JohnH

So the bottom line is that this is another ATX issue after all.

Eric: Do you happen to know anyone who might be good at tax preparation whom you could get to look it over for you? Seriously, I'd be happy to review it for you, as would most of us on this forum. On a confidential basis, of course. Ignore our whining about people asking us to check their work - especially given all that you do for us on this forum, those types of compaints don't apply in your case.

Do you think that maybe Drake at least bought a couple of off-the-shelf computers and are testing their new software on them? Sort of the way lots of small practitioners have to operate? Sometimes its really smart to emulate how your customers are actually going to use (and misuse) your product before you take their money. I suspect Drake is wise enough to do that because I have lots of confidence in their ability to idemtify and service their target market. What a novel concept.

And that is a hard thing for a tax software company to figure out why?

Don't tell them. If they call to say they read something about the change in the newspaper, just say "It doesn't apply to you". What you really mean is, "it doesn't apply to problem clients".

When someone asks me for an estimate I tell them it will take me as long to enter their information for the estimate as it would take to prepare the return. The only thing left is to just push the "print" button. So I'll have to charge them full price. I give the same answer to someone who wants me to "grade their paper" on a self-prepared return Funny, I don't get many questions of that type since I adopted that response. =============================================================== Smart move Deb. There are people out there who will waste your time and drain your energy. May as well identify them early and send them on their way. Then you can spend productive time on work for your quality clients.

Very true. But if I were a food service equipment salesman who walked into a restaurant and noticed their kitchen was in flames, I would hand them my business card on my way back out the door.

Since I spend the other part of my business life as a sales rep, I'm generally interested in the sales & marketing side of any company I do business with. Sales reps tend to exaggerate for a host of reasons. But if those numbers are anywhere near accurate, there could be a "critical mass" issue looming here. Doesn't matter to me personally because I've already made my decision, but I'm certainly going to keep watching - mainly out of curiosity.

I haven't heard about it, but it wouldn't surprise me if that were the end game here. But I doubt that it will be free...

Great suggestions. I'd add one more to them. Why wait until after tax season? It would be easy enough to set up a stand-alone computer, purchase the prime candidate for a secondary vendor on a pay-per-return basis & install on that computer, assign one person to operate it, and give that person the simplest returns while they develop proficiency. Who knows what could happen? It might even turn out that the dreaded switch from a forms-based program might not be so difficult for some people once they prepare a return or two. Or it might be that if serious problems pop up or persist with the primary vendor, that computer might be the only one producing any revenue. Wonder what might happen next? ========================================== Edit - Or just follow the excellent advice from "Numbers" That's obviously a workable plan, and a great motivational lecture as well - "If you'll agree to learn to use the new software, you get to keep your job..."

I vote for not doing the return with the client present. Would never do that under any circumstances. I encourage them to mail info or drop it off after hours. I do everything possible to keep my clients out of my office so I can get some work done. There's an added benefit if you're having software problems - nobody knows but you.

---> Any reasonable suggestions of a way to switch software in the middle of an already delayed season wiil be considered and appreciated <---- Been there, done that - in a manufacturing environment. I acknowledge that ours is a service industry, but the principles are exactly the same. It's never good business practice to be hostage to a single vendor. As a matter of fact, it is flirting with business suicide. With a volume of 3,000 returns and 8-10 employees, I'd have long ago been using two software vendors. I'd have 6-8 people using the primary vendor, and my best 2-3 employees using the secondary vendor. Personally, I'd be familiar with both programs. Then, if my primary vendor failed me or put me in the hole for any reason, my backup plan would be in place and my 2-3 best employees could be mobilized to quickly bring everyone else up to speed. I'd have already taken the time to know enough about both vendors to be able to train, and more importantly to evaluate the quality of the training provided by others. If I found myself in that situation without already having the plan in place, I'd immediately devote whatever resources were necessary to implement it. And I'd do that no matter how well my current vendor's product might be working for me at the moment, no matter how good a relationship I might currently have with my current vendor, and no matter how confident I might be about my current vendor's future. I'd do all of that before I prepared my next tax return.

I think the car analogy is a good one, but for a different reason. If I contacted my clients back in Augst 2012 and offered them a small discount for their upcoming year's return, then if they took me up on it they'd expect me to be able to prepare their return in Jan-Feb as I promised. But then when they call to make an appointment and I tell them they must come to my office in a car that isn't more than 2 years old with a v-8 engine and all accessories if they expect me to deliver on my promise, my clients might get upset. They might even accuse me of being deceptive in my dealings with them.

Just tell him he needs to buy a new vehicle to get a better tax deduction. Clients love it when they can use the tax write-off as an excuse to buy something new and shiny. :)

I decided to take a low-impact approach, and haven't seen anything yet which would make me regret this decision. (Of course tax season isn't over yet) I did have the added advantage of taking the last few days off, part of which I've spent looking at Drake training videos. I have a pretty good idea of what has come into my office while I was away, and I feel confident that I'm ready to tackle all of them. And as I said, those which I completed before leaving were a breeze. Seems like time spent generating revenue is a lot more productive than trying to decipher all the complexities of a program that is clearly not ready for its intended use. I see that some people are doing fine and they say they are having no problems. But there are just too many stories of slow printing, wierd procedures, instability, crashes, etc to suit me. Some of the work-arounds that I've seen suggested make me very uncomfortable. I'm just not interested in risking being one of the guinea pigs.

For what it's worth, I haven't found the Drake switchover to be problematic at all. I downloaded Drake Friday morning and began preparing returns within less than an hour. I found the dreaded switch from a forms-based entry method to the Drake screens to be a non-issue. Disclaimer - my volume is very low and I won't be getting into my more complex returns for a couple of weeks. Of course by then I will have enjoyed the benefit of learning to navigate around the program and am making money while learning. My decision to switch was partly driven by the point you made in your last paragraph. I believe the time I've spent thus far working through the changeover was equal to or less than the time I would likely have spent trying to coax ATX into working, period. At least I knew the time spent was productive, as I'm working with a trusted vendor and a stable program that isn't likely to freeze or crash in the middle of an important task. That's a critical consideration at this point in the tax season.

Here's a handy gambling diary I discovered (I think I found it on this forum). I give these to my clients who need them - most clients appreciate the guidance. I think the site is good, and their diary is very good. http://www.ladyluckdiary.com/

I think the courrt was saying that IRS can issue PTIN's, and thy can call that person a RTRP (or anything else they want to call them). But the IRS cannot charge for the PTIN or for the RTRP designation, and they cannot require CPE of RTRP's, until they have statutory authority to do so. If I'm correct, then there is still a RTRP designation unless the IRS decides to overreact again.

IRS did the typical thing that a bureaucrat does when a decision goes against them. They overreacted by claiming the decision would shut down the RTRP program and cost millions upon millions of dollars. When you have virtually unlimited resources at your disposal, you can make a really big mess of things with no financial consequences and no personal accountability.

"PDF Printer for iPhone" (by Dar-soft) seems to have the best reviews. Cost is about $3. I don't have any experience with it but I think I'm going to try it. Usually I just take a picture of the document with my camera and text or email it to myself, but I can see how a good printer might come in handy at times. BTW, you do know how to use the camera to take a picture of a web page (or whatever is on the sceeen at the moment) don't you? Just hold down the power key and press the home button. Now that I think of it, that feature may pretty much obviate the need to have a PDF printer.

I agree - I can't imagine doing business without an iPad and iPhone either. They are becoming essentials rather than accessories. Laptops are great for some tasks, but dinosaurs for others. BTW, saving pdf's to iBooks is fine, but I prefer using PDF Reader Pro to manage pdf's It is worth the cost just to get the search capabilities. And now PDF Expert seems to be an even better option - just need to find out if it;'s worth $9..99

3 years and this is what they come up with? Good thing they didn't have 4 years to work on it.

Drake should be at the top of your list. If you're determined to switch and you need top-notch customer support for the transition, they will be there every step of the way.

Hey, here's an opportunity for ATC/CCH to marry up a couple of technologies at this critical time. Instead of "Music-on-Hold" they should change to "Manual-on-Hold". They should have a recording of someone reading the User Guide in place of the elevator music. At an average of 30 seconds per page, and assuming the average wait is an hour and 15 minutes, the entire 460-470 page User Guide can be read in 4 easy customer-service calls with a little time to spare. And instead of pressing "1" to indicate you want to stay on hold, you could press "1, 2, 3, or 4" to choose which section of the User Guide you'd like to have them read to you while you wait.

Every time I see a Klondike bar I think of the Gary Larson cartoon with the two polar bears sitting with their heads over an igloo. (There are footprints leading into the igloo) One polar bear is saying to the other "Hey! I just love these things - crunchy on the outside and a chewey center."