All Help Center categories
Every published article, grouped by the part of Institution it applies to.
Getting Started
Learn how Institution works, how your workspace is organized, and what to expect after purchasing or requesting a service.
- Getting started with Institution
- Understanding your Institution workspace
- What happens after you become an Institution client
- How Institution services are delivered
- Understanding service activation
- How to request an additional service
- How to check the status of a service
- Understanding your workspace navigation
- How Institution communicates with clients
- Preparing for your first Institution service
- How to update your company information
- What to do when information changes
- Understanding Institution service timelines
- What information Institution may request from you
- How to get the most from your Institution workspace
Account and Workspace
Manage sign-in, account access, profile information, workspace members, notifications, and account settings.
- How to sign in to Institution
- Troubleshooting sign-in problems
- Signing in with Google
- What to do if you cannot access your email
- How to update your name and profile information
- How to update your email address
- How to manage notification preferences
- How to invite a workspace team member
- How to remove a workspace team member
- Understanding workspace roles and permissions
- Why a team member cannot access a page
- How to switch between company workspaces
- How to secure your Institution account
- What to do if you suspect unauthorized access
- How to sign out of all active sessions
- Supported browsers and devices
- How to report an account access problem
- Why your workspace may show limited access
- How account ownership works
- How to request an account ownership change
My Services
Understand available services, activation statuses, service requests, and how to manage ongoing work.
- Understanding the My Services page
- What Not activated means
- What Awaiting activation means
- What Active means
- How to request a service
- What happens after requesting a service
- How to cancel a service request
- Why a requested service is still awaiting activation
- How to provide information for a service
- How to see which services your company has
- How service availability is determined
- How to ask a question about an active service
- How to review service deliverables
- How to report an issue with a service
- How to request a custom service
Bookkeeping
Learn how bookkeeping workflows, monthly close, account connections, documents, reports, and bookkeeping requests work.
- Getting started with Institution bookkeeping
- Understanding the monthly bookkeeping process
- What Institution needs to begin bookkeeping
- How to provide bank and credit card statements
- How to upload bookkeeping documents
- How to respond to transaction questions
- Understanding uncategorized transactions
- How to explain a business transaction
- How to identify personal transactions
- How to provide missing receipts
- Understanding the monthly close
- When monthly reports become available
- How to review your financial reports
- Understanding the profit and loss statement
- Understanding the balance sheet
- Understanding cash flow reports
- What to do if a report appears incorrect
- How to request a bookkeeping adjustment
- How to add a new financial account
- How to report a closed financial account
- How to handle owner contributions
- How to handle owner distributions
- How to report a business loan
- How to report a refund or chargeback
- How to report a large or unusual transaction
- How bookkeeping catch-up work is handled
- How historical bookkeeping works
- How to prepare for year-end bookkeeping
- How bookkeeping and tax preparation work together
- How to contact the bookkeeping team
Tax
Understand business tax preparation, tax documents, deadlines, notices, extensions, amendments, and planning workflows.
- Getting started with business tax preparation
- What documents are needed for tax preparation
- How to upload tax documents
- How Institution organizes tax requests
- How to check your tax preparation status
- Understanding the tax organizer
- How to answer a tax questionnaire
- How to provide prior-year tax returns
- How to provide owner information
- How to report a change in ownership
- How to report income not shown in bookkeeping
- How to report business expenses
- How to review a draft tax return
- How to approve a tax return for filing
- How electronic signatures work for tax filings
- How tax payments are handled
- Understanding estimated tax payments
- What to do if you receive an IRS notice
- What to do if you receive a state tax notice
- How to upload a tax notice
- How to request notice assistance
- How tax extensions work
- What an extension does and does not extend
- How to request an extension
- Understanding amended tax returns
- How to request an amended return
- Understanding 1099 filing
- What information is needed for 1099 filing
- Understanding franchise tax
- Understanding sales tax support
- How to request a tax planning review
- How bookkeeping affects tax preparation
- What can delay tax preparation
- How to contact the tax team
- Where to find completed tax documents
Company Formation
Learn how company formation requests, business names, formation documents, EIN requests, and post-formation steps work.
- Getting started with company formation
- What information is needed to form a company
- Choosing a company name
- How business-name availability works
- Choosing a state of formation
- Understanding LLC formation
- Understanding corporation formation
- What happens after submitting a formation request
- How to check your formation status
- Understanding formation documents
- Where to find formation documents
- What an operating agreement is
- What bylaws are
- What an EIN is
- How to request an EIN
- What information is needed for an EIN request
- What happens after an EIN request is submitted
- Why an EIN request may require additional information
- How to correct information on a formation request
- How to update an address before filing
- How to update an owner before filing
- What to do after your company is formed
- Opening a business bank account after formation
- Keeping business and personal finances separate
- Understanding post-formation compliance
- How to ask a formation question
- What Institution can and cannot change after filing
- How to request company amendments
- How to obtain certified documents
- How to request a certificate of good standing
Registered Agent
Understand registered agent service, official notices, address changes, renewals, and document delivery.
- What a registered agent does
- Understanding Institution registered agent service
- Why a company needs a registered agent
- How to activate registered agent service
- How to check your registered agent status
- How official notices are delivered
- Where to find registered agent documents
- What to do after receiving a legal or state notice
- How to update your company registered agent
- How to change your registered office address
- Understanding registered agent renewals
- What happens if registered agent service expires
- How to request registered agent support
- Understanding service-of-process notifications
- What Institution does after receiving official correspondence
- How to update notification recipients
- How to download a received notice
- How to confirm that a notice was reviewed
Compliance
Manage annual reports, franchise tax, state notices, business information updates, and ongoing company obligations.
- Understanding company compliance
- What appears in the Compliance section
- How to review upcoming compliance items
- How to respond to a compliance task
- Understanding annual reports
- How annual report filing works
- What information is needed for an annual report
- Understanding franchise tax obligations
- How to report a company address change
- How to report an ownership change
- How to report an officer or manager change
- How to request a company amendment
- What to do if your company is not in good standing
- Understanding a certificate of good standing
- How to request a certificate of good standing
- What to do after receiving a state notice
- How to upload a compliance notice
- How to check a compliance request status
- Why compliance requirements vary by state
- How to ask a compliance question
- Understanding beneficial ownership information requests
- How Institution communicates compliance deadlines
- What can delay a compliance filing
- Where to find completed compliance documents
Tasks and Requests
Learn how to complete tasks, respond to information requests, submit work, and track progress.
- Understanding the Tasks page
- Understanding the Requests page
- What is the difference between a task and a request
- How to open a task
- How to complete a task
- How to upload documents to a task
- How to add a comment to a task
- How to respond to an information request
- How to mark a task complete
- Why a completed task reopened
- How to check task status
- What task priority means
- How task deadlines work
- How to ask a question about a task
- Why a request needs additional information
- How to update a submitted response
- How to report an incorrect task
- How to find completed tasks
- How to filter tasks
- How notifications work for tasks and requests
Documents and E-Signatures
Upload, review, download, organize, and electronically sign documents securely.
- How to upload a document
- Supported document types
- Maximum document upload size
- How to replace an uploaded document
- How to delete an uploaded document
- How to download a document
- Where to find completed documents
- How document folders work
- How to identify a requested document
- What to do if an upload fails
- Why a document is still processing
- How to upload a clearer copy
- How to redact unnecessary sensitive information
- How to report an incorrect document
- Understanding electronic signatures
- How to sign a document
- Why an e-signature request may expire
- How to request a new signature link
- How to decline a signature request
- How to download a signed document
- Who can sign for a company
- Why a signature request was sent to a specific person
- How to update a signer
- How to check signature status
- How Institution protects uploaded documents
Invoices and Payments
Understand invoices, receipts, payment status, billing methods, failed payments, refunds, and account billing.
- Understanding the Invoices and Payments page
- How to view an invoice
- How to download an invoice
- How to pay an invoice
- How to download a payment receipt
- Understanding invoice statuses
- What Open means on an invoice
- What Paid means on an invoice
- What Past due means on an invoice
- What Void means on an invoice
- Why a payment may fail
- How to retry a failed payment
- How to update a payment method
- Why a payment is still processing
- How to report an incorrect invoice
- How to ask a billing question
- How credits are applied
- How refunds are displayed
- Understanding one-time and recurring charges
- How to identify a charge from Institution
- How taxes are displayed on an invoice
- How to update billing information
- Why an invoice amount changed
- How to request a billing review
- Where to find past invoices
Proposals
Review service proposals, understand scope and pricing, accept terms, and sign agreements.
- Understanding the Proposals page
- How to open a proposal
- How to review proposal pricing
- How to review the scope of service
- How to accept a proposal
- How to decline a proposal
- How to ask a question about a proposal
- How electronic signatures work for proposals
- Why a proposal may expire
- How to request an updated proposal
- How to download an accepted proposal
- What happens after accepting a proposal
- Why a service is not active immediately after acceptance
- How proposal changes are handled
- Where to find historical proposals
Messages and Appointments
Communicate with the Institution team, manage threaded conversations, and review scheduled appointments.
- Understanding Institution messages
- How to start a new conversation
- How to reply to a message
- How threaded conversations work
- How to attach a document to a message
- How to find a previous conversation
- How to search messages
- Why a message may be linked to a service
- How message notifications work
- When to use messages instead of support cases
- Understanding the Appointments page
- How to view an appointment
- How to prepare for an appointment
- How to reschedule an appointment
- How to cancel an appointment
- How meeting links are provided
- What to do if a meeting link does not work
- How to ask a follow-up question after an appointment
- Why an appointment may not be available
- How time zones are displayed
Support Cases
Create, track, update, and resolve support requests with the Institution team.
- How to create a support case
- Choosing the right support topic
- What information to include in a support case
- How to attach documents to a case
- How to check the status of a support case
- Understanding support case statuses
- How to reply to a support case
- How to add information to an open case
- How to close a support case
- How to reopen a support case
- How to find previous support cases
- How to report an urgent account issue
- How to report a billing issue
- How to report a document upload problem
- How to report an account access problem
- When to use messages instead of a support case
- Why a case may be waiting for customer information
- How case notifications work
- How workspace team members can view cases
- What to do if you submitted a duplicate case
Security and Privacy
Learn how Institution protects account access, documents, business information, and customer communications.
- How Institution protects your account
- How Institution handles uploaded documents
- Best practices for securing your account
- How to recognize suspicious messages
- How to report suspected account access
- How to protect sensitive documents
- What information not to include in a general message
- How workspace permissions protect information
- How to remove a former team member
- How to review account access
- How Institution uses customer information
- Where to find the Institution privacy policy
- How to submit a privacy request
- How to report a security concern
- How to safely share tax and financial documents
Troubleshooting
Resolve common browser, upload, access, display, notification, and performance issues.
- General troubleshooting steps
- Institution is not loading correctly
- A page appears blank
- A button is not responding
- A document will not upload
- A download will not start
- A form will not submit
- A service status is not updating
- A notification will not disappear
- An email notification did not arrive
- A sign-in link is not working
- Google sign-in is not working
- A page looks incorrect on mobile
- How to clear browser cache safely
- How to disable extensions for troubleshooting
- How to try a private browsing window
- Supported browsers
- How to report a technical problem
- What information to include in a bug report
- How to take a useful screenshot
- How to report an accessibility problem
- What to do if the support widget overlaps content
- Why information may take time to update
- How to retry after a temporary error
Still need help?
Contact the Institution team for help with new business, general questions, or account access. Existing clients can also raise account specific questions with their engagement contact.