Understanding Document Verdicts
When a client uploads a document and your practice has upload checks configured to run verification, Prompt analyses the content and assigns a verdict that tells you how confident it is that the document is what it should be. Verdicts only apply when verification is enabled in Settings → Upload Checks — if processing is set to “No processing” or “Extract metadata only”, uploads are accepted without a verdict.
Why verdicts exist
Clients uploading their own documents don't always know exactly what's needed. They might upload last year's P60 when you need this year's, attach a bank statement for the wrong account, or simply grab the wrong file from their downloads folder. Without any automated check, you'd only discover this problem during preparation — after the reminder sequence has already stopped.
Verdicts give you an early-warning system. Most of the time a document is exactly what it should be and the verdict confirms that automatically. When something looks off, Prompt flags it for your review before you've committed to treating the document as received.
The four verdict levels
The document matches the expected type with high confidence. The classification pipeline identified the document correctly, and all applicable validation rules — such as tax year and PAYE reference — passed. No action required.
The document probably matches the expected type, but the pipeline's confidence is below the threshold for a full Verified verdict. This typically happens when the document's text content is partially legible, the format is unusual, or the classification matched on fewer signals than normal.
Likely match documents are accepted into the checklist without requiring manual review. You'll see the amber indicator in the document list as a note, but no action is required unless you want to inspect it.
The pipeline could not reliably identify the document as matching the expected type. This might mean the client has uploaded the wrong document entirely, or the file is a scan of poor quality that couldn't be read properly.
Low confidence documents are flagged for your review. They appear in the to-do list and in the activity log with the red indicator. They do not count as received on the checklist until you either accept or reject them after manual inspection.
The document was identified correctly, but a specific validation rule failed. Common reasons include: the tax year on the document doesn't match the filing period, the employer name or PAYE reference doesn't match what's on file for the client, or a required field is missing or unreadable.
Review needed is the most important verdict to act on, because the document has been identified as real but potentially incorrect for this specific filing. Like Low confidence, these documents don't count as received until cleared.
How the classification pipeline works
When a document is uploaded, Prompt runs it through a multi-step pipeline:
- Text extraction — the file's text content is extracted. For PDFs this uses the embedded text layer. For image files and scanned documents, OCR is used to read the content.
- Document type classification — the extracted text is matched against patterns associated with known document types: P60s, P11Ds, SA302s, VAT return confirmations, bank statements, and more. The classifier assigns a confidence score based on how many matching signals were found.
- Validation rules — if the document type is identified above the confidence threshold, specific rules are applied depending on the type. A P60 will be checked for a matching tax year and PAYE reference. A corporation tax document will be checked for the correct company registration period.
- Verdict assignment — the combination of confidence score and validation outcome determines the final verdict.
The pipeline runs automatically on upload and typically completes within a few seconds. The verdict is visible in the document list as soon as processing is complete.
Filtering by verdict in the activity log
The document activity log (Documents → Activity) shows every document uploaded across your entire practice. You can filter the log by verdict to quickly surface documents that need attention:
- Filter to Low confidence and Review neededto see everything flagged for review across all clients.
- Filter to Verified during busy periods to confirm that high-volume uploads are landing cleanly.
- Combine the verdict filter with a client or date filter to focus on a specific filing period.
Flagged documents also appear in the dashboard to-do list, so you don't need to check the activity log proactively — items that need review will surface automatically.
Clearing review flags
To clear a flag, open the document from the activity log or the client detail page. You'll see the verdict, the specific reason it was flagged, and a preview of the document.
After reviewing, you have two options:
Accept the document
You've reviewed it and are satisfied it's correct despite the flag. Accepting changes the verdict to Verified, counts the document as received on the checklist, and clears it from the to-do list.
Reject the document
The document isn't what you need. Rejecting removes it from the checklist. You can optionally send the client a notification asking them to upload a replacement — this uses the standard portal link so they can re-upload without needing to contact you first.
Until a flagged document is either accepted or rejected, it doesn't count as received. This means the reminder sequence continues running for that client — which is the correct behaviour, since you don't yet have the document you need.
Adjusting upload checks in settings
You can control what processing runs on uploaded documents in Settings → Upload Checks. The main processing modes are:
- Verify & extract metadata — runs both document verification (assigning verdicts) and metadata extraction (reading tax year, employer name, PAYE reference via OCR). This is the most thorough option.
- Verify uploads only — runs document verification to assign verdicts but skips the metadata extraction step.
- Extract metadata only — reads metadata like tax year and employer name but does not classify or assign verdicts. Documents are categorised by filename only.
- No processing — documents are categorised by filename keywords only. No OCR or validation runs. All uploads are accepted as-is.
When verification is enabled (either mode), two additional options become available:
- Reject mismatched HMRC documents — when enabled, portal uploads of HMRC documents (P60, P45, SA302) that clearly have the wrong tax year are automatically rejected and the client is told to upload the correct document. Other document types are unaffected.
- Auto-confirm verified uploads — when enabled, documents with a Verified verdict are automatically marked as received. Uploads that need review or have low confidence remain pending for manual confirmation.