AcQuest 1120, 1120S, and 1065

[erchess]

Anyone have experience with these? The price is great like $28 each for one return or $45 each (actually $40 for one of them but I forget which) to do unlimited returns. With the Tax Act $99 for the 1040 and unlimited States special the only thing I have ever done that I would not have the software for is gift tax.

So - anyone know if these programs are good and anyone know of a good freestanding gift tax program?

[appelman]

Anyone have experience with these? The price is great like $28 each for one return or $45 each (actually $40 for one of them but I forget which) to do unlimited returns. With the Tax Act $99 for the 1040 and unlimited States special the only thing I have ever done that I would not have the software for is gift tax.

So - anyone know if these programs are good and anyone know of a good freestanding gift tax program?

They look pretty primitive. And, of course, no e-file and no state returns. What's wrong with TaxAct for the entities? If you only need one, it's $55 for federal, one state, and federal e-file. (For multiple returns, the pricing is similar to that for the 1040.) You might also want to look at:

http://www.taxsoftware.com/

For the gift tax, look at:

http://www.puritas-springs.com/products/w709.aspx

You could also try googling "gift tax return software." There are a number of possibilities.

[appelman]

Addendum

For the entities, you might also consider Intuit Tax Online:

http://proadvisor.intuit.com/product/intuit-tax-online/ito/#getIt

Its $40 per business return with e-file and all states. A 10-pack is $250. If you preorder 2012 before August 9, a 10-pack is $200.

[erchess]

T Y Appellman

I will look at all your links tomorrow.

I did not look at Tax Act for entities because it doesn't even have 1041 or 709 both of which I need. Also my goal is to see if I can beat the up front cost of Drake which has everything I need for $300 plus the pay per return fees that I do not care about because I can pass them on to clients. What we have so far is that I could do tax act for $99 and the entities for $45 each but that comes out to $324 and with the possible exception of the 1040 and 1041 and 709 I have clearly inferior software and like I said the fact I have dodged pay per return fees does not impress me because those costs can be passed on to clients.

[FEDUKE404]

Comparisons

I will look at all your links tomorrow.

I did not look at Tax Act for entities because it doesn't even have 1041 or 709 both of which I need. Also my goal is to see if I can beat the up front cost of Drake which has everything I need for $300 plus the pay per return fees that I do not care about because I can pass them on to clients. What we have so far is that I could do tax act for $99 and the entities for $45 each but that comes out to $324 and with the possible exception of the 1040 and 1041 and 709 I have clearly inferior software and like I said the fact I have dodged pay per return fees does not impress me because those costs can be passed on to clients.

Where did you find TaxACT Professional for $99 ?? Also you would need to factor in a state (~$25 each) or all-states (~$80 total), plus e-filing fees.

http://prep.taxact.com/products/federal-basic.asp

http://prep.taxact.com/efiling/efile-pricing.asp

While we all would like to keep our costs at a minimum level, come tax season crunch time I would much prefer to have a proven, reliable product versus merely the "cheapest."

FE

[erchess]

Where

All I know is they sent me an email.

I would need all the states but I would not mind efiling fees that were due when returns got filed. My concern is to lower up front costs to the minimum without concern for total costs. The more I look the more I think that answer is Drake PPR but you can't blame a guy for trying. As far as reliability goes one gets the best software one can afford.

[appelman]

I presume you're considering

that the $285 Drake "upfront" includes the first 15 returns of any kind. And a return is federal plus any number of states plus e-file.

FEDuke: $99 is the TaxAct preorder price. You're right about the add-ons, though they also have a pretty good price for unlimited, including all states and e-file.

I do not recommend Drake for 1041's. They are very much a work in progress. I have finally gotten tired of of putting in so many overrides that I was practically doing the returns by hand, while trying with little success to explain to their programmers how a fiduciary return is supposed to work. Next year I'm going to Intuit On Line for 1041's. The Intuit programmers seem to have a pretty good understanding of the structure of a 1041.