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CCH bought out a software provider which was based in Maine so that's how long I have been with them. I enter my info from each form and have had a few problems over the years but I plan to stick with CCH until Gabriel blows his trumpet. I have a 64 bit machine and now must upgrade to Windows 10. Y'all say a prayer for me.

I keep a computer up to eight years. I doubt the SSD drive would last. Speed is not that important to me as I do a fixed number of returns and if this season is any indication I will be doing less. Nowadays I take clients in the afternoon only as my days for getting up at 6AM to hit the returns is now a fading memory. Thanks for all the info. This business is still a pleasure to me and occupies the colder months and helps keep the old grey cells active.

Get as much RAM as the motherboard will handle. Never too much RAM. 16GB minimum. If the motherboard will not hold this much, find a different machine. This is not an area to skimp on. Bigger & Faster are all good for your business. Chalk up the cost, to the cost of doing your business. Agree with ILLMAS about the SSD.

SSDs last as long if not longer than HDs these days and it's the single biggest speed improvement you can make in a computer. HDs were always the bottleneck in processing.

Copying files over a cable between computers would take forever. The last time I tried it was with windows 95 or 98 and it was so slow, I ended up burning CDs to move files. Can you have the old drive temporarily installed in the new computer as a second drive and copy drive to drive? That's probably the fastest transfer. If not, using flash drives or external USB drives (especially an SSD) would be your best option. Here's ATX's video on transferring just your ATX databases: https://support.cch.com/sfs/solution/000048812

That's a great observation and factor I'll look at. With Drake, it isn't always a high priority either but admittedly the state is slow at the approval process. Often I'd prepare the returns, get signatures, and hold for when e-filing was available as I could generate everything necessary for the letter and such.

Please swap the 1TB HDD to a SSD drive

An I 2 core processor is a low end machine. Actually I didn't know they still sold computers with chips that old. Today an I 3 processor is considered a basic machine. You should probably get a computer with a I 5 CPU.

Surviving spouses do not need to file a 1310 but it's a good thing you sent it anyway. I had a client who received an IRS notice demanding the 1310, which I replied to by sending them their own form instructions stating surviving spouses don't need to file (and there is no where on the 1310 to check an appropriate box). I've had not one but two clients who had the checks issued to the deceased spouse. Both times the IRS apologized, but it mad me angry that these poor people who recently lost their spouses had to go through the hassle.