Information Request

Default templates - Individuals

The pre-defined templates that have been designed by CCH are installed automatically during the update and are added to a folder called ‘Templates’ within the Deploy folder on your network where Central is installed.

To check the location of your Deploy folder, and the templates sub-folder, right click on your Central shortcut on your Desktop and left click on Open File Location.  Once here, open the folder called Templates and you will see a selection of templates containing the words Information Request.  The newest ones to use will start with the latest year...etc which is when we last updated them and are the current ones to use.  

To check where Central will be looking for your mail merge templates, go to File > Maintenance > Documents > Mailing Settings, and note the Templates path.

If the path specified for the templates is different, you need to copy the templates from the Deploy Templates folder to this location.

CCH Information Request - Covering Letter New Client

A covering letter to accompany the CCH Information Request sent to a new client for whom you do not hold details of their specific income sources.

CCH Information Request – Covering Letter

A covering letter to accompany the CCH Information Request sent to clients for whom you hold details of their income sources for the previous year. This can be used with the CCH Information Request PY Details and no PY details templates.

CCH Information Request New Client

This Information Request template lists all potential income sources and can be sent to new clients, e.g. where this is their first year in Self-Assessment, as a guide detailing the types of information required for completion of their Tax Return.

CCH Information Request no PY details

This Information Request template is for clients where the previous Tax Return information exists in CCH Personal Tax. Any income sources included on the client’s previous Tax Return, and have not ceased, are automatically populated. 

Income sources marked as a joint source in CCH Personal Tax are flagged in the joint column on the Information Request.

CCH Information Request PY Details

This Information Request template is for clients where the previous Tax Return information exists in CCH Personal Tax. Any income sources included on the client’s previous Tax Return, and have not ceased, are automatically populated. In addition to the income source, an additional column is included holding the previous year values from last year’s Tax Return.

Income sources marked as a joint source in CCH Personal Tax are flagged in the joint column on the Information Request.

Default templates - Trusts

CCH Trust – Information Request – Covering Letter

A covering letter to accompany the CCH Information Request for issue to Trust clients for whom you hold details of their income sources for the previous year. This can be used with the CCH Trust Information Request PY Details and no PY details templates.

CCH Trust – Information Request no PY Details

This Information Request template is for Trust clients where the previous Tax Return information exists in CCH Personal Tax. Any income sources included on the client’s previous Tax Return, and have not ceased, are automatically populated.

Income sources marked as a joint source in CCH Personal Tax are flagged in the joint column on the Information Request.

CCH Trust – Information Request PY Details

This Information Request template is for Trust clients where the previous Tax Return information exists in CCH Personal Tax. Any income sources included on the client’s previous Tax Return, and have not ceased, are automatically populated. In addition to the income source, an additional column is included holding the previous year values from last year’s Tax Return.

Income sources marked as a joint source in CCH Personal Tax are flagged in the joint column on the Information Request.

Editing the default templates

It is possible to edit the supplied templates to match your preferred wording and choice of font.

Before making any changes to the template we recommend that you save the template under another name, and make your changes against the new version. In this way the original template is always available for reference. 

If you do not change the name, the file will be overwritten by the CCH Central default template the next time the CSI is run. We strongly recommend that you make a backup copy of the standard template before you start.

1. Go to the Client search screen, and tick any client.
2. From the task bar click on Mail/email merge.
3. Set the output selection to Letters and click Next.
4. Highlight the relevant Information Request template, click on Query and select 'Information Request' from the data source drop-down box just below, then select the tax year for which you are running the report.
5. Click Edit template.
6. This opens the template in MS Word for editing.
7. If you want to insert other merge fields, you need to place your cursor in the correct location and then click on Mailings > Insert Merge Field.

a.   All fields starting with the word Query at the end of the list are specific to the Information Request. If you do not see them, go back to Step 4 and ensure that you follow the steps carefully.
b.   Each section of the report has a start and an end field, e.g. <<TableStart:StateBenefit>> & <<TableEnd:StateBenefit>>. Ensure you do not insert any text between these pairs of fields.
c.   Ensure you do not encroach upon the existing fields already in the report when editing the report.

8. If you want to add a sentence after the table but within the section (so that it only appears when the client has this data in their prior year tax return) click in the final cell of the table and press the Tab key on the keyboard to add another row to the table.  Type the text as required, highlight all the cells in that row and merge the cells.  Remove the left, right and bottom borders if required.
9. Any other editing such as font or layout changes are standard MS Word functionality, and support for these should be obtained from Microsoft or third party knowledgebase websites. Do NOT change the styles used as these are needed for the construction of the template and the correct suppression of sections not required.
10. Once you are happy with the template simply click on Save.
11.Now go back to the Client search screen and test the report on a small selection of clients, before running the report against your whole client base.

These may be customised as required.  It's also possible to combine the covering letter with the template for the client data by editing the Information Request template as instructed above and copying the entire contents of the covering letter template and pasting into the start of the Information Request template, adding a section or page break as required.  Guidance on how to do this on Word should be obtained from Microsoft or third party knowledgebase websites.

For more detail on how to edit the templates please see Create and Edit templates

Changing the Information Request Reporting report to default to a later tax year

Open the report in Reporting for editing and then click on Parameters at the top of the screen and change the Start and End tax years.

Also click on Select in the filter section and change the tax year here as well.

Ensure that you 'Save' the Report.

Joint income sources

The joint column in the template is populated based on the information in the Joint? column within the relevant income source data entry window.

The following applies if the source is held “jointly with spouse” or “jointly with other person(s)”.

1. If the 50/50 split option is selected, 50% appears in the Information Request.
2. If the “client’s percentage of total is…” option is selected, the percentage figure entered appears in the Information Request.
3. If the “I will enter the amounts applicable to the client directly” option is selected, this appears in the Information Request as Joint as no percentage figure is available to use.

Where the source is not held jointly, the column is blank.

Last Year Amounts column

Where options 1 and 2 in the Joint income sources section above are relevant, the figure shown in the Last Year Amounts column is the amount entered against that source in CCH Personal Tax (i.e. the Total), not the proportion relating to the client. Where option 3 was previously selected and a figure was entered manually for a joint source, the value displayed against that line of entry appears.

Where there is income from property, the figure shown in the Last Year Amounts column is the total net profit, i.e. gross rent less expenses.

Editing the default templates

It is possible to edit the supplied templates to match your preferred wording and choice of font.

Before making any changes to the template we recommend that you save the template under another name, and make your changes against the new version. In this way the original templates is always available for reference.

If you do not change the name, the file will be overwritten by the CCH Central default template the next time the CSI is run.

For more details on editing the templates please see our Create and edit templates

Date in template covering letter

The date included in the letter templates does not automatically update. These must be edited on the template and set to the required date.

Sending Trust covering letters

To populate the address section of the Trust covering letters, Trust clients require a mailing contact to exist in the Associated tab in the client’s CCH Central record.

Emailing Information Requests - Outlook

When using Outlook to run the mail merges, please note the following points:

• It is necessary to register the ‘Secman.dll’ file. This needs to be done with Administrator privileges. If you are unsure, please speak to your system administrator.
• CCH Central and Outlook need to be running from the same machine for the mail merge to work correctly. This is a limitation with MS Outlook.
• When using Outlook use only 32-bit versions (Outlook 2010, 2013 etc); the mail merge does not work with the 64-bit applications.

How can I change the Information Request Reporting report to default to a later tax year?

1. Open the report in Reporting for editing and then click on Parameters at the top of the screen and change the Start and End tax years.
2. Also, click on Select in the filter section and change the tax year here as well.
3. Ensure that you 'Save' the Report.