Lee B

I have had similar situations in the past 2 or 3 years. However, I do quite a bit of writeup work. First, I gave them a high estimate to do the writeup work. Second, I listed all of their tax return categories and told them to make a folder for each category, sort all of the paid bills into the various folders, then run a calculator tape on the contents of each folder. Of course you would also have get copies of their bank statements to review for reasonableness. If they also have payroll, then you need copies of all of their quarterly and annual payroll reports. Obviously, it can get more complicated, but this is a good start.

First, since the election requires their signature, a little detective work is in order. If they didn't sign an election, then they are not a valid S corporation, which would require amending last years return. If inquiry shows that last years return was valid, review those those actions that automatically invalidate an S election and choose the easiest one to execute.

Before you buy any CCH product, you need to read the August 8th issue of The Progressive Accountant about the issues the overall CCH organization has been having for the last 3 years.

Another poster suggested renaming your printer to something generic like "H P LASERJET" This will sometimes work.

There was a post on the ATX board last night by LITaxAdmin that if you were using a PCL6 driver for your printer, download a PCL5e driver and your print speed will improve by about 50 %. Worth a try.

cnccpas, I've used ATX for 14 or 15 years. I' still curious. Are you hanging in there with ATX because you think that ATX will get the major problems fixed in the next two weeks or are you hangin in there with ATX because all you other options are worse?

cnccpas, After reading your posts and some other tech knowledgeable posts about ATX and their new platform etc., it sounds like there no way for ATX to turn this program into reasonably useable tax software or are you overstating your case out of frustration??? Also, I'm really curious why you're trying ride out this tax season, if you truly believe it's a lost cause ??? Since my practice is is writeup, payroll & business tax returns, I am holding off making any decisions absolutely as long as possible, another 10 to 14 days. I've done a lot of demos, over the last two months and haven't found another program that I really like. If I have to, I'll probably switch to Pro Series reluctantly.

I watched the program and he looked like it was the very last thing he wanted to do.

I downloaded the demo for OLT PRO several weeks ago. It may be OK it you're mostly doing simple returns. No supporting worksheets for property taxes or mortgage interest on Schedule A, so you would have add things together on your calculator then enter the total. Then there were several more complex issues that the program didn't handle correctly. I sent an email to the sales rep with my questions. She said she would get back to me and never did.

I still have two 2100s, built like a tank, a little slow, I will keep running them until they die!

I've looked at Tax Act from time to time over the years. Be sure that you check and make sure that they do and efile your state, especially for business returns. The holdup for me has always been that they don't any business returns for my state.

There is an article in the August 8th issue of The Progressive Accountant about the problems that the overall CCH organization has been having for the last three years. Slowing revenue growth and a loss of market share to Creative Solutions & Ultra Tax. Product rollout problems, a lot of turnover in top managment positions, lack of leadership etc.

I believe it means that the contents of your efile has either been corrupted or does meet meet the specifications to be accepted. Some posters on the other board have been receiving state efile rejections for the same reason.

In the August 8th issue of The Progressive Accountant, there is an article about the struggles that CCH has been going thru for the last three years. Declining sales growth, losing market share to Creative Solutions & Ultra Tax etc. Lots of turnover at the top management level. Product consolidation etc. ATX is not the only problem they have.

Other that checking the box, there are no additional requirements unless the employees are withholding contributions from their pay then you would have box 12 entries.

It's also being resold by Utimate Tax Solutions ( www.etaxplace.com ) . I talked to a sales rep who said they have reselling Taxwise for 7 years now. They are selling an unlimited efile 1040 package for $599. You can add the business entity package for an extra $200.

I downloaded a demo back in December, while its definitely better than TaxExact, it was quickly apparent to me that it wasn't what I was looking for. They have a low end accounting/bookkeeping program called Taxslayer Books that looked interesting, so I downloaded it and tried using it for off and on for several weeks. I had some questions because there help was very limited. They had an online chat, but no one was ever available. I submitted 3 or 4 support requests ( no phone #) and no one ever responded ???

I know everyone says that you have to use IE, but I've used Firefox for the last 3 years with no problems.

Here's an out of the box option. Go to taxsoftware.com and take a look at what they have to offer, Very reasonable. They are a hybrid approach, cloud based software, programmed in Java so that it can used by any operating system and any browser. The client files all stay on your hard drive.They do all the personal returns federal & 22 states plus all the business entity returns (federal only). You can do a return for free up to the point, that you want to print or efile, then you have to pay. You can prepay for a bundle of returns or you can pay one return at time. I've looked at the site 3 or 4 times and everything is clearly explained, unfortunately they don't do my state returns.

I do mainly monthly writeup & payroll, but the program I use is a lot more expensive than quickbooks. I've spent lot of time evaluating other software options the last six months. Advanced Microsytems (1099-etc.com ) is very popular and is somewhat less expensive than quickbooks. By far the best value for your money is Medlin Payroll (medlin.com). From time to time Medlin posts here usually about software and programming issues.

I called them and they are selling the full Taxwise package for $799 plus they also have all the extra modules i.e. Paperless Plus, Client Accounting Suite etc. They claim to have been selling Taxwise for the last 7 years, plus they have the software available for all years back to 2001.

I just came across a website for Utimate Tax Service (etaxplace.com). Based on the descriptive terms that they are using it looks like they are reselling ATX (1040 plus business) for $799.