Another Thread on Software

[DonPriebe]

Sales Tax Nexus

How can the states do this if it currently unconstitutional without nexus? Drake is in NC, and has representatives in 5-6 other states. At most, I would think only 5-6 states could get to them, and that assumes that their representatives are not independent.

Apparently we don't worry about nexus anymore. The new plan in New York is to close our budget gap by forcing Amazon.com to collect NY sales tax. But it works both ways. We have court decisions mandating the collection of sales tax on gasoline and tobacco sold to non-Native Americans on the reservation stores, but we don't attempt to collect it for "political" reasons.

[thomtax]

I don't know

How can the states do this if it currently unconstitutional without nexus? Drake is in NC, and has representatives in 5-6 other states. At most, I would think only 5-6 states could get to them, and that assumes that their representatives are not independent.

In a letter from the company president, he stated that they have an Atlanta law firm looking into what they can and can't do in the various states, but it looks as if they will have to start collecting until maybe something is resolved.

As far as constitutional, there is a particular tax collected in this town. My understanding of things are that 1/2 of the tax is actually being used in an illegal manner. However, it is being used for something needed so everyone justs turns a "blind eye" to it.

LT

[JON]

Sales Tax

If your not paying sales tax on the purchase you are still subjuect to USE tax. Minnesota years ago went after the professionals and won. If your state has sales tax it has use tax-it is your choice to ignor. In Minnesota the state won big. If you do not file sales/use tax report their is no statute that ever starts running. So they examined a year came up with a number multiplied it times 10 and said do you want to settle for that or should we keep looking. Every year we file the annual with amounts for use tax-we want the statute to be running. Numbers are not big anymore since software and suppliers in most cases charge sales tax, but there are a couple small ones. Thompson, our main vendor, has a big time location in this state.

[DTS]

Drake vs. Ultra Tax

Besides the obvious price difference, would anyone who has recently tried both be willing to give a fairly detailed opinion on how they pair up against each other? I just want to see which one seems the best regarding ease of use, working seamlessly, reliability, ablility to show detail on the return, constant areas of concern to you, etc.

I'm using TaxWorks now, but no longer, so I need to look into these two.

Thanks,

Dennis

[erchess]

Dennis a question and a proposal

The question is why are you giving up Tax Works?

Background to Proposal - I had ultratax for complex 1040s for almost exactly a year and I am trying out Drake O6 as we speak and Drake 07 is on the way.

Proposal - PM me for my new fax number and send me (with names and ssns falsified) a complex 1040 return and I will work the return in both and perhaps Crosslink as well and give you an opinion. If you feel like getting a version of VNC and MSN Messenger we could chat online and I could show you screenshhots. We could work as though we were colleagues and I think we would both benefit.

[DTS]

Erchess

Thank you for your offer! That's very nice of you to do so.

I will contact you later and we can discuss your experience with UT. I believe I can gather enough info from you so I will know what look for when I demo the program.

So many people use UT and love it, as do the Drake users. So, on my end, I'm really curious about both.

Dennis

[ED SMITH]

I have used TaxAct for years and it gets better every year. Everything is in modules, so you can order whatever you need. You can get all the states for $80 or individual states for $20.

You can also download the software multiple times on different computers. They offer a low priced bulk rate for e filing or individual efiling fees. I only had to call cust service once and only in relation to their 1st year, 1998.

Check 'em out at taxact.com.

[erchess]

Ed how easy is a K1 in Tax Act?

Can you make most or all of the entries on the K-1 Screen and have the software take them where they need to go or do you have to carry many of them to other places? How many K1s do you see each season?

[erchess]

Dennis

My only critique of Drake so far may be enough in and of itself to stop me from using it. Drake has very little Forms Entry. In UT if I can't recall where is the worksheet I need I go to Forms Entry and find the place on the form then switch back to Worksheet Entry and I come up on the correct Worksheet.. Obviously if I don't know what Form I want then I have the added step of consulting TTB or asking here or just thumbing through the list of Forms because even that is easier than thumbing through worksheets.

Further thought

However I have to say that the worksheets in Drake are more to my liking than those in Ultratax. I personally find things easier to locate. I won't pull the trigger until May but I am leaning heavily toward Drake.

[geekgirldany]

I just looked at the web video for Drake. I am pretty impressed with all that is offered for the price. I am with Taxwise now and I am okay with it. They don't have a document manager included. I pay $2.00 per efile and pay extra for some return types.

As stated before the only thing about Drake that is putting me off is forms entry. I am so use to Taxwise form entry this will be a huge change for me if I go with Drake. I am going to give them a call for a demo and see how it works out. Do some test returns. Taxwise again called before the end of the tax season to renew. I told them to wait until later in April when I finished.

[JohnH]

You can go directly to Drake's web site, enter some info, and they will send you the program - fully functioning. Filing a few extension returns would be a nice way to evalute the program. It only takes a minute or so for the entire process.

[LawrenceGR]

Cch

I'd like to hear from someone that uses CCH, I have heard that it's pretty expensive, I just wonder if it's worth it.

[oceanlovin'ea]

Letter from Drake

i just got a letter from Drake in the mail yesterday. They are giving free tax seminars demonstrating their program.
In Florida they are the end of April and in May. I may go just to see what another program does. I have never looked at another program since I started with TaxslayerPro. I have been very satisfied with their program.

So it would be interesting just to compare it to something else.

Linda F

[BOB W]

I use the same programs as Matt>>> the full load.

I agree with Matt, it seems that many of you (from previous threads/posts) do under-sell your worth. Once caught in that cycle it is no wonder tax program costs become a factor in your choice of tax programs.

In the future those low-costs programs will raise their prices, 5% or 10%, every year and unless you are increasing your fees you may choose to do the returns by hand because you will be outpriced by software at every turn.

In order to have a "Business" you have to be a winner $$$$$ and your client has to be a winner for having you. H&R is a winner because of "preceived value". What are you doing to build your preceived value, Low Fees? That is exactly what not to do.

Over the years Low fees has only brought me the wrong clients. Troubled clients, annoying clients and clients that give you no respect. Why??? because some may look at you as a fool or at least that you give yourself a "no confidence" vote. But to them price is all that matters, and they are the fool to begin with.

As I have stated in a thread a year or two ago, I started my practice using low fees to attract a following but soon learned (3 or 4 years) that my clients were not "Valued" clients. Over the next several years I increased my fees and at the same time put value in my business and clients. Some of the price seeks left but I aquired more valued clients than what left.

A couple of years ago I decided to slow my business down so I wasn't afraid to raise my fees again. I had been raising fee by $5- $10 every year in the past. This time I was using $20- $25 increases. Well to my suprise, my total fees collected beat the prior years and I did less work. (I lost only 65 personal returns out of 550 returns).

In this business you have to gain client respect, and low fees will not give you respect from your clients.

[JCH]

Well put, Bob, and just what I needed to hear today. I'm relatively new to the business, been out on my own for four years, and the clients I get the most complaints from and who take the most of my time are the ones I charge the least! I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for in everything.