Another Thread on Software

[equinecpa]

Do your clients tend to come with everything they need? I will not do a return with a client here either - I just can't work with someone staring at me or waiting for me....

I do find every return is missing at least one item...if not more...I'd like to figure a way to streamline the process of wrapping them up... I find I do them (doesn't take much time) find stuff missing, email for missing info...but then get missing info back in dribs and drabs rarely it all...then I find getting the return back into my schedule tough..I think next year I'll schedule the day I do their return, then reschedule for missing items? Perhaps when I email my client questions ask that they have it back by xx date so I can finish off? It's getting them 100% done and out and gone that I find tough...

[BOB W]

Bob:

I admire someone who can do that.

I'm just the opposite - I won't prepare the return while they're sitting there. I do everything I can to keep my clients out of my office, especially when I'm working.

Just goes to show how different we all are in how we accomplish essentially the same task.

Come to think of it, I do have about 75 mail-ins from out of staters and people who drop off >>>> and every one of them ends up requiring a call to verify some little peice of info to complete their return.

In addition to the personal returns, I do 75 corp/entities and the monthly right-ups on all of them, so time is very important to me especially during tax season. I refuse to let any proceedure slow me down. I only do tax returns from February 1 to March 31st (60 days).
I use only the most direct method to accomplish this.

[JohnH]

Bob:

I admire someone who can do that.

I'm just the opposite - I won't prepare the return while they're sitting there. I do everything I can to keep my clients out of my office, especially when I'm working.

Just goes to show how different we all are in how we accomplish essentially the same task.

[Holland]

I have not found this necessary

Cheatsheet, manipilation of data, external tax processing? All to get to enter tax info in a program???? Is this all to be able to buy an inexpensive tax program?

I can see a VERY LOW volumn practice trying to get by. One with time to spare to jump hurdles to get to the end result. But once a viable practice is at hand how can someone continue through these unneccessary steps?

I regard myself as pretty small, ~1000 returns. I have used Drake for three seasons and I have never required any of these suggestions. The three main reasons I still use Drake are speed, speed, and speed.

[BOB W]

Off the top of my head I can think of a couple of thousand reasons.

But don't blow it out of proportion. Once you get past the initial learning curve, 75-80% of the returns you prepare with any program are going to be entered intuitively. But unless all the returns being prepared are pretty mundane, there's always that 25-30% that will need special attention and a cheat sheet can come in handy in those cases. I kept shortcut notes handy when I used Ultra Tax as well.

John, sorry to be so condensending in my post, but it just seems like a lot of wasted time to me. I pride myself in jumping in and getting the returns done while the client sits in front of me, all 450 of them ( personals ). It just seems like you are spending time when our business uses time for billing.

[JohnH]

Off the top of my head I can think of a couple of thousand reasons.

But don't blow it out of proportion. Once you get past the initial learning curve, 75-80% of the returns you prepare with any program are going to be entered intuitively. But unless all the returns being prepared are pretty mundane, there's always that 25-30% that will need special attention and a cheat sheet can come in handy in those cases. I kept shortcut notes handy when I used Ultra Tax as well.

[BOB W]

Cheatsheet, manipilation of data, external tax processing? All to get to enter tax info in a program???? Is this all to be able to buy an inexpensive tax program?

I can see a VERY LOW volumn practice trying to get by. One with time to spare to jump hurdles to get to the end result. But once a viable practice is at hand how can someone continue through these unneccessary steps?

[DonPriebe]

TaxCut was also a reseller ...

of ATX! The TaxCut for Business product was a repackaged version of ATX Saber. And it wasn't nearly so well "repackaged" as is the TRX version of OrrTax. The 'help' screens in TaxCut as well as all the copyright notices referred directly to ATX.

Also, IIRC, H&RB used ATX as their entity software.

[Chief]

I stand corrected.

Oh Gosh that is news to me. TRX doesn't make it clear what they are doing. I know that ACE Cash Express a few years ago were selling franchises for tax preparation for their loan offices that included TaxWise. What a web of design big business weave.

[JohnH]

Some of my clients might like the idea if they think I'm using a cheat sheet.

However, in the interest of being correct, I'll retitle it a Reference Resource.

[erchess]

Watch your language

After seeing your post, I went to the Yahoo group and downloaded the cheat sheet. It looks great - thanks for putting up that info. I plan to start evaluating Drake in the next couple of weeks & have already been viewing their webinar. I can see how the cheat sheet fills a need.

I don't think we want to get caught calling something we use a "cheat sheet". It might give our clients and the IRS wrong ideas.

[erchess]

Correction Chief

is a reseller of ORR not Taxwise. ACE Express is a reseller ot Taxwise or they were a few years ago.

I understand from what I have read here and from an unclear reference on the TRX site that for 08 they will also be a reseller of Taxwise. I should tell you also that they don't sell everything Orrtax makes. Orrtax has a Spreadsheet Entry Product that TRX does not offer.

[David1980]

is a reseller of ORR not Taxwise. ACE Express is a reseller ot Taxwise or they were a few years ago.

Actually it would seem TRX resells both.

http://www.trxalliance.com/ = Orrtax Intellitax.
http://www.trx1040.com/ = TaxWise (When you go to the list of forms supported at http://www.trx1040.com/statelinks.html all the links go to TaxWise.com)

[JohnH]

After seeing your post, I went to the Yahoo group and downloaded the cheat sheet. It looks great - thanks for putting up that info. I plan to start evaluating Drake in the next couple of weeks & have already been viewing their webinar. I can see how the cheat sheet fills a need.

[taxxcpa]

Form numbers

I would need something like that. I am so use to Taxwise. Click F9 and it shows all the forms available for that line on the 1040. Does Drake not do something similar to this? It sounds like you have to know which forms you have to use. Which should be obvious but not always to me.

I can't remember even 20%of all the forms. I have trouble distinguishing between Form 6251 and 6252. I can't remember what goes on each line of Form 1040 or any of the schedules or forms. That is why I prepared an excel worksheet that covers the majority of the ones that I need. When I used ATX all I had to do is look at the screen, then jump to the form. With Drake, I keep the worksheet available and look at it, and it guides me to the form. If I need Form 8880, I look at line 53 and see that 8880 is the form for Retirement Savings, etc.
It is only a little more trouble than clicking on a line to get the form--but Drake works much faster than ATX which probably more than offsets the need for a 'cheat sheet'.