HV Ken

Thanks - I finally found this little tidbit buried in the CT pages.... Release of Bond or Claim for Deposited Amount by Nonresident Contractor: A nonresident contractor must request, in writing, that DRS audit the records of the contractor for a project for which a bond was filed with DRS or an amount was withheld and deposited. The nonresident contractor must have filed all Connecticut tax returns due during the term of the contract and must have all applicable records available for inspection by DRS. DRS must receive the request for the bond release or withheld amount within three years after the date of final payment to DRS of amounts withheld and deposited or within three years from the last day of the month succeeding the reporting period in which the nonresident contractor filed a bond for the contract price. To determine whether the deposit may be returned to the nonresident contractor or the nonresident contractor’s bond released, the statute of limitations for any returns due from the contractor during the term of the contract remains open.

I just got my letter, and among the list of improvements is: Performance and Stability • Launching the application • Opening returns • Adding forms to an open return • Printing My guess is you will see these naturally during the course of testing.

I have a client who did work in CT. CT held the 5% retainage as they seem to require. The jobs have been complete for some time, and the contractor would like to get their retainage back. Does anyone know what the process is for this? I have done some searching, but am not meeting with much success. Any help and/or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Me too!

A little off topic, but curious. If a divorce decree states that the non-custodial parent is entitled to claim the children on their tax return, do people still get the custodial parent to sign the 8332?

Hi Rita, I sent you a message on this.

While I would prefer seeing updates in 2012 to give me confidence, if their development effort needs to be focused on fixing the system so they can have a 2013 release, there is not much effort they can also put into 2012, since it is somewhat stable at this point. I am disappointed at what seems to be a lack of software development infrastructure to fix bugs in 2012 and continue to roll out maintenance updates that can marginally improve the program I still have to use through October and beyond. It is not clear to me how to do a full beta test on 2013 as I cannot efile an actual return and experience the complete flow through the process. As much as my desire is to remain with ATX, I am really on the fence with no concrete way to have confidence that they will deliver for 2013.

You missed my opening commentary: Ignoring the quality issues with their maintenance updates

(Ignoring the quality issues with their maintenance updates) This is standard operating procedure for a software vendor to only provide fixes for their latest maintenance release. It would be improbable for a company to allocate that much resource to be able to fix each maintenance version.

I think we ended up with nine people from this community, and as far as I know, every one of them has received a communication from my contact at CCH SFS. Thanks to all who responded to this thread by sending me a message.

I think this is a clouded debate as it probably depends on where you live. Where I am, not far from NYC, there are many people with household incomes in six figures and don't have a penny in the bank, are maxed out on credit, living paycheck to paycheck. When these people get tapped in a layoff, they are done, as unemployment won't come close.

This is not always the case. What I have observed is that employers are looking for an EXACT match. If there is someone with a comparable skill set, but lacks training on the company's one specific software system, they will not consider that candidate, even though it is very likely they could learn that system very quickly and become a productive member of the team in short order. There are plenty of skilled unemployed workers out there that are not getting hired for this reason.

In NY where I live, the unemployment system as currently implemented encourages people *NOT* to work. My understanding is that if someone after being involuntarily separated wants to start a business, if they just put one stamp on an envelope on one day that they could not put in for unemployment for that day. With a family to feed, does this person try to start a business with no assurance of any income, or claim unemployment? No brainer. So the choice is collect unemployment and look for a job so they can attempt to pay their bills on the whopping $405/week (maximum) and then start their business after unemployment runs out, or start their business with the possibility of not being able to pay their bills. Anything you earn reduces your available claim, and any effort you make eliminates your claim. I can understand in this scenario why people would choose not to work.

See my PM reply....

Up to 6! I understand the first 4 have already been contacted by CCH SFS. Jack from Ohio - thought this might be something that interested you?

Heard from 4 board members so far!

You might say I Beta tested two years ago, but did not last year. I have been on their Client Advisory Board for the past few years.

In my previous thread, I promised to find out how users can be considered for Beta testing next year's ATX release. Since identities are hard to determine based on our choices of user names, If you send me in a private message your contact info (including email), I will send that along to my contact inside of ATX with the promise that you will be contacted. Please don't hijack this thread for other purposes. Thanks.

Agree! That's what I have been saying (guess that's why I agree)....

I will ask my internal contacts about how people can get on their Beta list. It is not my place to talk about what they did or did not do in the past. They do admit to making mistakes. My perspective is that they failed miserably - they had a good plan but terrible execution. How they choose to communicate is their call. I read those same posts about the Raven database. The poster made some bold statements about what ATX did or didn't do from the outside looking in. I am not convinced we contain enough information to form those strong conclusions about the database and how it was implemented and if that database choice is doomed for failure. I do believe they have a plan in place to fix the software. My opinion is that ATX 2013 will be make or break as they cannot survive another year like ATX 2012. I am unwilling to remain an ATX client on a mere "trust me". I am hoping they can demonstrate real results in the time left of this year's filing season through October. I will also be evaluating at least ProSeries as I cannot have another experience like 2012. I also have another perspective on this year. For almost 25 years, I worked as a software developer at IBM. As the industry was moving from mainframe to workstations (RS/6000 servers on linux), we had to rewrite our software for that transition. Our initial release went much like ATX this year. But we did improve the software and it was very good. Software infrastructure transition is very very difficult and schedules are often overly aggressive leading to a disasterous first release. There is a part of me that wants to believe this ATX experience will match my experience when I was on the other side in my previous life.

I agree completely. I told them I would be using 2012 through the end of the filing season, and I expect that product to continue to improve and restore some level of confidence that they are on the right path.

There was no indication made to me by any CCH SFS employee about the price of the product, discounts, etc. I would suggest an individual conversation with your rep, and if you are not happy with that you can certainly escalate up the chain. I would expect retenton is important to them. I was clear that they need some real communication - I am hoping after they get back from the NY and NJ shows, they will elvaluate all that they heard and show us something. After talking in depth with the technical team, I left feeling that they understand what went wrong and that they have a plan in place to address it. The way it was shared with me is that some of the improvements are pretty significant and could not be rolled out during tax season and will probably not be seen until next year's product. My message to them is that I am going to need more evidence than that and a simple "trust me" is *NOT* going to cut it. They listened - they took notes - let's see what comes out in the next couple of weeks. I know if I don't see anything before month end, Mr. Marx and I will be chatting again!

If ATX intends to stay in the market, wouldn't them sending out their early renewal letters demonstrate this? Of course we are all frustrated and have no intention of renewing early, but if ATX is not going out of business, then they need to proceed business as usual. I made it clear to them at the NYC technology show that I will not be renewing early and if I don't leave I also do not expect to pay full price if they do retain me.

I attended the NYC accounting technology show in NYC on Wed 5/1. CCH SFS (ATX) had a large and well staffed booth. They also had a breakout room where they took people for private conversations. I went to their breakout room and spoke with several key product leaders as well as the new CEO Jason Marx in long conversations about 2012 and the future, probably two hours in all. We talked about the disaster of 2012 and what their plans are going forward. I will let them handle the communication of their plans, but I left with no doubt that they intend to fix ATX for 2013 and remain a player in this market. I made it clear that in order for me to be retained as a client going forward, I will need more than a "trust me, we will get it right in 2013 and 2012 will not repeated." The execution and communication is up to them, but while I am in the process of evaluating other software, I will also remain open to staying with ATX provided they can earn my trust back. I left feeling that they genuinely understand that trust and confidence has been lost and that they know that have a hard road in front of them. The highlight for me was meeting @michaelmars at the conference. We have known each other for many years via this community and private correspondence, but to meet in person was really awesome! I am not trying to convince anyone, just simply sharing my experience from spending time with them at the show.

Now if I can just catch a fly with a pair of chopsticks....