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A long time ago, I used ProSeries PPR. Once I grew out of PPR, I switched to Max in 2001. I like the software, but there are things that are making me go "huh?" over the last 2-3 years. Support has deteriorated to the point of little use. The states don't seem to be a priority anymore. Back in the early days, they used to advertise the Zillion Forms. They don't talk about that anymore, but really, that has been the thing I am most hesitant to move away from. I can't tell you how many times I needed a county property tax return or some other 1 time use form and I was pleasantly surprised to find it in my software. I bitch about ATX a lot...more than it probably deserves, but that comes from the frustration of knowing what they used to be and what they have devolved into since the CCH takeover. If they were to get their support in order, I probably would not have much to complain about. I think I will be able to complain for a long time.... Tom Modesto, CA

I hope I don't constantly complain, but I do like for things to work the way they are supposed to. ProSeries had an issue with the print this year, and the best work around I found was to open everything up to the PDF printer and print from there. I am still doing that because I got in the habit and it works But I would still consider it a flaw in this year's software that I had to adapt to. I may go back to ATX. They had some major problems in 2012 because they did a major re-write of the software. The problems seemed to mostly affect users operating in a network environment Tax software has to be one of the most difficult programs to provide, especially in years where there are major revisions to the tax code and little to no lead time. And that is just for the federal portion that we all use the same! And we all want it to be perfect and do all the work for us. I don't think I will ever find a software that I think is perfect for a price that I am willing to pay. I do think that ATX provided a lot of value for the price.

Oh, the client is always too busy. And it often doesn't make financial sense, which is why they will ask us to do it at no charge because they "don't like" paying penalties. Of course, they also don't like hearing us say WE don't like being asked to fix everybody else's problems for free. Rather than work for free, I'd rather just take the time off.

Agree with Lynn except that it wouldn't be a qualified joint venture, because that is only available where the only owners are a married couple with both spouses materially participating and elect to not be taxed as a partnership, BUT it could be reported as a joint venture where each partner reports his share. Just make sure that the QJV box isn't checked if you do it that way.

I have used ATX continuously since tax year 2003. It has had its problems, but I like the way it operates. Send me a PM and I will be glad to share more information with you.

I can't speak to converting from Drake to ATX. I can speak to my experience with ATX. It's been generally excellent. I use the program on a stand-alone desktop and have fortunately never experienced the "debacle" or other issues you may have read about. Year after year, the program has worked well for me. Have there been hiccups, yea...but not to the point that I've seriously looked to jump ship. Over the last two years, there have been a few instances where I have needed to contact ATX support. I chose the online chat option and in every instance my issue was resolved in a reasonable amount of time. I suggest testing ordering a demo of the ATX program and seeing if it meets your needs. I believe they offer some type of pilot option that would allow you to see what the solution offers. Good luck!

I've suggested that ATX include a small number of support calls (6-10) in the base price, and then charge a fee for each additional call, to cut down on people who lean too heavily on support. And perhaps email support could be free. When I encounter an issue I can't resolve myself, I email support and move on to the next return. I've had them call me within 10 minutes of sending an email, and often within an hour or two. Caveat: I haven't needed support in over a year, so I don't know if this is still true. I don't understand people who constantly complain about things like ATX crashing during printing, but then balk when the solution/workaround is suggested to them to close ATX before a big print job, or to print to PDF only, because it "should work". I timed it and it took me 10 seconds to close/restart ATX. But, whatever, you do you.

Bingo. Lets be real here. I big reason why I use ATX is because of the price. I am not ever going to step up to a premier software while I am a part time preparer. I am very price sensitive. I think most of us who use ATX are price sensitive. And in business, if you can't get your customers to pay more, then you have to lower the cost of the product somehow. The "easy" answer is cut the support budget. I think CCH has tried a couple things to decouple some of the features of the software (fixed assets) and sell them as an add on. I don't think it worked well. Tom Modesto, CA

I hate it when a client is always busy, but close to April 15 they call expecting you not to be busy and prepare their tax return WT#

Sections E and F need no separate input; they'd simply better be identical to your client's information. Section G essentially shows whether you're inputting a general partner -- check the box -- or not. Pray you have a "domestic" Section H partner, else you're in Masters in Taxation territory. Section I simply should be matched to a Form 1040, 1041, 1065, 1120(x), etc. type of client. Section J is input only in state K-1 input forms, as I recall -- e.g., New Jersey, New York, some others -- but a huge swing up or down might signal additional Schedule D or other Schedule consequences. If the K-1 shows a Yes in Section M, input might be required in Gain Recognzed on Appreciated Property. Basis Limitation input takes ending balances from Section K. Section L amounts are input in the respective Increases/Decreases parts of the Basis Limitation half of the Input Sheet. Whether it's all "necessary" or not, I seriously doubt that anyone reachable at ATX's phone or chat would know the half of it -- but CCH publishes the commendable Practical Guide to Partnerships and LLCs, and you wouldn't go wrong following its teachings. (In the still-turbulent wake of TCJA 2017, I hope it's humanly possible to get an 8th edition soon.)

I used Drake two programs ago. I switched from Drake to TaxWorks and was blown away how much more sophisticated TaxWorks was than Drake. Then TaxWorks went away and I switched to ATX and was blown away how much more complete and how much faster I could do returns than TaxWorks. ATX is better for people with above average computer skills and self-starters who can solve their own problems. ATX's biggest problem is memory usage, but the solution is simply to close ATX after every return, especially big ones, to clear out the memory. You can install, and I highly recommend it, Large Address Aware, a 3rd party utility that let's ATX work fine above the 1 GB memory limit that 32 bit programs suffer from. Instructions for LAA are attached. Large Address Aware Instructions.rtf

If it was a gift from the parents, then parents' basis is the brothers' basis. ($1 was not an arm's length sale.) If the parents retained an implied life estate under the laws of their state and the house was included in their estate, then the brothers do get a step-up or step-down in basis. It is my understanding, but I haven't needed to look it up for years, that common ownership for a rental does not require a formal partnership. Hopefully, someone with a lot more rentals in their practice will jump in. Oh, oh, Lynn did jump in! What Lynn said.

Their value for depreciation purposes is the lower of their basis (their $1 cost plus their parents basis - purchase price plus any improvements) or FMV at the time available for rent. The $1 purchase price is a smoke screen, and a gift tax return 'should' have been filed for the gift of equity in the home from the parents to the sons. Ask to see the paperwork (if there is any) in case there is mention of a life estate allocable to the parents' use of the home until their death. If no life estate then there is no step up in basis. They could do a QJV splitting the income and expenses (according to their ownership %) and reporting on their respective schedule E's in lieu of a formal partnership return.

I don't think I've ever heard you complain. You seem quite laid-back to me.

No, you run it once and you're done. It tweaks some setting in windows somewhere. But the 18.3 update disabled LAA for ATX 2018, and I only learned about it accidentally on the official forum from a fellow user who had been told this by support. So I'll be checking LAA after every update from now on. And, yes, I did notice ATX being sluggish after LAA was disabled. I was worried ATX had serious problems or that my computer might be ailing, but all was good after re-enabling. Speaking of updates, it's sure been nice these past two years only having 3 updates. Really, it's only 2 updates because x.0 that comes out in the fall is obviously a preliminary release, so x.1 to me is the real release and I usually wait for x.1 before I even install. I don't use the payroll function. Hmmm, I need to suggest to ATX to split off the payroll as a separate product, so that those of us who don't use it, aren't paying for it.

After 20 years with ATX, I switched to Drake prior to last tax season. I am glad I switched although it probably still takes me longer to prepare a return on Drake than it did on ATX. My state of Oregon was a ways down ATX's priority list. It was usually around the 20th of February or later, before I could efile any Oregon Business Returns. Even then there was usually problems related to the actual efiling which usually took another week to be fixed. I notice that you are from RI. If the efilling of state business returns during the first 3 weeks of February is a priority for you, you need to find out when the efiling of those returns became available the last 2 or 3 years. Based on my experience, you can not trust which ATX will tell you about this issue. You will need to find another ATX user from your state in order to get the real dates. The final straw for me was that, I didn't feel that I could trust what ATX was telling me any more !

I used ATX through 2012, when ProSeries offered me a great deal to switch. I did not have as many problems with ATX as some people did that year, but since we rum in a networked environment, I had enough. With any new program, there us a learning curve and conversions have to be watched closely. I was not as happy with PS this year as I was last year. Mostly due to the lateness of changes, perhaps, but it seemed like the state programs were not as seamless as they have been in the past. I had problems with the system crashing every time I tried to print a return, and wound up sending it to PDF and printing from there. Not a big deal, but not necessary. The billing component of PS also dd not work the way it had in the past - I marked for returns to be charged by the form and that worked for new clients, but on returning clients I had to select that for each client. That said, e-filing seems to generally be a bit better with ProSeries, particularly with VA. Some forms that PS is approved for e-filing with VA, ATX was not in the past. I am not sure if that is still the case. ProSeries is more expensive, and tends to charge separately for things that ATX bundles into the MAX package. I can't really compare support, because I don't tend to use support very much with either program.

Thank you all, I'll certainly try a demo and play around with it. I like a forms-based entry and the ability to see the numbers updating in real time vs. needing to calculate every time. I realize that certainly eats up a lot more computer resources (which I think most of the players are guilty of, except Drake). Tom, they certainly promoted that during the demo of all the unique forms they have. I think it's helpful for when you may need to do one of those one-offs. So it seems, from your experience, that support has declined since the CCH acquisition probably because this is not as profitable to them as say ProSystem FX.

Thanks for that clarification .

Looking at VA DOR site, they are okay with Check or money order payments. Normally states would say on the site if payment is over $XXX then they must be made online or e-filed. https://tax.virginia.gov/individual-income-tax-payment-options

Or if you are used to Peachtree, check for an older version of that before they started required a new license every year.

I lean towards over the top. What I mean is for backups out of my control, such as third party online, I only backup copies of my self made encrypted backups. This way, if the third party does get hacked, and someone figures out a way to break their encryption, they would have to then break my encryption. The idea is not to be the low hanging fruit. Just as important, after completing your first backup with a new system (and periodically going forward), try restoring the backup. This will show you any missing items, or missing instructions you need to have. There is no point spending time on a backup if you are not certain you can restore from it...

Another first for me, I actually had someone get a very small credit on the 8801 for the AMT credit.