill the Acknowledgement Number when marking as Filed. An acknowledgement number is proof the filing was accepted by the authority. A filed task without one is incomplete and will show as a gap in audit reviews.
- Set Priority to Critical for tasks within 3 days of the due date. Critical priority surfaces these tasks at the top of the staff queue and Command Centre, ensuring they are not missed during busy periods.
- Mark Waived only with partner approval. Waiving a task removes it from the overdue count and stops reminders. Use it only for genuine exemptions (nil return exemption, client in dissolution, etc.) and document the reason in Remarks.
- Never delete an overdue task. Deleting an overdue task removes the audit trail. If an obligation genuinely no longer applies, mark it Waived or Archived rather than deleting it.
- Check the Penalty Risk field before each review. A high penalty risk figure is a prompt to prioritise the task immediately. If the penalty estimate is unexpectedly large, verify the penalty-per-day rate in the template before proceeding.
- Use Remarks for everything the reviewer needs to know. Rejection notes, filing assumptions, exceptions, and client-specific instructions all belong in Remarks. This field is visible to both the assignee and the reviewer throughout the workflow.
Related Features
- Feature Overview for the full map of all compliance modules.
- Workflow Overview for the end-to-end filing journey.
- CA Document Request for the document collection process linked to each task.
- GST Returns for the dedicated GST return preparation and ITC reconciliation workflow.
- Reports and Analytics for the Compliance Ageing report, Penalty Avoidance report, and Client Compliance Health Score.