Professional Tax Preparation Software
CMS_VA_CPA
professionals about their tax prep software.
I have used Ultra Tax for many years and in general have been very happy
with the software. Pricing however is another issue. The program is easy
to use and complete in the forms and returns area, but the pricing has just
gone up too much for my current practice requirements and I am looking to
make a change.
I am seriously looking at Intuit ProSeries (since I am also a QuickBooks
ProAdvisor) and at Drake Software. I was also considering ATX but some of
the reviews have not been as good.
Drake seems very inexpensive (by comparison), but I wonder if it is complete
and easy to use. ProSeries seems complete and easy to use with good client
presentation materials, and although less expensive than UltraTax, it is
more expensive than Drake.
I have ordered eval software for both ProSeries and Drake.
My practice is not large but I do have a few multi-state corporations, LLC's
and S-corps with the shareholders also as clients so transfer of the K-1 is
important, and several parent/child returns that need the information to be
shared among them.
I also want to be able to modify the client letters, organizer letters, and
invoice formats. The standard formats never seem to be exactly what I want.
I efile virtually all 1040's. Ultra Tax does everything I want, but it is
just too expensive now.
Any comments on your experience would be appreciated.
CMS_VA_CPA
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Arthur Kamlet
Not a surprise that everytime you add a new owner (Thompson - Reuters
- Creative Solutions) the price goes up.
But in my opinion, UltraTax service/maintenance is outstanding, and
you might be willing to pay more for that alone.
--
ArtKamlet at a o l dot c o m Columbus OH K2PZH
Drew Edmundson
<cshanes@-Delete-This-Nospam-shanescpa.com> wrote:
>I am seriously looking at Intuit ProSeries (since I am also a QuickBooks
>ProAdvisor) and at Drake Software. I was also considering ATX but some of
>the reviews have not been as good.
I use ProSeries and have looked at Drake several times. ProSeries
support sometimes leaves something to be desired. I have tried several
times to get them to fix the MAGI calculation on Form 8582-AMT. I just
get ignored. A lot of nice worksheets though and the input resembles
the forms. Drake is less complete in its overall calculations. For
example, last time I looked they made no attempt to calculate AMT PAL
carryovers. On the other hand, Drake has more forms than ProSeries. I
do not like their input screens for several reasons. They are not form
based and they still seem to DOS like.
You may also want to look at Tax Works. I haven't used it but
evaluated it several times. They are owned by H&R Bloch.
Drew Edmundson, CPA
Cary, NC
HLunsford
> If not off topic for this forum, I would appreciate comments from other tax
> professionals about their tax prep software.
>
>
> Any comments on your experience would be appreciated.
>
>
> CMS_VA_CPA
>
started using Taxwise out of Rome, GA and am still with them, despite
having used ATX for entity returns, and periodically reviewing other
software. But I kept coming back to TAxwise for it's "transparency",
for lack of a better word. What you sees is what you gets! It's form
driven versus input screens and the links are flawless.
Like ATX, it, too, is owned by CCH.
ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA
CMS_VA_CPA
news:fg0kg5dfil0jaaia4...@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:11:28 EST, "CMS_VA_CPA"
> <cshanes@-Delete-This-Nospam-shanescpa.com> wrote:
>
>>I am seriously looking at Intuit ProSeries (since I am also a QuickBooks
>>ProAdvisor) and at Drake Software. I was also considering ATX but some of
>>the reviews have not been as good.
>
> I use ProSeries and have looked at Drake several times. ProSeries
> support sometimes leaves something to be desired. I have tried several
> times to get them to fix the MAGI calculation on Form 8582-AMT. I just
> get ignored. A lot of nice worksheets though and the input resembles
> the forms. Drake is less complete in its overall calculations. For
> example, last time I looked they made no attempt to calculate AMT PAL
> carryovers. On the other hand, Drake has more forms than ProSeries. I
> do not like their input screens for several reasons. They are not form
> based and they still seem to DOS like.
>
> You may also want to look at Tax Works. I haven't used it but
> evaluated it several times. They are owned by H&R Bloch.
>
> Drew Edmundson, CPA
> Cary, NC
Drew,
Thank you for your comments, I'll watch out for those areas while I am
evaluating.
I took a quick look at Tax Works website. They seem as or more expensive
than ProSeries. I can't say much for their website. Very uninformative and
confusing. Not particularly sure I want to support Block either.
Thanks again.
Charlie
CMS_VA_CPA
news:hec6c7$5fp$1...@reader1.panix.com...
Art,
Thanks for your comments. I agree that support is important and that
Creative's support is very good. That doesn't mean that somebody else's
support is not good also, and there is a limit on what I'm willing to pay.
I don't know about ProSeries support yet. Based on Drew's comments I will
certainly check it out during my eval. As a QB ProAdvisor, I have been very
pleased with their QB support though.
Charlie
CMS_VA_CPA
news:heesdq$k32$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> CMS_VA_CPA wrote:
>> If not off topic for this forum, I would appreciate comments from other
>> tax professionals about their tax prep software.
>>
> (snipped for brevity.....
>>
>> Any comments on your experience would be appreciated.
>>
>>
>> CMS_VA_CPA
>>
> Okay, my turn. Since 1996 when I stopped writing my own software I
> started using Taxwise out of Rome, GA and am still with them, despite
> having used ATX for entity returns, and periodically reviewing other
> software. But I kept coming back to TAxwise for it's "transparency", for
> lack of a better word. What you sees is what you gets! It's form driven
> versus input screens and the links are flawless.
>
> Like ATX, it, too, is owned by CCH.
>
> ChEAr$,
> Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA
Harlan,
Thank you for your comments. The Executive Accounting package seems their
best value although they don't specify their efile fees. I'll look at them
more thoroughly.
Curious- why don't you use them for entity returns also?
Charlie
HLunsford
>
>
> Harlan,
>
> Thank you for your comments. The Executive Accounting package seems their
> best value although they don't specify their efile fees. I'll look at them
> more thoroughly.
>
> Curious- why don't you use them for entity returns also?
>
acquired by CCH.
ChEAr$,
Harlan
Drew Edmundson
<cshanes@-Delete-This-Nospam-shanescpa.com> wrote:
snip
>I took a quick look at Tax Works website. They seem as or more expensive
>than ProSeries. I can't say much for their website. Very uninformative and
>confusing. Not particularly sure I want to support Block either.
For just the 1040 and 1 state the pricing is probably close. For all
entities and all states, buying early from Tax Works is a big savings.
Tax Works all systems for new customer is $2,395 (includes networking
and stand alone depreciation software). ProSeries is $4,449 (power
tax) plus networking $475 and depreciation $229 for a total of $5,153.
Both exclude sales/use tax.
I am also not fond of Tax Works form help. Essentially it is just a
document replicating the IRS form instructions. In ProSeries you get
software input screen help and IRS instructions, by line number,
versus just the whole document to scroll through in Tax Works. Tax
Works help is not much better than IRS PDF form instructions.
Drew Edmundson, CPA
Cary, NC
--
Mark Rigotti
> On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:18:20 EST, "CMS_VA_CPA"
> <cshanes@-Delete-This-Nospam-shanescpa.com> wrote:
>
> snip
>
>>I took a quick look at Tax Works website. They seem as or more expensive
>>than ProSeries. I can't say much for their website. Very uninformative
>>and
>>confusing. Not particularly sure I want to support Block either.
>
> For just the 1040 and 1 state the pricing is probably close. For all
> entities and all states, buying early from Tax Works is a big savings.
> Tax Works all systems for new customer is $2,395 (includes networking
> and stand alone depreciation software). ProSeries is $4,449 (power
> tax) plus networking $475 and depreciation $229 for a total of $5,153.
> Both exclude sales/use tax.
>
> I am also not fond of Tax Works form help. Essentially it is just a
> document replicating the IRS form instructions. In ProSeries you get
> software input screen help and IRS instructions, by line number,
> versus just the whole document to scroll through in Tax Works. Tax
> Works help is not much better than IRS PDF form instructions.
>
> Drew Edmundson, CPA
> Cary, NC
ProSeries $5,153???? What are you buying. - Power Tax Lite - Networked -
Fixed Assets - Research Lib. ..... about $3,500. Support is good -
actually I'd rate very good. Though after using them for almost 20 years
I'd say I place maybe 1 call a year.
Power Tax Lite give you everything. You need to chose your Carefully
though. Me I get FED everything and MI 1040, MI MBT & MI 1041 & VA 540 -
lots of clients in VA. You have access to all other on a PPR basis usually
Under $10 for a state individual and about $15 for a business.
Mark
Drew Edmundson
I replied to Mark's e-mail because I got it first. This reply is a bit
different. The $5,153 includes all entities (706, 709, 990, 1040,
1120, 1120s, 1065, 1041) and all states plus FAM and networking. I was
trying to compare apples to apples. The TaxWorks price is the same
except they have more states for everything except the 1040.
My problems with support generally are either network or Homebase
related. Support forces me to go through their checklist, even though
I have already tried all those things, before I get sent on up the
line. Less than half the time does the senior person actually resolve
the problem. I either figure it out on my own, an outside consultant
figures it out, or I just live with it.
The 2008 software causes random errors on our HP 4350dtn. We have
traced it to QuickBooks 2009 and ProSeries 2008. I just have to turn
off the printer, shred the partial print out, turn the printer back
on, and then print again. Very frustrating. I did no call support on
this issue since it is random. I knew they would blame it all on HP.
The printer tech says when he sees these two errors it is almost
always a particular piece of software. The other option is hardware
but since he replaced all the parts that could cause it and the
problem continued he had us write down the applications we were
printing from when it happened. All errors were from the two Intuit
programs.
Drew Edmundson, CPA
Cary, NC
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