Another Thread on Software

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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]

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...

All my clients know that I charge by TIME & COMPLEXITY. In my annual December letter (w/organizer) I talk about incomplete info and the need to be sure they have everything ready for their appointment. I tell them "Incomplete info will require more time and entra billing time, so be sure you are complete by going over the organizer carefully".

So the moral of this story is > If there is no price for them to pay why should they worry about being complete, you will tell them what is missing>>>>>>>>>>>>.

[learnmore]

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.

They're not selling franchises although they have in the past and are not opposed to doing so, however this is a much a more costly venture. They're just selling the tax software, support, and a few other incentives. Email their support group, support@trxalliance.com. They answered my emails quickly, I then called in and talked with Kenny. He said they just redid the trxalliance/trxpro-tw website and plan to play with a few more designs before the summers over. That trxpro taxwise rebrand website is just a few days old, I was a little confused as well.

[lenboush]

Drake

I thought I'd add my 2 cents worth about my experience with Drake. First, I'll say that I have been in the business for 35 years but have only been with Drake for the last 8 years. This year we will end up doing about 1000 returns, mostly individuals but also about 40 entities. We also do about 40 bank products, but only as a service to the clients, not as a profit center.

I started using Drake because I bought a business that was already using Drake. I had sold a previous business to HRB in 1995 and, due to a non-compete agreement, worked for HRB for 5 years. Prior to selling te business to HRB, I had used a software called "Tax Shop", which I really liked. Incidentally, Drake bought "Tax Shop" a couple of years after I sold my business to HRB. Of cousrese, while working for HRB, I used their proprietary software.

From day one I hated Drake. I was already aware that there would be a learning curve, but that was only part of the problem. I found Drake to be very cumbersome and the exact opposite of being self intuitive. As a result, I made it my priority to research as many different packages as possible and switch the following year. I spent many hours on that research that seemed to drag on forever. I finally concluded that, as much as I hated Drake, I had not identified a program that I though was any better except those that cost a lot more. So I decided to give Drake one more year.

The next year, partly because I had gotten past the learning curve and partly because Drake had made substantial improvements in the program, it went much smoother. I still had a solid plan, however, to switch software that summer. After many hours of further reviewing programs that summer, I made the decision to tough it out with Drake. Today, I am glad I did. The massive improvements they have made over the last 8 years have made Drake an exceptional (though not perfect) program. It would take a major change of some sort to ever make me switch. I have gone from being a "hater" of Drake to being a major fan.

For the record, here is a summary of what you get for the $995 (+tax):
-1040 software
- Entities software
- All states
- Free unlimited e-filing
- Amazing customer service that ALWAYS answere the phone within 30 seconds!
- The ability to e-mail a client file instantly to the customer service person you are speaking with to assist them in identifying a problem.
- An online forum that gives you interaction AND answers from other users as well as Drake staff. I have repeatedly seen IMMEDIATE chages to the program made based on feedback and discussion in this forum.
- Automatic online updating so that the siftware is always current.
- Free exceptional web site (you can see mine at www.HeritageTax.com)
- Client Status Manager
- Drake Document Manager (for paperless document management)
- Online filing that you can offer to geenrate more revenue for your business
- Online training (BOTH software training and TAX training) for you and your staff
- Multiple office manager - for those with more than one office
- Appointnment scheduling software that integrates with Drake
- Free reseach capability through RIA Checkpoint
- 3 different banks to chooses from for those who wish to offer bank products.
- Client write-up program (which I do not use)

I really could go on and on about the featues within the software but I've drug this out far too much already. If you can get past the learning curve, I believe most people will like it as much as I do. I do realize that everyone's practice is different and Drake may not be right for everyone. I also realize that there are a lot of other good packages out there, but I really do feel that Drake is a great choice for most.

Incidentally, Drake has not raised their price in the 8 years I have been with them. Instead, they have remained profitable by growing their user base from about 12,000 (if memory serves) when I started with them 8 years ago, to almost 30,000 users now.