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The only time I called in had to do with uploading into their portal after I imported a return from my laptop. It didn't happen with every file but occasionally it gave me an error message. I contacted support, he tried a few things, couldn't figure it out, promised me he would look into it and call me back. A couple of weeks had passed, in the meantime I found a workaround, so no big deal. Then the phone rang and it was the same guy from Drake who called back with a fix. It didn't completely solve my problem, but he emailed me the fix and said if it happens again this was what I needed to do. So when it did, it saved me a whole lot of time and frustration because I already had the steps needed to get it to work. I am very pleased with the service. It reminds me of the good old days when ATX was small and cared. Had the same team stayed with ATX I would never have left. I would gladly have paid more for the program! With the current owner of ATX I feel they are only interested in the money, not me nor my time. Not so with Drake!

Hands down the best tech support. Hardly finished email on "disaster" problem with Ca and had response.

Also helped by *amazing* tech support that gets you the answer to any question you have, fast.

An honest objective response: This is my second tax season with Drake after 20 years with ATX. To be honest the input is more than a "little" different. Some of the worksheets are very busy with several links to subworksheets. Until you get used to it, sometimes trying to find the right worksheet is frustrating. If you are doing mostly straightforward 1040s, I don't think the transition would be too bad. I do mostly business entity returns and complex 1040s so that transition was more difficult. Drake has Oregon business entity returns available several weeks earlier than ATX which was a big deal for me, plus Drake efiles all of the Oregon entity returns which ATX did not do at the time I left. Honestly it still takes me a bit longer to process returns on Drake than it used to on ATX. However that's more than offset by reduced stress and frustration ! I like Drake and I don't regret changing.

The input in Drake is based more on the forms that we get from clients, than on the tax form format. So you'll get a W2 screen that looks like the W2s we get. Ditto for 1099-MISCs and 1098s, interest and dividends, can even consolidated forms. There is a Drake Tax Basics free webinar next week (after t he entities deadline) where they will go into all that - why don't you take a peek then? Drake Tax Basics (Webcast) - September 17, 2019 - 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM Eastern. This 4-hour online webcast introduces the basics of Drake Tax. Learn to install and set up Drake Tax, navigate data entry, prepare and e-file tax returns, use tools such as the Tax Planner, Client Status Manager, Update Manager, and more. Chat with Drake reps and earn up to 4 hours of CPE for attending. Click here to register. (the "here" is this link: https://training.drakesoftware.com/classroom-training/trainingclasses/?type=1&format=2 )

Looks nice! Do they have one for EA's?

Thank you, all. With that in mind, I stupidly accepted two new trusts that I haven't filed before! They're for family members of current clients. I have to learn to say no! It's not like I don't have a stack of personal returns to prepare, our own included...

Actually my decision making process in a gray area like this is based on: 1. Discussing the issues/risks with my client. 2. Evaluating my client's level of risk taking or risk aversion. 3. Asking myself whether this is a "red flag" potential audit triggering issue. In 27 years, I have only undergone 3 audits, all over 20 years ago. One was for representation work on a return for a commission salesman prepared by H & R Block. One was limited scope, only involving whether my client had basis to deduct his large S Corp losses. The third was an audit of bank account deposits looking for unreported income. The auditor did find several deposits of totaling $ 3,000 or $4,000 from the sale of used equipment that my client didn't tell me about. To my surprise, the auditor closed the audit without assessing my client any additional tax ??? I will admit to being too lax in several areas. This year as I am easing into semi-retirement I have been tightening up on my client's compliance in those areas.

I tend to oversimplify taxes and overcomplicate everything else. If you buy an asset thinking you'll sell it when it appreciates without you working on it, you're an investor (Sch D). If you buy a house to fix up and you think your work (including the work you do to hire the other people who work) will lead to income, you're a dealer (Sch C). Yeah, I lose a few clients being like this, too. Not many, but I'm fine with it. The last one qualified for EITC whether I used Sch C or Sch D, but I hope she had an investment gain that knocked her right out of it the next time she fixed up a house, and the guy who amended my return lost sleep over it. What to do, what to do... Yeah, I know, he didn't, but still...

Drake's tech support is pretty amazing. Last year I had a problem with the format on the DE 2210 where all the figures were correct but were printing 1/2 line too high. It's a little hard to explain, but numbers ended up in the wrong boxes. Connecting with the tech support person that monitors the company's forum, she put me in touch directly with the state programmers via email so that I could send them the pdf of the incorrect form and another correct presentation to show them the problem directly and as it should appear. There was another instance of working directly with the programmers, the details of which I don't recall, but I doubt this level of interaction directly with the programming dept would be possible with ATX.

This topic usually ends with someone being 100% sure everyone else is wrong.

It is a little different, everything gets entered into worksheets, but I found that within just a little while I was moving as fast if not faster than ATX. There was a few times I couldn't find where I needed to input something, but a quick google usually solved that problem. I was like you, very concerned about the difference, but with all the new changes to the tax return, I chose now to make the switch, and I am not disappointed at all. Also there are several users here on this board that are quick to respond for help! And should none of us be able to help, a quick call to Drake will get you up and going. The support is fantastic, geared to our busy schedules.

But it's not a solvable problem in the catch-22 situations.