Each obligation, such as a client's GSTR-3B for a month, moves through preparation, review and filing with a named owner at each stage. Working it inside SmartLedger keeps the evidence and every hand-off in one audit trail.
Open an obligation
Click an obligation in Compliance → Obligations, or in the Attention queue on the compliance overview. The drawer has five steps: Applies, Plan, Prepare, File and Trail.
Assign the work
- Open Plan.
- Choose a Preparer and a Reviewer, and an Approver if your firm uses one.
- To give the team an earlier deadline, click Set next to Internal due date and pick a date.
The internal due date must be on or before the statutory date. Plan also shows the Statutory due and Effective due dates, the registration and the period.
Prepare, review and file
- Under Workflow status, move the obligation to In preparation.
- Open Prepare, tick off the preparation checklist and Upload the documents it asks for.
- When the work is ready, set Workflow status to Awaiting review.
- The reviewer sets Approved, or Changes requested to send it back to the preparer.
- File the return, then set the status to Filed.
- If tax was paid, set it to Paid.
Workflow status offers only the moves allowed from the current status and for your access level. Use Blocked for work that's stuck. The preparer can't approve their own work. If your firm has turned off review in compliance settings, work in preparation can go straight to Filed.
Record the filing
Open File. For returns SmartLedger files, such as GSTR-1, GSTR-3B and GSTR-9, it shows the matching filing from the client's books. Use the Open in button to go to that filing in the client's workspace. When the portal shows the return as filed, click Mark filed from this.
For other obligations, File notes that the return is filed outside SmartLedger and lists reference links.
Track it on a Work board
If your firm uses Work boards, you can track the obligation there too. Under Work tasks in File, click the link to create a task, then choose a board. The task carries the obligation's preparation checklist. To add more, click Raise another task.
Change whether an obligation applies
If the engine's verdict is wrong for a client, open Applies. Under Override applicability, click Not applicable to this client or Applies to this client. Check the periods it affects, enter a Reason and click Exclude anyway or Mark applicable.
An override is a standing decision about the client, so it also applies to future periods. Only members with permission to override see these buttons.
Keep the record
Trail shows the Audit timeline of every status change. Below it, type in Add a comment and click Comment to leave a note for the team.
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