How to run recurring client work with due dates

Monthly closes, quarterly returns and yearly filings for each client, each period with its due date, its steps and who does it, plus the documents to ask for.

Updated 2026-10-25

Recurring work is for the work an accountant or bookkeeper does for every client, every period: a monthly bookkeeping close, a quarterly sales tax return, a yearly personal tax return. You describe the work once, give it to clients, and Otto makes each period's work with its due date, its steps and the person who does it.

Recurring work is part of Jobs. It is in the menu under Work for a legal, accounting or finance business. Repeating visits on the calendar, such as a fortnightly clean, are a different thing: see How to setup repeating jobs.

Describe the work

1. Open Recurring work and press New recurring work.
2. Type a Name, such as "Quarterly sales tax return".
3. Under How often, press Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly. Periods are calendar months, quarters and years.
4. Under Due, type how many days after the period ends the work is due, such as 20 for "20 days after the quarter ends". For yearly work you can press A fixed day each year instead and pick the day and month, such as April 15.
5. Under Steps, type the checklist, one step a line.
6. To ask the client for documents each period, type them under Documents to ask the client for, one a line, and say how many days before the due date to ask.
7. Press Save.

Only someone who manages the business can describe work and give it to clients. A change applies to the periods made from then on; work already made keeps its due date and steps.

Start from the library

Press Add from library for ready-made work a firm usually repeats, each with its schedule, due date, steps and the documents to ask for:

• Monthly bookkeeping close, due 15 days after the month ends.
• Quarterly sales tax return, due 20 days after the quarter ends. A state's sales tax date varies, so check it after adding.
• Year-end 1099s and W-2s, due January 31.
• Individual tax return (Form 1040), due April 15.
• S corporation return (Form 1120-S) and partnership return (Form 1065), due March 15.
• C corporation return (Form 1120), due April 15.
• Yearly engagement letter renewal, due 31 days after the year ends.

The dates are the usual federal ones for calendar-year clients. Press Add beside one and it becomes your own recurring work, to change like any you made yourself. One you already have shows Added.

Give it to clients

1. Press Give to clients.
2. Pick the Work.
3. Under Who does it, pick the person on your team.
4. Under First period, pick a day in the first period the work is for. It starts on today.
5. Under Clients, search or pick a stage and tick each client. Tick all … shown ticks everyone in the list.
6. Press Give to and the number of clients.

Each client gets the work as their own. A client who already has it keeps what they have, and the note afterwards names them.

Otto makes each period's work when that period begins. It makes one period at a time for each client, so a first period in the past is caught up one period at a time, never all at once. A client has each kind of work once; to stop it, open the work under The work you repeat and press Stop beside the client. Work already made stays.

See what is due

The page shows, across every client:

• Due soon and overdue: work due within 7 days, and work past its due date that is not done.
• Coming up: work whose period has begun and whose due date is further away.
• Done in the last 30 days.

Press Mine to see only the work given to you. Press a row to open it: tick each step as it is done, change who does it, and press Mark done. Otto asks before marking work done with steps still unticked. Press Open it again to reopen it.

Workload

Someone who manages the business also sees Workload at the top: each person's open recurring work, how much is overdue, due this week, due this month and later, with a bar for each. Work nobody has been given is under Nobody. Open an item to give it to someone else, or open the work under The work you repeat to change who does it for a client.

Notices

Otto leaves a notice naming the person who does the work 7 days before the due date, and another on the due date. Each is given once. Work that is done is not chased.

Documents from the client

When the work asks for documents, Otto makes a document request for the client that many days before the due date, titled with the work and the period, such as "Quarterly sales tax return — Q3 2026". The email to the client waits in Reviews: nothing is sent until you approve it. The request asks for the documents 7 days before the work is due, and never sooner than 3 days after it is made. Client documents then sends its one reminder as usual, through Reviews.

The work shows how many documents are in and whether the email was approved. Press Open in Client documents to see the files.

Documents are asked for only when Client documents is switched on in Settings → What you use. A client with no email address gets the request without the email: copy its link from Client documents and send it yourself.

If it doesn't work

• "A fixed day each year is for yearly work. For monthly or quarterly work, give the days after the period ends." — press Yearly, or type the days after the period ends.
• "Say how many days before the due date to ask for the documents." — type the number of days, or remove the documents.
• "(Client) already has (work)." — the client already has it. Open the work to see who does it.
• "Work has already been made from this. Switch it off instead, so its history stays." — open the work and switch off Make new periods.
• "Recurring work is part of Jobs, which is switched off for this business." — switch on Jobs in Settings → What you use.