E-Signature in DynaTax AI

How E-Signature Works Here

E-signature is built and operated in-house by DynaTax AI. There is no third-party e-signature vendor in the loop — no separate account to buy and no separate login for your clients. The documents, the signing page, the signed PDF, and the audit trail are all produced by DynaTax AI.

A signature request is called an envelope. An envelope holds one or more documents, one or more signers, the fields each signer must complete, and the settings that govern how it is delivered and when it expires.

Signing is electronic-signature compliant: the signing page carries an E-SIGN Act notice and an explicit consent checkbox, and the completed PDF carries a per-signer certificate with capture metadata and a tamper-verification hash.

Where to Find It

• Professionals: in the pro portal sidebar, open Clients → E-Sign.
• Clients: in the client portal sidebar, open Documents → E-Sign. Anything waiting on you also appears on your dashboard.

The pro screen is titled E-Sign and is a single workspace with five tabs — Requests, Drafts, Contacts, Documents, and Templates — plus a New E-Sign request button in the header.

Sending a Request

Click New E-Sign request. The wizard has two steps.

Message and request settings

Step 1's Message section is where the delivery rules live:

• Subject — required, and it becomes the subject line of the request email.
• Email introduction — an optional note shown above the signing link.
• Request expires after (days) — between 1 and 90 days, defaulting to 14.
• Login Requirements — choose None (signers use the emailed link without logging in), If they have a DynaTax AI account, or All (everyone logs in; signers without an account are asked to set a password).
• Allowed signature types — Hand drawn (touchscreen or stylus), Hand or mouse drawn, and Typed. At least one must be selected; all three are on by default.
• Reminders — turn on Automatic reminders, choose who gets them (pending signers, you, or both), and set up to three scheduled rules. Each rule is a number of days, counted either days from now or days before expiry.

Placing fields

Step 2 gives you a field palette: Signature, Initials, Date signed, Date, Text, Checkbox, Radio, File request, and Annotation. Select a field on the page and the right rail lets you change its signer, toggle Required, set a Field label, add Pre-filled text the signer can still edit, choose a Date format on date-signed fields, or delete the field.

Use View prepared PDF to preview the layout before you send.

What You Can Send

You can upload PDF and Word files (.doc and .docx). Anything else is rejected at upload.

• Word files are converted to PDF automatically. The uploader shows Converting to PDF… while it works, and the original Word file is kept in storage untouched.
• Multiple files are supported. They are combined — in the order you arrange them, and you can drag the rows to reorder — into a single signing view. The original files are kept for download and for your records.
• Password-protected PDFs are rejected. Remove the encryption before uploading.

Recipients & Signing Order

Sending to someone without an account

Yes, this is supported. Step 1 has a Link to client (optional) field. Pick an existing workspace client, or leave it on No linked client. Signers receive a secure email link, and no DynaTax AI account is required. When you leave it unlinked, a Company (optional)field appears, and DynaTax AI creates a client record from the first signer's details when you send. That makes prospect engagement letters a one-step flow rather than “onboard them, then send.”

Multiple signers and order

• Add as many signers as the document needs with Add new signer, or put yourself on the document with Add myself as a signer. Each signer has a name, an email, and an optional role label.
• Turn on Sign in order to route the document sequentially — signers get numbered order badges and you can drag the rows to change the sequence. A signer who tries to sign out of turn is told who has to sign first.
• Turn on Require access code (KBA) for a signer to add a one-time SMS code before they can open and sign. Switching it on reveals a Phone field for that signer.

Signer names and emails autocomplete from your saved contacts as you type.

Templates, Drafts & Contacts

Templates

A template stores a document together with its field placements and signing defaults — subject, email body, expiration days, signing order, and allowed signature types. Save one from the Step 2 toolbar with Save as Template and give it a name; you need at least one placed field to save.

The Templates tab is your Template library, listing each template's name, field count, and expiration days. Click Use and the wizard opens pre-loaded — you only add the signers. For a firm that sends the same engagement letter fifty times a season, this is where the time goes back on the clock.

Drafts

Save draft in the wizard toolbar parks an in-progress request; the Drafts tab lists them with a Continue button, and the tab shows a count badge when you have any. Sending a request clears its draft automatically.

Contacts

The Contacts tab is a signer directory that builds itself— every time you send a request, the signers are saved to your firm's contact list. There is no separate form to fill in. From a contact row you can email them, start a New e-sign request pre-filled with their details, open their Document history, or edit and delete the contact. Deleting a contact does not delete their existing envelopes.

The Documentstab is the same directory viewed by document — open a contact to see every request they've ever been sent, filtered by All, Pending, Signed, Declined, or Expired.

What the Signer Sees

In the client portal

Clients with a DynaTax AI account find their requests under Documents → E-Sign, on a page titled Documents to sign. It filters by All, Pending, Signed, Declined, and Expired. Opening a request shows who sent it, the due date, the list of signers and their progress, the files, and a Continue to signbutton when it's that person's turn. Anything outstanding also surfaces on the client dashboard as “A document is awaiting your signature” with a Sign now button.

Signing itself

Signers who don't have an account never need one — they click Review & sign document in the email and land on a secure signing page keyed to their personal link. The page shows the document type, who requested it, and the due date. Then:

1. If an access code was required, a Verify your phone step comes first — a one-time code is texted to the signer, with a Resend code option.
2. Fill the fields.A counter tracks progress (“X of Y required fields”) and a Next Field button jumps to the next one. Empty fields are labelled — Click to sign, Click to add initials, Select date. Only that signer's own fields are clickable. There's zoom, fit-to-width, and fullscreen for reading on a phone.
3. Add the signature. A modal offers a Draw tab (finger, stylus, mouse, or trackpad, with a Clear button) and a Type tab where the signer types their name and picks a style. The signer can also Unsign to redo a mark.
4. Consent and submit. An E-SIGN Act notice explains that an electronic signature has the same legal effect as a handwritten one; the signer ticks the consent checkbox and clicks Sign Document.

A confirmation screen (Document Signed!) follows, and the signer receives a confirmation email. When everyone has signed, all parties — including the preparer — get a completion email with the signed copy.

Tracking a Request

The Requests tab lists every envelope with its document, client, status, and created date, searchable by subject, client, email, or envelope ID. The status filter offers All, In progress, Completed, Declined, and Expired— “expired” simply means still unsigned past its due date.

Open an envelope and you get the full picture: a Signerstable showing each signer's routing order, whether their SMS gate is on, their signing status, and whether they have opened the link yet (Accessed / Not accessed). A Files to Fill or Sign card lets you view or download each file, download them all, or use Download signed once the request is fully signed. A Resend button re-emails everyone still pending, and pending signers can be edited from the table if you got an email address wrong.

Automatic reminders, if you enabled them, go out on your schedule and stop on their own once the envelope is complete or nobody is pending.

Where Signed Documents Land

When the last signature arrives, DynaTax AI produces the signed PDF and files it for you — you don't download and re-upload anything.

• The signed copy is saved into a Signed Documentsfolder in the document vault, and is visible in both the firm's Documents and the linked client's Documents.
• If you sent multiple files, you get one signed PDF per original file, each carrying its own audit trail — not a single merged blob you have to split later.
• Any other signer who has a DynaTax AI account is given access to their signed copy and notified that it's ready in their document portal.
• Signed documents are badged E-Signed in the Documents list, and the document menu can take you back to the envelope they came from. The unsigned original you uploaded is filed too, badged E-Sign Sent.

Audit Trail & Verification

Every completed document gets a Certificate of completion & audit trail page appended to the end of the PDF. It travels with the file, so it is still there years later when someone asks how the signature was obtained. The certificate records:

• The document, the client, the envelope ID, and the timestamp when all signatures completed.
• A Tamper verification line with a link to a public verification page for that envelope.
• Signers (legal identity & capture metadata) — for each signer: name and email, which identity check was used (email link, or email plus SMS one-time access code), when the SMS code was verified, how the signature was captured, when they signed, their browser user-agent, and a certificate hash.
• An Event log, oldest to newest, of every step: request email sent, signing link opened, SMS access code sent, SMS access code verified, signature applied, and envelope completed.

The last page of the signed document also carries a short verification footer, and anyone holding the document can open the public verification page to confirm the signatures against DynaTax AI without needing an account. That page shows the document and the signers; signer emails are masked.

Frequently Asked Questions