Jira hierarchy options

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JIRA Hierarchy Options

For customers who want to strictly use their JIRA hierarchy, NeoTax offers three configuration options:

• Epic Only
• Initiative then Epic
• Initiative Only

Option 1: Initiative Only

Projects are created at the Initiative level only. All Epics and tickets under an Initiative roll up into a single NeoTax project.

Any Epics / Tickets not in an Initiative will be bucketed into one generic NeoTax project per JIRA project.

Best for: Teams that use Initiatives as their primary unit of capitalization tracking, where each Initiative represents a distinct capitalizable software project.

Example:

JIRA Structure:                         NeoTax Result:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Initiative: Mobile App Redesign    →    Project: Mobile App Redesign
  ├── Epic: iOS Updates                   (all effort rolls up here)
  ├── Epic: Android Updates
  └── Epic: Shared Components

Initiative: Payment Gateway v2     →    Project: Payment Gateway v2
  ├── Epic: Stripe Integration            (all effort rolls up here)
  └── Epic: PayPal Integration

Option 2: Epic Only

Projects are created at the Epic level only. Each Epic becomes its own NeoTax project, regardless of whether it has an Initiative parent.

Best for: Teams where Epics represent the actual unit of delivery and financial tracking, and Initiatives are used only for high-level OKR groupings or themes (not capitalization units).

Example:

JIRA Structure:                         NeoTax Result:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Initiative: 2026 Platform Goals         (ignored - not a project)
  ├── Epic: BR-PLAT | Auth Service  →    Project: BR-PLAT | Auth Service
  ├── Epic: BR-PLAT | User API      →    Project: BR-PLAT | User API
  └── Epic: BR-PLAT | Admin Portal  →    Project: BR-PLAT | Admin Portal

Epic: BR-PLAT | Bug Fixes           →    Project: BR-PLAT | Bug Fixes
  (standalone, no Initiative)             (also becomes its own project)

Option 3: Initiative then Epic (Default)

Projects are created at the highest available level:

• If an Epic has an Initiative parent → Initiative becomes the project
• If an Epic has no Initiative → Epic becomes the project

Best for: Teams with mixed usage, where some work is organized under Initiatives and other work is standalone Epics.

Example:

JIRA Structure:                         NeoTax Result:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Initiative: Customer Portal        →    Project: Customer Portal
  ├── Epic: Dashboard                     (rolls up to Initiative)
  └── Epic: Settings Page                 (rolls up to Initiative)

Epic: Infrastructure Upgrades      →    Project: Infrastructure Upgrades
  (standalone, no Initiative)             (Epic becomes project)

Epic: Security Patches             →    Project: Security Patches  
  (standalone, no Initiative)             (Epic becomes project)

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Choosing the Right Option

Key Rules

1. Capitalization is set at the Project level

When there is an Initiative, the capitalization value for the Initiative applies for the whole project (all Epics and tickets underneath it).

When there is no Initiative, the capitalization value for the Epic is used.

2. You cannot have mixed capitalization within an Initiative

If you have Epics that should NOT be capitalized, do not put them inside a capitalized Initiative.

Instead:

• Leave non-capitalizable Epics as standalone projects (no Initiative parent)
• Only group capitalizable Epics under capitalizable Initiatives

3. Projects appear when work starts

A JIRA Initiative or Epic will only appear as a NeoTax project once it has tickets that are “In Progress” or “Completed” with an assignee.

If you don’t see your Initiative in NeoTax yet, it likely means no child tickets have started work.

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Common Scenarios

”My Initiative shows as Expensed but should be Capitalized”

Solution: Edit the capitalization status directly in NeoTax.

1. Go to Projects page
2. Find the project
3. Open Project drawer → Edit capitalization status

”I have an Epic under an Initiative but it shouldn’t be capitalized”

Solution: Restructure your JIRA hierarchy.

1. Turn off capitalization for the existing Initiative/project in NeoTax
2. Create a new JIRA Initiative for your capitalizable Epics
3. Move the capitalizable Epics to the new Initiative in JIRA
4. Going forward, the new Initiative will sync as a capitalized project

”My Epics are showing as individual projects instead of grouped”

This happens when Epics were synced before you created/assigned the Initiative in JIRA.

Solution:

1. Create a project manually in NeoTax (name it after your Initiative)
2. Go to each Epic’s project → Tickets tab → Select the Epic → Move to your manually created project
3. Repeat for all Epics that should be grouped together

See: Managing Tickets with JIRA Hierarchy Sync

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Best Practice: Set Up JIRA Before Work Starts

To minimize manual cleanup:

1. Create your Initiative in JIRA before the end-of-month sync
2. Put your Epics in the Initiative before tickets start work
3. Set the capitalization custom field on the Initiative

This ensures NeoTax creates the project structure correctly on first sync.

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Related Articles

• Managing Tickets with JIRA Hierarchy Sync
• ASC 350-40: Ticket Inclusion Rules and Locking