Interested in joing forces and creating our own tax software?

[Rchinchilla]

Hi my name is Roger and my team and I have created a project that has proven to be a huge undertaking. We intend to make free federal/state PROFESSIONAL tax software.

Are you tired of spending tens of thousands of dollars for professional tax software that imposes limitations and doesn't meet all your needs? Do you sometimes have to purchase multiple software applications to meet all the demands of your practice?

We are looking for all the help we can get to promote and test an open source taxEngine. All those who are interested in knowing more about the taxEngine project please visit taxengine [dot] sourceforge [dot] net and take a look around.

We need people to test that our tax calculations are correct and we ask that all correction suggestions be forwarded immediately. but we need your help.

If anyone has any questions feel free to write to me directly.

Thanks for your time,

Roger

P.S. We'd love for TheTaxBook team to contact us to be the primary research partner. :-) And if you guys can make this a sticky that would be greatly appreciated.

[veritas]

I know

we can call it Madoff Pro. Get in early for a big pay off.

[Rchinchilla]

Hilarious!

That is funny. Madoff Pro! Lets remember the days of QuickBooks when they started off by giving away their software for free.

@veritas - Do you like what you pay for your software? Please fill out the poll.

[erchess]

Problems

First, you're wayyyyy too late to be taken seriously as a software choice for the 09 filing season when 08 returns will be completed. And few of us have the time until after 4/15 to play with your software. After that time we can play around with your 08 version and talk about what you are going to offer in 10 for doing 09 returns and when you can have it ready.

Second, your website does not mention that Sourceforge has worked with the IRS and various State Departments of Revenue to produce a product that can legally be used by a tax professional.

Third, I didn't read on your website about any electronic filing program. You will need that in order to be taken seriously by Tax Professionals.

It would help your appeal to many of us if you were set up to work through one or more banks so that users could offer their clients RAL and RAC Products.

All objections aside, the idea of Open Source Software does appeal to me. The best Operating System (Linux) and the best Browser (Firefox) are both Open Source Products. On the other hand most tax professionals I know do not have much computer literacy and we cannot use Software that does not have first rate telephone tech support from at least 8 am Eastern to 9 pm Pacific.

[Rchinchilla]

@erchess

First - Thank you for your quick reply. Please remember that we are not trying to get you to walk away from your current software solution just yet. What we are encouraging you to do right now is to test the tax estimator for accuracy and suggestions. This tiny application requires basically no computer savviness to use.

Second - We have never worked with the IRS or State Revenue Departments directly. However since the IRS is moving over to Modernized E-File they are changing the way ALL software developers communicate with their platforms. And the technology the IRS is going to impose on all software developers just happens to be an area of our expertise. Some current software developers will have to re-learn these technologies.

Third - Our site is currently under development and is yet to be filled with further details of the project. The most important thing right now is to get a community behind it. We need tax analyst such as yourself to be readily available by forums, mailing list or direct email to answer questions and test calculations that our developer community will be in need of.

Regarding the operating system and browser we intend to use all open source projects. This means Linux, FreeBSD, Mozilla FireFox and Google Chrome.

Regarding banking partners we will be working with the most flexible of them all. Currently we haven't talked to any but we will definitely offer bank products.

The idea is to make this tax software easy to use and understand. We also understand that no matter how easy the software is to use, customer support is VERY important. I can't tell you how many times I have called my current and previous software companies for support. Sometimes they weren't even able to find the solution, so I had to start from scratch (after tons of W2's and a desk full of Sch D entries). Customer support will always be available, 24x7 during tax season, mark my words, 24x7 during tax season. Regular banking hours after.

Check out the Quick Estimator which currently runs on the taxEngine platform.

http://taxengine.sourceforge.net/example.html

These are the numbers we are using currently in the taxEngine. Any suggestions or questions?

http://apps.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/taxengine/index.php?title=2007-2008_Changes

BTW - I really appreciate the quick responses. Keep them coming.

[Lion]

Good Luck

Good Luck. As tax software companies merge and acquire each other, it's nice to see a new entrant to the field. Check out Mel in Hawaii over on the ATXCommunity.com message board, the UNofficial board. And, VMSUS.com for 24/7 tech support by former ATXers. I have no need for bank products and think the tax software that stresses bank products is LESS professional in its features. Keep us posted.

[Larmil]

Good Grief!

Hi my name is Roger and my team and I have created a project that has proven to be a huge undertaking. We intend to make free federal/state PROFESSIONAL tax software.

Are you tired of spending tens of thousands of dollars for professional tax software that imposes limitations and doesn't meet all your needs? Do you sometimes have to purchase multiple software applications to meet all the demands of your practice?

We are looking for all the help we can get to promote and test an open source taxEngine. All those who are interested in knowing more about the taxEngine project please visit taxengine [dot] sourceforge [dot] net and take a look around.

We need people to test that our tax calculations are correct and we ask that all correction suggestions be forwarded immediately. but we need your help.

If anyone has any questions feel free to write to me directly.

Thanks for your time,

Roger

P.S. We'd love for TheTaxBook team to contact us to be the primary research partner. :-) And if you guys can make this a sticky that would be greatly appreciated.

Are you for real?

[Rchinchilla]

@Larmil
Yup

@Lion
Thanks for the sites. I will look into them. Regarding bank products. Please remember that this is a feature request that tends sit very high on lists. Lacerte software will incorporate RAL's this year in their software. They didn't want to but users were being forced to purchase ProSeries as well as Lacerte...ouch!

[Rchinchilla]

Some users have reported not being able to see this page

http://taxengine.sourceforge.net/example.html

Please note that you have to have 'Flash Player' installed. If your computer can see videos on YouTube then you should be all set. Also, allow a few extra seconds to allow the 'Quick Estimator' to load (8-10 seconds should do).

[David1980]

Second, your website does not mention that Sourceforge has worked with the IRS and various State Departments of Revenue to produce a product that can legally be used by a tax professional.

Sourceforge is just an open source developer site where anyone can submit a project and get server hosting for the project there. A lot of respected open source software goes through sourceforge, but in this case sourceforge itself wouldn't have anything to do with the tax software.

I agree that this isn't the ideal time to get help on this project. Though the tax estimator might be useful for some if it's any good.

[John of PA]

Count me out.

Compete with the likes of CCH, RIA and Intuit ? Count me out.

[BOB W]

Compete with the likes of CCH, RIA and Intuit ? Count me out.

Me too>>>>> My hat is off to these high end tax programs, even some of the low end ones. What they have to go through to "get it right" must be overwhelming. I'll pay "top dollar" every time so I don't have to review every return I print out. I need full confidence all the time.

[Rchinchilla]

@David1980 - Thank you for the clarification about Source Forge.

@John of PA - This is not motivated by competition but instead by need. We didn't wake up one morning and say lets compete with CCH, RIA and Intuit. What happened instead was, we stayed up many nights trying to make this software WORK for us. Although these software developers are top of the line, sometimes they miss the boat by not diving in with community of professional and taking a swim with them.

@ BOB W - My hat goes off the them as well. I understand how overwhelming it must be for the IRS/Senate to throw curve balls at you last minute. At the same time lets not underestimate the professional community. BOB W how many times did you file a return and to later find out that the software didn't calculate things right? I sure have. Then the client comes to your office and says "The IRS says you did my taxes wrong". Also, open source is, by design, very easy to audit by the tax preparer community (or anyone who cares to). This will keep us responsive not only to the tax law, but also to pressure from end users and software engineers to keep the product "cutting edge". By leveraging the open source developer community, we will have access to a large knowledge and skills base. Add in some entrepreneurial tax preparers who CAN see a return on their investment, both in lower software costs and increased exposure, and we should have a winning product.

[BOB W]

@David1980 - Thank you for the clarification about Source Forge.

BOB W how many times did you file a return and to later find out that the software didn't calculate things right? I sure have. Then the client comes to your office and says "The IRS says you did my taxes wrong". .

In my 35 years of doing tax returns with purchased computer taxware it has never happened to me. That is not to say that the return was done right but it was done right enough so that the IRS didn't notice.

[Rchinchilla]

I once used a known software application, that to my surprise, not only generated tax forms but also IRS 'Soft Notices', if you know what I mean.