The filing engine, with workpapers included. The return is prepared from the workpaper and filed, with no export and no second system. The income tax returns are in development and can't be bought yet, with no date set for firms to use them.
Return types None available yet
What Tax is being built to prepare and file, by stage. Crosstie is preparing returns in Tax, and it isn’t available to anyone else.
The order: federal returns first, then state returns, then local income taxes. Crosstie starts preparing state returns in the first quarter of 2027, alongside the federal returns: Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, and many more. Ohio is for its municipal net profit tax return, Form MNP10, for tax year 2025 only, and not for Ohio income tax. State coverage starts with individual returns and widens; Pennsylvania is the first state for fiduciary returns. No date is set for any other state, or for local income taxes.
From January 1, 2027 First filings
Forms 5500-EZ, 5500-SF and 5558 go live on January 1, 2027, free to firms for the entire plan year. Crosstie holds EFAST2 transmission certification; filing also requires EFAST2 filing-preparation certification. 5500 →
- Form 5500-EZFrom January 1, 2027
- Form 5500-SFFrom January 1, 2027
- Form 5558From January 1, 2027
In development Being built now
Forms 1040, 1120, 1065, 1120-S and 1041 are being built now.
- Form 1040In development
- Form 1120In development
- Form 1065In development
- Form 1120-SIn development
- Form 1041In development
- FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR)In development
Form 114 (the FBAR) is filed with FinCEN, not the IRS; batch filing depends on FinCEN acceptance testing, which Crosstie has not completed.
Each return type is built together with the supporting forms and schedules it needs, and the range of forms widens over time.
Work on the return itself
- On the form, not a questionnaire. You prepare on a replica of the IRS form, line by line, the way returns are reviewed.
- Every line says how it got there: keyed by hand, calculated, carried from another form or the workpaper, or overridden.
- Overrides keep the calculated figure, with who changed it, when and why, so an override can be undone.
- The return comes from the workpaper, so figures aren't keyed twice and can't drift apart.
Marked DRAFT on every page until the return is filed.
Best on a computer or iPad. The preview of Tax is interactive and built for a larger screen: open this page on one to try it. It’s a design mockup with fictional clients and figures, and Tax is in development.
State returns, beside the federal one In development
State returns come after the federal returns. When they’re built, each state sits beside the federal return with its own diagnostics and its own e-file gate, so a clear federal return can still have a blocked state, or the other way round. No state return transmits from Crosstie yet. The list →
Diagnostics 012
- WarningRetirement incomePennsylvania generally doesn’t tax pension and IRA distributions received after retirement. Confirm Walter’s retirement status.
- InformationalA different starting pointPA-40 doesn’t start from federal AGI. Each class of income is carried from the same documents.
- InformationalResident creditTax paid to New York would carry to Schedule G-L once IT-203 is complete.
E-file waits for
- ✓ No blocking diagnostics
- ✕ Reviewer sign-off
- ✕ Taxpayer signature
From the federal return
- Compensation, interest, dividends and net gainsfrom the same W-2s, 1099s and 1099-B as Form 1040
- Pension, IRA and Social Securitynot taxed by Pennsylvania after retirement, to confirm
Diagnostics 100
- BlockingNew York wages not allocatedThe Lakeshore Library Foundation W-2 reports New York wages in box 16 (7,150). IT-203 needs the New York share, from days worked in New York.
E-file waits for
- ✕ 1 blocking diagnostic
- ✕ Reviewer sign-off
- ✕ Taxpayer signature
From the federal return
- Federal amount columnfrom Form 1040: AGI 103,359
- New York State amount columnNew York-source income only