NYTaxLady

We have had clients bring in statements from both Schwab and TD Ameritrade. We have not seen just two Schwab statements

I just set up the iFirm Portal from ATX, and this cleared things up....there are two 'sync' dialog boxes, on on the way into a return, and one on the way out. This should help: Q: When I rollover a client and then open the return, I am prompted by ifirm to sync client information to the information in the client portal. If I say yes to sync, it is DELETING the dob of the spouse as well as phone numbers and email. If I do not agree to the sync it opens fine. Then will sync correctly upon closing. This may be normal behavior as I am new to the portal, but doesn't seem like it should be deleting things from my return. A: I will try my best to explain what is happening when opening and closing returns in ATX that is linked to client information in iFirm. I hope I don't confuse you more. When opening a return in ATX, ATX checks to see if the client information already exists in iFirm and if it does is the client information is different. If the information is different, then ATX asks if you want to take the info from iFirm and update the tax return in ATX. That means if iFirm does not contain the DOB of the spouse, phone numbers or email then it will remove them from the return once you say sync. When closing a return in ATX, ATX checks to see if the client information in iFirm is different than what is in the tax return in ATX, if the information is different then ATX ask if you want to take the info from the tax return in ATX and update iFirm. If you say yes to sync, then the information in the tax return in ATX will be pushed into iFirm and now iFirm will contain the DOB of the spouse, phone numbers and emails will be added to iFirm. I really hope this helps.

Besides the early preview, and the joy of being a beta tester - Does ATX compensate you in any way or provide the software for free if you become a participating & contributory beta tester?

Journal of Accountancy http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/4e5ag53498?wsb83=01532455

Thank you for pointing that out. I see it now. I may not have signed in when I was looking at ther profile, because there were no messaging buttons at the time. Once I sign in, they appear. Silly me.

It would be helpful to find out where this potential client is - we need to find out if he is Just working in NY, or, is this pool guy working on the border area of NY/Mass/CT or NY/NJ/PA! Side note: Catherine, didnt have your email (how do you email or private message on here?) so I left you a message yesterday at your office.

The comparison reviews should be out in Sept. I have emailed with two different article authors from past reviews (something I suggest you also do, and give them your business size and needs), both said they were going to do their reviews to be out in Sept, but I specifically asked them to concentrate on smaller firms this year, given the need for change of many software users.

I am not finding anything about 12.12 faster. And I have having more memory problems with it. 12.10 was better for me, but had to move up to get the fixed assets import feature of 12.11 or greater. It is amazing how there is such a diversity of experiences with every release.

I was able to fix this on my end (standalone) You need version 12.11 or higher, they added a new menu item Returns >Import Data > Fixed assets You can try this , but the prevailing instructions are to delete 4562 (doesnt delete the data), save, add new form 4562, then import the fixed assets data. This re-establishes the link between the form and the data There are similar insructions on doing it on a network, which include runing a small utility to re-establish the data link between the workstations and the server. This utility is available through the knowledge base.

Just because you have an IT guy does not mean everything has been tried! Update .net to 4.5 Turn off the Refund monitor bar Set your antivirus program to ignore ATX folders (there are a few of them) defrag

There is a limit, however, that you can wait. I waited 20 minutes yesterday..The program was still in memory. I force killed it through task manager, and re-opened it. I understand 30 seconds, but 20 minutes?

If you have not been banned, sign into the regular ATX community board and go to Software Forum > Workarounds and Solutions. There are many tips there to speed up your computers. -Memory issues / Rebooting -Cleaning up your computer -Defragmenting -disabling antivirus software from scanning ATX folders -Network speed enhancements -net upgrade to 4.5

First, I spoke to soon and jinxed myself.. I am now on 12.12, because last night we lost fixed assets on a return using v12.10, and the fix that was implemented by ATX is in 12.11 and above - they added a menu item Returns> Import Data > Fixed Assets. Deleted and re-added the depreciation form, and reimported the fixed assets. It fixed my problem. Second, I want to note that the president of the Small Business Group was either fired, or he quite. ATX was under his wing. He may not have been responsible but he certainly was thrown in the frying pan. Someone posted that they were told that this re-write has been going on for 6 years, but somehow, I dont think that can be correct - too long of a development cycle. Can it? If the RavenDB is the problem, and they decide to abandon it, they will have to re-write again from scratch on some other platform for 2013. BUT...the problems will continue for us, because we will still need to access 2012 for clients who got extensions, new clients that didnt file 2012, and of course, rollovers.

I might think that if you are doing such a large volume of returns, for most installations of high volume I would imagine it could be very possible they also have multiple users on a network. Some of the instability could be from the network, but that isnt to say that the database doesnt have issues when it hits 250 or greater. Bottom line, which we all agree, is that the engine running it has issues.. Maybe when I finish my stack here I may have issues like others. But as a standalone, I have been ok. Maybe some issues have to do with memory - high memory addressing or something similar. My crippled system of 1gb might be protecting me!

I beleive they wiill also be at a similar show in NJ a few days later..

This is a part time office. Does it matter how many I do? You either have problems or you dont.

Joan, you are not going to figure out why one works or another doesnt. ATX couldnt figure it out with 48000 custimers. The core engine is screwed up.The Raven engine is screwed up and they need a re-write. And it runs on too many things that can be changed or updated, that ATX doesnt even check for. They have a lot of variables. For instance, .net versions are not checked for, but if you run the latest it goes faster. You would never know without the forum. It isnt worth your time thinking about figuring it out - there is no holy grail here. They need to start from scratch, using a platform whose database can do networking correctly. Raven isnt it. I stuck with 12.10 because it works for me, and 12.11 held no great shakes for me. I didnt want to risk screwing up a good thing. I may go to 12.12 or 12.13, to get out more bugs..

The 140 efiled returns includes both federal and state. Both businesses and individuals. I know it isnt a lot compared to the amount I am seeing from some on here, but then, they may be on networks and are accounting for their whole office. We have one standalone. I am not sure the reason behind the original question. Joel, glad to join you. Hope I can help here too. Is this the only non-atx board out there, or is there a whole secret underground ATX society out here?

What version of the software do you have I think you may need to re-download the forms in that return. There is a new form re-download option in v 12.10 and later.

E-Filed about 140 so far, got a stack more we are working on...its easy when the machine doesnt crash so much. Its slow but we are doing it. I gather from your question, that you are shocked by the lack of system power.. This year, throwing more computing power at it does not fix ATX , so mine and yours may be running at the same speed!

Fix depends on what software version you are using. Old versions (12.9 and earlier) can either delete the entire assets folder and redownload all the forms (takes a long time), or delve into that folder and just delete the individual forms causing the problems. They will automatically re-download. (if you do the problem only forms, it is admittedly more complicated. Details on the reall ATX board in the Workarounds topic) Or , you can use 12.10 or later, and use the new menu item they added, to update forms in this return. It will now give you a dialog box allowing you to select and re-download the problem forms in that partucular return.

Hi All. My first post. I didnt know this board existed. I saw Joans kudos to me, thanks...I tried to help..didnt know it would be this overwhelming. You can only imagine the amount of work it took to get the tips in one place. I tought others would post tips, but most put them wherever, and I gathered and refined them (to make them readable). To bad ATX didnt allow me to edit past posts, I could have organized it better. Just a comment, and this is not an attack on Joan - I am sure has she known they were going to use her comment to paint it as being fixed she would have been more careful of the words she chose. And also, I am sure they left off some ow what she said as well. They were trying to appear balanced, but really - you cant blame Joan. She mentions on here she quits, reboots, uses task manager..I would not call that fixed, and I am sure she agrees. But the writer was the one who did this. I am on an old machine. I run 12.10 on a Dell 4400 1.6ghz single core, windows XP sp3 with only 1gb ram. (computer cant go higher). I do my maintenance (CCleaner, defrag, etc) and updated where I could and I have no problems. But, I am on standalone. Sure, it is slow to open and occasionally get a crash, but I applied all of my Workarounds and Solutions, and am ok. It is no speed demon, but we are getting through. Frustrating, yes. Opening the print dialog box and waiting for it to load forms drives us crazy. Rollovers are a pain in the ass but i have a system to get them to work. It is nowhere near what I would call good software. Belieive it or not - if they called for an interview and asked me...I could easily have said something similar to Joans comment. And who knows how they would twist and warp it to sound like the software works well for me. And, you all know I am more than aware of the problems. It just happens to be true - I was not bit by most of the other issues everyone else suffered from, especially the network issues. (I did have PDF issues, and switched to Bullzip - never looked back.) I follow my own advice I posted in the Workarounds and Solutions and it seems to work ok. But then, I am a computer geek and many users are just non technical accountants - they have no desire to become their own IT staff -they just want it to work, like it is supposed to.