How to Use Ledger IQ with Lacerte

Start with a trial balance export from whatever your client's books live in. From QuickBooks: Reports → Trial Balance, set the report period to the tax year, and export to Excel. Any general ledger package works the same way. Ledger IQ accepts Excel (.xlsx) and CSV files.

Sign in at portal.ledgeriq.ai and create a company for the client. You'll set three things:

• Return type: 1065 (partnership), 1120 (C corporation), or 1120-S (S corporation)
• Tax software: choose Lacerte
• Tax year

The return type and software selection load the matching tax-line mapping workbook behind the scenes, so the mapping dropdowns you see in the next step are the actual Lacerte lines for that form.

Drag the file into the upload area (or click to browse). Ledger IQ reads the file and shows a quick column-confirmation dialog: verify which column is the account name and which hold the amounts (debit/credit or balance). Confirm, and the trial balance appears as a grid with every account on its own row.

Click Suggest Mappings. Ledger IQ assigns each account to a Lacerte tax line using three layers: your firm's own history (how you mapped this account before), a rule library built by CPAs, and an AI layer for the odd ones. Suggestions appear highlighted with a review bar at the top.

Every suggestion must be accepted or dismissed by you. The export button stays disabled until the review queue is empty. Accounts the engine isn't confident about are left blank for you to map manually with the dropdown on each row.

Book your period-end adjustments right in the workspace using the pencil icon on any account row. Three entry types are supported, and the distinction matters for what reaches Lacerte:

Switch to the Working TB view. It's the classic tax workpaper layout: Unadjusted → Adjustments → Adjusted → Tax Line (with Tax Adjustment and Tax Balance columns appearing when the company has TJEs). The totals row proves the workpaper ties: a green check at $0.00, red if anything is out of balance.

• Click any adjustment cell to see the balance build-up: unadjusted balance → each entry line → adjusted balance.
• Click a tax line to open a mini leadsheet: every account mapped to that line and the total flowing to the return.
• The Entries view lists every journal entry as a numbered card with debit/credit totals.

When the totals row shows the green check and there are no unreviewed suggestions, the workpaper is ready to export.

Three export buttons sit above the grid. Trial Balance and Journal Entries produce Excel/PDF workpapers for your file; Lacerte Import generates the file Lacerte actually reads.

Click Lacerte Import, give the file a name (the client name works well), and a CSV downloads. It has four columns: description, whole-dollar adjusted balance, and the Lacerte series and tax code that route each amount to the right line on the return:

Now switch to Lacerte and pull the file in:

1. Open the client in Lacerte, using the same return type and tax year as the Ledger IQ company.
2. From the menu bar, choose Import → Data Conductor.
3. First time only: set up the mapping profile that tells Data Conductor which column is which (description, amount, series, tax code). This is a one-time setup for the life of your Lacerte install; every future import reuses it.
4. Select the CSV you exported from Ledger IQ. (If you opened the file to peek at it, close it first; Lacerte can't read an open file.)
5. Review the Data Review tab. Because every line already carries its series and tax code, the amounts are pre-assigned to return lines, so you're confirming, not mapping.
6. Click Transfer to push the balances into the return.