How Vylan reads and checks documents
Every upload is read just enough to land on the right checklist line by itself. The full check — readability, wrong year, wrong person, missing pages — runs for clients whose AI document checks are on. Either way, you still make the call.
Vylan reads client uploads at two depths, and the difference decides everything else on this page.
Every upload is sorted — that part is always on, and free
Every document a client uploads through their portal gets a quick automatic read that identifies it: the document type, the year, the name on it. That read is what powers the drop zone at the top of their portal, labelled Drop your documents here — your client can drop a whole pile of files on it at once, and each file lands on the right checklist line by itself. A file that matches nothing is never guessed at: it waits for you on the engagement page, under Dropped by the client — waiting to be placed, and you place it.
Sorting runs for every client, always, and it does not use your firm's AI document allowance.
The full check is per client
The full check is the deeper read the rest of this article describes: whether the file is readable, whether it is the document you asked for, the right year, the right person, whether pages are missing — and it is what the auto-reject rules act on. It runs only for clients whose AI document checks switch is on. That switch lives on the client's page, in the right-hand rail — one switch per client, off until you turn it on. Every engagement for that client follows it automatically, including ones already under way; there is no per-engagement setting.
Full checks draw on your firm's AI allowance. A firm on trial gets ten checks in total; a paid firm gets a monthly allowance that resets. When the allowance runs out the upload still arrives safely and is still sorted — it simply is not checked, and you review it yourself.
For a client whose checks are on, the check runs the second a file arrives: Vylan reads it in full and compares it against the document you actually asked for. This takes a few seconds. Your client sees Checking your document… while it happens.
The check is advisory. The product says so on the screen: Suggestion only. You make the call. Vylan is telling you what it thinks it is looking at. It is not deciding for you, and you can overrule it on any document.
What it looks for
- Whether the file is the document type you requested, or something else entirely.
- Whether it is readable, or too blurry, dark, or cut off to use.
- Whether it covers the right year or period.
- Whether the name on the document matches the client you are collecting for.
- Whether it is a duplicate of something they already sent for this engagement.
What you see on the file
The result shows up on the document as a short status:
- Looks right: it read as the document you asked for.
- Low confidence: it is not sure. Worth your eyes.
- Wrong document: it read as something other than what you requested.
- Needs review: something is off and Vylan is handing it to you.
- Auto-rejected: it was sent back to the client automatically. See below.
- Identified — not checked: the quick read recognised the file, but the full check did not run — this client's checks are off, or the allowance is used up. You review it normally.
When there is a mismatch, it says so in plain terms rather than a score. Things like Expected T4, got T4A, or Expected 2024, but this reads 2023, or a note that the name on the document does not match the client.
Why it thinks so
Open the details and Vylan shows its work: what it read, the issuer, the year or period, the form, the amounts it found, and what else it considered the document might be. If you disagree, there is a button that says exactly what it does: AI was wrong, approve.
Sending bad uploads back automatically
In your settings there is a toggle called Auto-reject invalid uploads. When it is on, Vylan sends an upload straight back to a client if it is unreadable, incomplete, or not the document that was requested, and asks them to resubmit. When it is off, those land in your review queue instead and nothing goes back to the client until you say so.
The client's side of that is gentle. They see This file looks wrong, please try again with a nudge to take a fresh photo or send the correct document. When a file passes, they see Received, looks good! instead.
There is a second toggle, Auto-reject duplicates, for the specific case of a client sending an exact copy of something they already uploaded for that engagement. On, it bounces automatically. Off, it gets flagged for you.
Sending back the wrong year
A third, Send back documents from the wrong year: When a document's year doesn't match the job's tax year, return it to the client automatically with an explanation.
Think hard about this one. Careful: a 2025 return often needs paper printed in 2026, like a T4 or an RRSP receipt for the first 60 days. Off, a wrong year is still flagged for you — it just is not sent back on its own.
Chasing a missing page
A fourth toggle, Auto-ask for missing pages, handles the specific and very common case of a client photographing three pages of a four-page document. On, Vylan asks them for the missing page itself. Off, it is flagged for your review instead.
There is a sensible limit built into this one, and it is worth knowing: if Vylan is not sure which page is missing, it always comes to you, never the client. It will not guess at your client.
All four start OFF
Nothing is sent back to a client automatically until you say so. All four of these switches are off when your firm is created, and stay off until somebody turns them on. Until then every questionable upload is flagged for you and waits — Vylan never writes to your client on your behalf about a document.
All four act on the full check's verdict, so they only ever do anything for clients whose AI document checks are on. For everyone else there is no verdict to act on, and every upload simply waits for you.
Turning them on is a real trade. Clients fix mistakes fastest while they are still sitting there with the document in hand, so an instant bounce genuinely works better than a review three days later. But it is your name on the message. Start with the one you would have sent anyway.
Quebec slips
Include Quebec tax forms is on by default, and most firms should leave it alone. Turn it off only if your firm works entirely outside Quebec: the Quebec-only slips, the RL-1, the RL-3 and so on, then disappear from every client checklist.
Left on, it is smarter than it sounds. Those slips still drop off automatically for any client whose province is set outside Quebec, so a firm serving both sides of a border does not have to think about it.
There is a monthly limit
Full checks are capped per month — sorting never counts against the cap. Your settings page shows where you stand and whether checks are Active or Paused, along with a count of how many you have used and when it resets.
If you reach the limit, checks pause until the reset. Nothing else breaks: your clients can still upload exactly as before, their files still land on the right checklist lines, and you review documents by hand in the meantime. Firms on a trial get a set number of free checks rather than a monthly allowance.