Using flag templates

When this article is for you

You're flagging an invoice for a client and want to know which template fits — or you've used the templates a few times and want to understand the full set, the wording conventions, and the edge cases (withdraw, private notes, escalation). This article covers all of that.

For the broader review-queue context, see the review queue explained. For what happens after you flag (client edits, invoice auto-resets to your queue), see auto-reset on client edit.

The 16 built-in templates

Grouped by the underlying issue. Each comes with a starter comment that you can edit before sending.

VAT / tax issues (4 templates)

• Wrong VAT rate — "The VAT rate on this invoice doesn't match what I'd expect for this vendor / category. Please double-check the printed rate against the document."
• VAT amount doesn't match the displayed total — "Net + VAT doesn't equal Gross on the printed invoice. Could be an extraction error or an inconsistent invoice. Please verify by hand."
• Reverse-charge wasn't applied — "This looks like an intra-EU B2B supply that should be reverse-charged (0% VAT on our side, you self-account). Please check the supplier's invoice for the reverse-charge clause."
• Tax ID missing or invalid — "The vendor's VAT ID is missing or doesn't validate against VIES. Please confirm with the vendor — for B2B invoices, the VAT ID needs to be on the document."

Document quality (4 templates)

• Original document is blurry or unreadable — "I can't read the document clearly enough to verify the extracted fields. Could you re-upload a sharper version?"
• This looks like a duplicate of another invoice — "This invoice appears to be a duplicate of an existing one in the system. Please check and delete one of them if it's truly a duplicate."
• Page 1 only — please re-upload all pages — "Only page 1 was extracted. If the invoice spans multiple pages, please re-upload with all pages combined into one PDF."
• This is a quote / proforma, not an invoice — "This document looks like a quote or pro-forma invoice, not a real invoice. Please replace with the final invoice when you receive it."

Categorisation (3 templates)

• Wrong expense category — "The suggested category doesn't fit what this expense actually is. Please pick the correct category from your chart of accounts."
• This should be split across categories — "This invoice covers multiple expense categories (e.g. travel + meals). Please split it into the correct portions before approving."
• Personal-vs-business — please clarify — "Could you confirm whether this is a business expense or a private one? The vendor / amount could go either way."

Vendor (2 templates)

• Vendor isn't who the AI thinks — "The extracted vendor name doesn't match the actual vendor on the invoice. Please correct the vendor field — your correction trains the AI for future invoices from this sender."
• New vendor — please confirm the legal name — "This appears to be a new vendor we haven't seen before. Please verify the legal name (and add a VAT ID + IBAN if you have them) so future matching works cleanly."

Other (3 templates)

• Missing supporting evidence — "An invoice for this amount usually has supporting docs (contract, delivery note, proof of payment). Could you upload any related documents?"
• Date is wrong — "The invoice date looks off. Could you confirm the printed date on the document and correct the field?"
• Currency conversion looks off — "The ECB rate for this date doesn't quite match what I'd expect for this amount. Could you verify the conversion?"

Free-text (1)

• Free-text custom message — empty field. Type whatever the situation needs.

The walk-through

Step 1 — open the invoice

From the review queue, click an item to open the invoice detail page. You see the original document on the left, extracted fields on the right.

Step 2 — click Flag (instead of Approve)

Flag is the alternative to Approve in the action bar at the top of the invoice. Clicking it opens the flag modal.

Step 3 — pick a template

Dropdown shows the 16 templates grouped by category. Click one; the comment field pre-fills with the template's starter text.

You can also pick Free-text custom message if none of the templates fit.

Step 4 — edit the comment (optional)

The starter text is generic. Edit it to be specific to the invoice:

• Add the actual vendor name ("Hetzner")
• Reference the specific field that's wrong ("the VAT rate is 19% but should be 7% for the books")
• Add context the client needs ("we discussed this on the call Monday — the OSS scheme applies")

The client sees the final edited text in their notification — they don't see the template name or whether you edited.

Step 5 — send

Click Send (or Send & next to jump to the next queue item after sending). The invoice:

• Gets the Pending advisor review status
• Shows a yellow Advisor flagged banner with your name + comment on the client's view
• Triggers a notification (email + in-app) to the client's account

Step 6 — wait for the client edit

When the client edits the flagged field (or any field on the invoice), the auto-reset fires and the invoice lands back in your queue as Re-submitted. See auto-reset on client edit for the exact trigger logic.

Withdraw a flag

You flagged the wrong invoice, or you reconsidered and want to take back the flag without the client ever seeing it.

If the client has NOT yet seen the flag (didn't open the notification, didn't load the invoice page), click Withdraw flag from the invoice detail page. The flag is removed; the invoice goes back to its pre-flag state; the client gets no notification of either the flag or the withdraw. Audit log retains the history (you flagged, then withdrew, with timestamps).

If the client HAS already seen the flag (notification opened, invoice loaded), withdraw still removes the flag — but the client may already have started working on the fix. Better in that case: send a quick Free-text custom message saying "Sorry, ignore the previous flag, the original was correct."

Custom templates

Not supported today. The 16 built-in templates cover the common cases; for everything else, use the Free-text custom message template.

Workaround for power-users with repeated custom comments: keep a personal text file (Notes, password manager secure-note, whatever) with your most-used custom comments. Copy-paste into the free-text field.

User-defined templates is on the 2026 backlog. Two main models being considered: per-user (your templates) and per-firm (shared across colleagues at the same firm). If you have a strong preference, write to [email protected] with [FEATURE] flag templates — input helps prioritise.

Private notes (visible only to advisors, not the client)

Sometimes you want to note something for yourself or for another advisor at your firm, but NOT show it to the client. Flag comments are always client-visible; that's the point. For private context, use the Private notes field on the invoice detail page (separate from the flag comment).

Private notes are visible only to other tax advisors connected to the same client — NOT to the client themselves, NOT to the client's team-members. They're useful for:

• "Asked client by phone, waiting for callback"
• "Suspicious — vendor reputation flagged on Trustpilot"
• "Cross-check against contract dated 2026-04-12"
• "Reviewed with senior advisor — approved despite the unusual amount"

The notes attach to the invoice and persist across re-submissions, so the next time the invoice resets to your queue, your prior notes are still there.

Escalation patterns

When the same invoice has been flagged → fixed → flagged again three times without resolution, the system shows a warning banner on the invoice: "This invoice has been flagged 3 times. Consider escalating."

Common escalation paths:

• Phone call — sometimes the issue is a misunderstanding faster resolved verbally
• Email outside the app — for sensitive context that shouldn't be in the audit log
• Withdraw and re-record with full context — if the issue is more complex than a single-field fix, withdraw the flag, add a private note explaining what you've decided, manually adjust the field (where your read-only scope allows it — usually it doesn't, but you can guide the client through it via call)

There's no built-in "escalate to firm partner" feature; that's a process inside your firm, not inside TaxItEasy.

Edge cases

I flagged the wrong invoice. Open it, click Withdraw flag (visible only to you, not the client) — see the Withdraw a flag section above. The client sees no notification if you withdraw before they've opened the original.

Template wording doesn't match how I usually phrase it. Edit the auto-filled text before sending. The client only sees the final version. If you're consistently re-writing the same template, that's a signal that the template should be tightened — write to [email protected] with the template name + your preferred wording; we update the defaults periodically.

Client keeps re-submitting without fixing the issue. After 3 round-trips on the same invoice without resolution, you'll see the escalation warning. Try a more-specific custom message ("the rate on line 4 specifically is wrong, line 5 is correct — only edit the line 4 rate"). If still no progress, escalate via phone or email outside the app. See escalation patterns above.

I want flag comments to be private to me — not visible to the client. Flag comments are always client-visible (that's the point of flagging). For your own private notes, use the per-invoice Private notes field — visible only to advisors, not to the client. See private notes above.

Same flag template fires for many invoices from the same vendor. That's a signal to create a matching rule that auto-categorises (and the auto-match pipeline at high confidence will auto-approve without ever reaching your queue). Templates handle one-off cases; rules handle patterns.

Client claims they fixed the field but the auto-reset didn't fire. Open the invoice's audit log. If you see their field_edited event, the auto-reset should have fired and the invoice is in your queue (refresh). If no audit event, the client probably opened the invoice but never saved a change — see auto-reset on client edit for the precise trigger criteria.

My flag was sent to the wrong client. This shouldn't happen — flags attach to the invoice's parent company. If you genuinely see a flag on the wrong company, write to [email protected] with [BUG] flag wrong client. Investigating.

Related

• The review queue, explained — broader workflow context
• Bulk approve up to 50 invoices — the bulk action that flagging is NOT (per-invoice on purpose)
• Auto-reset on client edit — what happens after you flag
• Creating a custom matching rule — for patterns that should auto-handle without reaching the queue