Canopy tax products

[JenMO]

Anyone use these? Haven't seen before. Offering some free stuff

[DaveinTexas]

Yes, indeed

Anyone use these? Haven't seen before. Offering some free stuff

I use Canopy everyday. We mainly use Canopy for document transfer (secure file transfer and storage) with clients, and I've been using it quite a bit for the Tax Problem Resolution feature within the software. It saves a lot of time and within the tax problem resolution feature/add on, your client can submit answers to a survey (called a client survey) online and their answers can be populated directly into a 433A/B/OIC; very handy.

Also, Canopy has added a "Communication" Tab recently, which allows you to track your email communication with a particular client, so the emails are all in one place, instead of searching for the client's name within Outlook or having to create multiple email folders for specific clients. This is a great tool, and it comes free along with the subscription.

What I like the most about the software is the developers add certain functions (they just added a Calendar function), but they won't charge you extra for it, it is just an added benefit of being a customer.

I wish they had fillable/ready to fill in Engagement Letters like Pitbull, which is super handy, but maybe one day. There must be some sort of liability issue there, I understand that.

Canopy is super user friendly too. Even my "older" clientele can figure out how to create a free account, access the portal, upload tax documents, etc. What makes the softare beneficial is the client can access their tax docs all year round, even past years if you choose to upload them. And, there are no storage limits.

Also, there is a function, which I haven't used yet, that sends "Requests" to clients. And, you can make it so that the requests are recurring such as, "Remind my client every Monday I require his daughter's SSN to finish his return, etc." Very neat feature, saves you the trouble of reminding the client, forgetting to remind the client, etc. So, you can use the software as a CRM, which means you might be able to elminate subscriptions to other types of software/apps. Their goal is for you to be able to use their software for everything, except for Tax Preparation. BUT, lo and behold, they told us recently, they are working on a Tax Preparation program!! This would be so great for our company; everything would finally be in one place!

Anyway, I am a fan. I've not added the IRS Notices package yet, but I am strongly considering it if it would make our lives a bit easier when clients receive IRS letters in the mail.

I would call/email them and ask them for a demo, the program is pricey, but you could easily pass this along to the clients. Say, a cost of $3,000 annual (estimate of course), and you have 300 clients, that is only a $10 per client increase and you've paid for the program. This year would be an excellent year to raise prices, by the way, due to the added complexity of the "simplication" of the tax code!!

Oh! I forgot to mention the Transcript feature. This is an excellent tool. Let's say you have a client that has balances due for 6 different tax years. You can use the program to pull IRS account transcripts, and it will break out the original balance due, penalties, interest, whether or not the returns were SFRs by IRS, whether or not the client filed timely, and so much more. It is really cool stuff!