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I am working on my 2012 tax return and every year I take less home, not counting working more than 40hrs a week, weekends, deadlines..... Sometimes I think I can make more money working at Target and not go through all this aggravation

For those of you who remember our old friend Louis Sheffield, I just read this from his wife Lanny. Well tomorrow is Cardiac Surgeon for Louis.....please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.......He has all ready been thru so much......God is good. Please keep him in your prayers.

I still see issues in 13 that were there in 12. I told the rep I could care less about the "3" assignments as those are childs play and can be worked around by using word. I mean come on who honestly cares if you can put a company logo on a letter or you need to show 50 returns only on a screen at one time. I told them if their customers care about this then they need to take up a different profession. My main concerns in 2012 were the slowness of the software opening return, moving from field to field inside a return, and integrity of the data none of these 3 areas were addressed in the preview release from what I could tell.

Jack, I really appreciate all the extra time and effort that you have put into beta testing and hope that you continue to keep us up to date. Thanks, Lee Barckert

Weeks?! How long is weeks? It's already October.

That's about where I am, michaelmars. Everything I tested worked. Some was more cumbersome than it needed to be, and I wonder why they spent time and money in the effort of making fancier bells and whistles while there were so many systemic problems last year. What we were given to test did NOT address many of the areas where we all had SO many problems last year. Nor do we even have an indication that we can get through to tech support by phone, without going through customer no-service first (like last year) -- and that's before we even peek at the wait time issue. I will stick with Drake for 2013 taxes. I really prefer ATX -- but I can't trust them this year, and as a one-person shop with NO room in my practice for another software disaster like last year, I just don't see that I can afford the risk. Perhaps if I had seasonal help I could rely upon to take up some of the accounting slack and client interface work -- but my seasonal help is document handling only (scanning paperwork as it comes in and printing/collating/stapling finished returns). Another year like this past one is NOT worth enduring.

Also being able to open more than 1 return still crashes the system due to low resources.

Did you do any multi state returns or returns with multiple rental schedules or k1's? I have numerous returns like this and moving from field to field in a k1 input or rental schedule could take 4-6 seconds between fields. Also prior to removing the computers from a domain setting(ATX did not test this) it would sit on the date for over a minute prior to moving to the category field. These are the issues I personally had that deal with performance. All the cosmetic stuff like editing letters and adding a multi color screen to the print manager are not on the radar of importance.

Jack, because people aren't responding doesn't mean that you are being ignored or that your work, and that of the other beta testers, is being disregarded or isn't appreciated. This is a slow time on the forum with many members absent during the summer and fall, but even with those limited members that are here regularly, this thread has been viewed over 1300 times already.

I work for an employer that has a totally working brain, is wonderful to work for, and between us we have worked out any "direct competition" issues that may arise. I have worked at the form for 10 tax seasons with no problems. I guess it is about who you choose to be your employer.

Thank you everyone for reading my posts on this matter. SARCASM!! With everyone ignoring all my posts and the work that the beta testers are doing and saying, I wonder why I bother even sharing. Help me understand why I should continue my efforts with testing and sharing with this board?? For all those that choose not to be completely informed, do your thing!!! This reinforces my thoughts about the real reasons for all the complaints about the program. There is much more going on than all but 3 of the members of this board know. These three were at the Customer Advisory Board meeting in late September. If you choose to ignore my information, why should I even offer it. Feeling really unappreciated right now....

THAT because you were working for a franchise....Most cpa firms encourage their people to develop their own clients, its great training for the staff in handling and talking to clients and when partnership talk comes up, its great for the staff to have some clients to bring in as part of their buy-in. We give % of fees that we collect from any client brought in by staff but prefer if they develop their own side practice. I personally will help them if the client is beyond them or if the return becomes too complicated for their software. My first boss not only gave me a client that needed weekly services and he didn't want to get involved with and during a review-I negotiated 3 part days a month off to handle personal clients.

that's a pretty impressive increase and yet you still have all the time to post here. Good time management!

How can you say that at this point. You can't check calculations, you can't check tech support responsiveness to errors nor can you check customer service at all. Even if your test work perfectly, would you still use atx if you had to hold 4-5 hours for first tier support? There is more to testing the software than just installing and printing. With all the posts here re: disappearing assets etc, is there a way to test this yet or do you have to wait for the 2013 forms? That could be a real deal breaker for many. I would hope 4562 and k-1 integration would be a priority for atx to get out to the beta testers.

What a mess! The laws mandating deadlines on still in effect, so pay up. But the IRS can't pay out. We know that when refunds aren't paid within 90 (???) days the IRS must pay interest. This could prove to be an expensive shutdown, even if it only lasts a few days. We can't call the IRS because no one will be there to answer. Even on the practitioner hotline many days it takes an hour to get through, so once they get back up and running and all of us who need to speak to someone call, expect the wait time to be three hours. Automated notices will still go out but we can't respond to them. Hmmm...does that mean 30-day notices will become 30+ day notices, or will our clients be in trouble? It will take a heap of expensive lawyers to figure out if taxpayers are being denied due process. Everyone except Congress seems to know that every dollar spent on an auditor returns hundreds of dollars in tax collected. But audits are cancelled during what the IRS calls the "appropriations lapse." So we won't be collecting all this money and, for some at least, the SOL will hit and we'll never be able to collect it. This is plain idiocy. Some people in that Congress are making a very expensive point, making the gov't spend more because they don't want it to spend as much. Where is the logic in that? And all of them, Dems and Republicans alike, are staging a p**sing contest, grabbing for the limelight and making a stand. They think they're winning power and fame, but they're doing so at the lowly citizens' expense. Last national election I voted against EVERYONE who was already in office (even some I kind of liked). If all of us do the same next election, we can clear the floor of all these partisan egos and get some people who will actually run the country like they're paid (handsomely) to do. In the meantime, we're the ones who have to help clients through deadlines that haven't been "lapsed," calm those who are waiting for refunds or anxiously awaiting scheduled audits, and hang on the phone for three hours and wait forever for POAs to be processed. Those of us who anticipated a breather after the Oct 15 deadline will have to remiind ourselves why we really love our jobs.

Now for something completely different (at least from me). If a 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors? Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?... If corn oil comes from corn, where does baby oil come from? If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot them? When you choke a smurf, what color does it turn? If the cops arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent? and How come we choose from just two people to run for president ...and 50 for the Miss America pageant. Thoughts?