What Makes a HostHours Packet Ready or DRAFT?

A HostHours packet is Ready when the application has the factual context it requires for an organized handoff. DRAFT means at least one required fact, review step, or revision state still needs attention.

Neither label is a tax opinion. Ready does not mean a CPA has approved the records, and DRAFT does not mean the underlying work is invalid. The labels describe the condition of the packet inside the product.

Ready has a defined meaning

The readiness check looks for:

• a rental strategy;
• required property details;
• the report owner;
• activities in the workspace;
• monthly review inputs;
• no pending local revision events.

These checks keep a packet from looking finished when its cover context or activity set is incomplete. They do not judge whether a task receives a particular tax treatment. They also do not evaluate every requirement for material participation or Real Estate Professional Status.

The Reports screen is organized around this job. It presents a Ready to export or items to review card, owner hours and record count, months to review, Needs attention, report details, and the export action. An issue should take the user close to the place where it can be corrected.

DRAFT keeps an incomplete set visibly incomplete

A Pro user can still generate the packet when gaps remain. The output is marked DRAFT and includes a warning list instead of silently suppressing the export or presenting it as complete.

Possible items include:

• no activities in the workspace;
• a missing factual note;
• an unreviewed month;
• a missing owner name;
• incomplete property information;
• invalid or unavailable supporting context;
• pending revision history.

Each warning points to a different kind of work. A missing owner name belongs in the profile. An unreviewed month belongs in Month review. A pending record change must finish its lifecycle. A DRAFT label lets the packet exist while those distinctions remain visible.

Unavailable remote history has a narrower effect. If the factual packet is otherwise correct, that condition is noted in the technical CSV. It does not by itself make the packet DRAFT. A pending revision, by contrast, means the local and durable history is not settled, so readiness should wait.

Review the month before the year

Monthly review is the smallest useful unit for packet preparation. The review screen shows owner and non-owner hours, attachment coverage, missing notes, the full activity list, and whether the month is open or finalized.

Finalizing marks the month as reviewed and locks regular editing. It is not permanent. If a fact needs correction, the user explicitly reopens the month, and that lifecycle event remains part of the revision context.

Before finalizing, look for vague descriptions, the wrong person, a record assigned to the wrong property, and attachments that never finished uploading. Evidence is optional, so a missing attachment should not be treated as a universal defect. An unavailable file that the packet expects to reference is a different issue and deserves review.

Choose the export that matches the handoff

HostHours has several export concepts with different purposes.

Export My Data is available on all plans. It creates portable JSON with account and workspace facts, evidence metadata, reviewed months, and other structured data. It does not embed original binary evidence files.

Standard Activity CSV is available to Essential and Pro users who need a clean activity ledger. It contains activity facts without the complete evidence and revision appendix or packet status.

Full CPA PDF is the human-readable Pro packet. It organizes activity rows, a summary, warnings, evidence references, and an appendix for available photos. It does not expose raw technical IDs or sync history.

Full CPA CSV preserves the technical handoff: raw IDs, source provenance, participant IDs, revision history, readiness warnings, evidence manifest, and import or recall lineage.

These exports should not be described as interchangeable. A readable PDF and a technical CSV answer different review questions.

Generated report files are temporary share files in the device cache. HostHours does not maintain a separate archive of prior export paths after the share flow ends. Preserve the shared copy in the destination chosen for the handoff.

Ready still leaves professional judgment open

A packet can contain every required product field and still raise questions for a CPA. The professional may ask why a duration changed, whether two activities should be separated, or how an item should be treated. That is normal review, not a readiness failure.

The useful promise is smaller: the owner arrives with organized activity facts, visible warnings, and revision context instead of an unmarked collection of files.

Open Reports before the year-end meeting. Resolve the warnings you can answer from factual records. Leave tax conclusions and uncertain treatment for the CPA rather than editing the history to make the packet look cleaner.

HostHours organizes facts for professional review. Ready does not mean CPA-approved, IRS-approved, or guaranteed to support a deduction or examination outcome.