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Dates

Updated: 2025-03-25

You can pull some dates straight from fields in the tax return. Others are constants that TaxCycle understands and calculates based on the system time on your computer and the tax year end date.

Formatting Dates

  1. Place parentheses ( ) around the field code, within the double braces {{ }} (curly brackets).
  2. Add format in front of the opening parenthesis (do not leave any space between it and the parentheses).
  3. Add a comma , after the field code and before the closing parenthesis ).
  4. Insert a pair of double quotes "" before the closing parenthesis ).
  5. Between the double quotes "", type the date in the format in which you want it to appear, using the date of January 2, 2003 to do this (TaxCycle replaces it with the real date when it merges in the client data). Alternatively, you can use traditional date format masks. See the table on the Microsoft Custom Date and Time Format Strings page for a list of supported format strings.
Example Sample result
{{ CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate }} 2019-04-30 12:00:00 AM
{{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "January 2, 2003") }} April 30, 2019
{{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "Jan 2, 2003") }} Apr 30, 2019
{{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "2003-01-02") }} 2019-04-30
{{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "03-01-02") }} 19-04-30
{{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "03-Jan-02") }} 19-Apr-30
{{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "yy-MMM-dd") }} 19-Apr-30
{{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "January 2, 2003 at 4:05") }} April 30, 2019 at 1:22
{{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "January 2, 2003 at 16:05") }} April 30, 2019 at 13:22

Date Constants

Field code Description  Sample result

{{ today() }}

 Inserts the system date for the computer where the file is open.

2016-12-01 12:00:00 AM 

{{ Constants.CurrentTaxationYear }}

 Inserts the tax year for the currently-open file.

2016

{{ Constants.NextTaxationYear }}

 Inserts the tax year for the following year relative to that in the currently-open file.

2017
{{ date(2016, 02, 18) }} Specific date, using the {{date(YYYY, MM, DD)}} or format. To use it in conditions, see the Conditions help topic.  2016-02-18 12:00:00 AM

Date Comparison

How to create a condition based on a signing date field in TaxCycle:

{{# CurrentClient.Info.Filing.SigningDate != date() }}

{{# CurrentClient.Info.Filing.SigningDate = today() }}
Show this text if the return was signed today.
{{/end}}

{{# CurrentClient.Info.Filing.SigningDate < today() }}
Show this text if the signing date was yesterday or earlier.

Then, to count the number of days: signed {{ format(today() - CurrentClient.Info.Filing.SigningDate, “dd”) }} days ago.
{{/end}}

{{/end}}

How to compare the due date with today's date:

{{# today() > CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate }}
You are late.
{{/end}}

{{# today() < CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate }}
You are early.
{{/end}}

{{# today() = CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate }}
You are just in time.
{{/end}}

Adding Years/Months/Days

Function Example Description
addymd() {{addymd(CurrentClient.Engage.Engagement.FilingDeadline,0,1,1)}} The first parameter is years to add, second is months to add, third is days to add.
addmonth()

{{addmonth(CurrentClient.Engage.Engagement.FilingDeadline,2)}}

{{addmonth(CurrentClient.Engage.Engagement.FilingDeadline,(-3))}}

Enter the number of months after the comma and before the closing parenthesis. To subtract, enter the number of months as a negative number, wrapped in parentheses. 

Unlike addymd(), this function has a bias toward the last day of the month, allowing it to handle months of different lengths and leap years. If the date passed to the function is the last day of the month, the date returned will also be the last day of the month. For example, February 29, 2020 plus 1 month will be March 31, 2020, whereas February 28, 2020 plus 1 month will equal March 28, 2020.

Support for Traditional Date Format Strings

TaxCycle supports traditional date format masks formatting dates in a template. You can use {{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "yyyy-dd-MMM") }} or {{ format(CurrentClient.Info.CommonData.FileByDate, "2003-02-Jan") }} to insert a filing date with the format of: 2019-30-Apr:

2018-date-format-string-templates

See the table on the Microsoft Custom Date and Time Format Strings page for a list of supported format strings.