The problem
Canadian firms run tax season on memory and spreadsheets. Deadlines live in someone's head, documents get chased through email, and per-seat software charges more every time the firm grows. One missed filing can mean penalties and a lost client.
What Clerra does
Clerra is one calm system for the whole practice.
- A deadline engine that builds each client's full filing calendar — T1, T2, T3, GST/HST, payroll, T4/T5, instalments and provincial filings — the moment you enter their entity type, year end and remittance frequency, and keeps it current as their profile changes.
- Recurring work that runs itself. Set up monthly closes and seasonal returns once; jobs appear on schedule with every step ready to check off through review to filed. An entire tax season spawns in one click.
- A client portal clients actually use — secure uploads, a checklist that shows them exactly what's outstanding, built-in messaging, and a complete client file exportable to PDF on demand.
Security
Clerra holds tax documents and financial records for entire firms, so security is the foundation, not a feature.
- Canadian data residency. All records, documents and backups live in Canadian data centres (AWS Canada Central, Montréal) — never crossing the border, aligned with PIPEDA.
- Row-level security. Every row is locked to its firm inside the database itself, not just in application code, so no bug or misconfigured request can expose one firm's data to another.
- Trust-zone isolation. The client portal is a separate trust zone — clients see only their own checklist and shared files, never internal notes, other clients, or team workload.
- Signed, scoped file access. Documents sit in private storage and download only through expiring signed links issued after the database confirms access; uploads are validated by type and size.
- Two-factor authentication for staff and clients, with least-privilege roles separating day-to-day work from billing, team, and audit functions.
- Full audit trail. Access, uploads, deletions, invitations and permission changes are logged for admin review.
- Encrypted in transit and at rest, with CAPTCHA and rate limiting on public sign-in. Payment details never touch Clerra's servers — billing runs through Stripe.
Why it matters
Clerra runs on top of QuickBooks, Xero and TaxCycle — it doesn't replace the tools firms already trust. It's the layer that keeps the whole practice on track, at one price that never punishes a firm for growing.
