2012 TRX Renewal Anyone?

[Crank]

Has anyone renewed for 2012 yet? The deadline for the TRX Pro - 1040 Premium package at the $299 price is May 1, 2012. The rep I spoke to said its the same deal as last year. You can purchase the TRX Pro (TaxWorks) and prior to the ship date you can switch to the their in house version if you want to.

He claims that the in house version is more polished for 2012 and will be ready for prime time where as the 2011 product wasn't quite ready. He claimed that it has a very good conversion product in regard to TaxWorks version.

Even with the addditional problems this year I am going to renew for 2012. The saving is significant over ATX. Over the summer I will download the in house version and see how it compares to the Tax Works version. They claim that it is very flexible and can be both input based (like TaxWorks) and forms based (like ATX). Seems a bit far reaching if you ask me but the demo will be the deciding factor.

[GeneInAlabama]

They called me today and I told them I would give them an answer Monday. I think I will probably go with them this year again. You can't beat the price, especially those of us who got the lifetime $299 price. There is a preview of their in house version on their web page. I don't do enough returns to justify the ATX price, but I'm too old to learn the worksheet method of Tax Works. Everytime I ran into something different, I had to spend a lot of time to find the right way to enter it into the program.

[GeneInAlabama]

Maybe I'll fail the test and won't have to worry about any of this anymore. :P

[GeorgeM]

I will be renewing at the reduced price, I cannot afford to pay the ATX price doing only 55 returns.

I cannot complain about the program, I found it excellent for my clients, I have 5 or 6 multi state returns and it is the best I have ever used for multi state.

As far as the test, I thought I read that you will have to pass it by Dec 31, 2012.

[Kea]

Actually, you have until 12/31/13 to pass the test. But the CPE requirement does start this year.

I'm pretty sure I'll renew with TRX also. Like mentioned above, it's all about the price. I did get an ad today for OLTPro for $399. It talks about being an online program but also says you can order a free demo CD. I might look at their website before I make my final decision.

[Don in Upstate NY]

The $299 for life product has shrunk from what it was a couple of years ago. The 2010 version (and maybe the 2009 version) included access to a tax research service. The main screen of the 2010 version had a button on the upper-right labeled "RIA Research" that logged you into RIA. On the 2011 version that button is labeled "Coming Soon". I asked about it during the season - the support person said she had never noticed it, but her associate said it was for "some feature that would be added later in 2011 or maybe 2012". The button itself does nothing, nor do the "Federal Reject Codes" and "State Reject Codes" buttons.

I know of three bugs in the program that have an effect on one or more returns that I prepare, and I know the workarounds. The sales associate assured me that the 2012 product will still have all the 1040, entity, and e-file features that it had in 2011. No research services however. I do less than 100 returns on this software per year, and do not do bank products.

Yes, I renewed this week.

[Crank]

Speaking of buttons, whats the diffference between "Online Tax Training" and "Online Training"

[Mike D]

I agree with all that although the tech support was not as good as prior years the price trumps all.

I will be attending the NY Accounting & Technology Show on May 2 in NYC at which Red Gear has a booth. I spoke to them at length last year and they assured me that they were entirely revamping the software for 2012. That could be a good thing, however it could also cause problems and issues if not teasted properly?

I will report on any feedback that I get from them.

My best to all

Mike Dubin CPA

[Nellie]

I was a bit confused as to the difference between the Pro and the Premium so when I renewed I asked. It turns out that the difference is that with the Pro you can prepare the entity forms but you cannot efile them. I prepare about 30 partnership and corporate, several trust and several non profits along with the 250 or so individual returns. The Premium package was the better bet for me.

I will check out the TRX program this summer also as it appears to be more forms based than the one from Red Gear. I look forward to hearing what the others have to say about it.

Nellie Walter

Fort Mc Coy, Florida

[John A]

I'm not going with TRX for 2012 unless 1) I get a sense that Redgear will be more on the ball this year (specifically in terms of the Oregon returns), 2) TRX can confirm that they will be offering the same Redgear software for the coming year as for 2011 (that is, no conversions necessary), and 3) they give me the same package deal as last year, which included 5 free business efiles. (I use the Pro version, not the Premium version.)

So far, I'm not sure about 1, they can't confirm 2, and they've refused to offer me 3. So it's a no go at this point.

I requested a demo version of OLTPro, and will report back here. I'm also going to be checking out TaxAct Professional Edition.

Anyone have any other leads?

[Crank]

I renewed for 2012 and they did confirm that it will be the same RedGear program they offered in the past. This is in addition to there own in-house product that they have been working on.

[John A]

They confirmed? I was told they wouldn't have an answer until mid-summer. This was earlier this week.

[Mike D]

Let me allay any suspicions about TRX providing RedGear for 2012.

I attended the NY Accounting & Technology Show this Wednesday at which Red Gear had a booth. I spoke to them at length and they assured me that TRX will be licensed to provide TaxWorks for 2012.

In addition I was assured by TRX sales when I renewed that they would be providing both TaxWorks and their homegrown version for 2012.

I am attending a RedGear seminar on May 23 in Garden City, NY where I will once again reconfirm 2012.

For those of you who may be interested Intuit is offering a cloud tax preparation product that costs $7.99 each for 100 1040 returns, all states, efile, etc. They also provide business returns from $199 for 10 or $349 for 20, 1065, 1120, 1120S, 1041. They said at the show that this was Lacerte software, when I inquired subsequently they said it is based on the Lacerte platform but lacks some of the bells and whistles. In any event here is the link for those interested.

intuitaccountants.com/ito

Mike Dubin CPA

[John A]

Thanks so much for the detailed info, Mike. I really appreciate it.

(Not sure why the sales rep I spoke to gave me the incorrect info about RedGear for 2012; maybe I wasn't clear in how I asked him about it! I'll assume the mistake was on my end.)

[John A]

Hmm. Just FYI, here's an except of an email I got from TRX today when I asked specifically about RedGear:

I cannot guarantee that it will be Red Gear at this time since we have not resigned a contract with them yet. Last year it was November when we signed the contract with them. I can guarantee that if you go ahead and renew and you are not satisfied that I will give you a refund and that way you can lock in your price.

[Mike D]

I stand corrected as I just got off the phone with TRX who informed me of exactly what John A posted above. They suggested that I call back in August as they would be in a better position to respond at that time.

So other that the assurance that I received from RedGear themselves I am not a happy camper!

Intuit online accountant is looking better than it did yesterday for me.

I will be attending a TaxWorks seminar on May 23 at which I will once again inquire as to the status of the TRX deal.

I will keep you posted.

Thanks

Mike Dubin CPA

[Tax2012]

In reading http://www.ripoffreport.com/computer-software/trx-software/trx-software-i-agree-murfrees-80874.htm there is a posting from an employee that specifically says that you will be paying for one software but be sent a different one instead.

@Mike Dubin, where is the Taxworks seminar on May 23 going to be as I would like to attend one and speak directly with someone as well.

[Crank]

Well this is not good. When I renewed, prior to May 1st, I was told by Will 1-855-880-1040 x3451 that I would be getting the TRX (RedGear) software. Also, who is "newbie" above that posted the link to the ripoff report website. Its his first post. Is it the person who wrote the post?

[Mike D]

You can call RedGear @800-230-2322 to request locations of their seminars.

I am attending May 23 in Garden City, NY at Hampton Inn Garden City, 1 North Ave.

The others that I am aware of are also in the NY metropolitan area between May 22 and May 29.

Haven't I read some past rhetoric from you about TRX and their ripoff policies? This sounds familiar.

Hope to see you there.

Mike Dubin CPA

[John A]

To be fair, I've had no problems with TRX as a company as of yet. So far they've delivered on their promises, for the two years I've been with them. I've never used/offered any bank products, and probably never will.

(My problems have largely been with the software itself. As everyone else here has pointed out, however, the price is at least a couple hundred bucks better than anything else out there. I'm going to see what I can do to get involved in RedGear and/or TRX product development this offseason, hopefully to help improve the Oregon return.)

[Kea]

When I renewed on 4/30 (yep, last minute), Jay also said that I would continue to receive Tax Works unless I chose to switch to Tax Exact. Maybe they just don't have any info at this time to believe the partnership with Red Gear won't continue? No idea.

[Tax2012]

You can call RedGear @800-230-2322 to request locations of their seminars.

I am attending May 23 in Garden City, NY at Hampton Inn Garden City, 1 North Ave.

The others that I am aware of are also in the NY metropolitan area between May 22 and May 29.

Haven't I read some past rhetoric from you about TRX and their ripoff policies? This sounds familiar.

Hope to see you there.

Mike Dubin CPA

Thanks for the info @MikeDubin. You haven't read anything from me on here before as I just found this board. You might have seen post from me on other sites or it could have just been others in my same situation. I have really held back from posting too much up until now because I felt doing so could hurt my chances of ever getting my money. However, after 2 full tax seasons of cash flow for them there is no reason to hold back any longer. I have promised Doug Hughes that I will post everywhere possible.

to @John A, yes my situation comes from being a Service Bureau offering bank products with them. If you did not offer bank products then there would not have been the same opportunity for them to take money like they have done from me and other Service Bureau clients. Thank you for making that point.

[ed_accountant]

I renewed with the TRX Premium Tax Works. I was assured that Taxworks would available for next tax season.

Taxworks has worked very well for my last 3 tax seasons. I am very satisfied with the Taxworks software. I did not use any bank products so I did not have any of the issues.

[JJStephens]

Garsh, I'm befuddled.

After 15 years with ATX I've learned to live with TaxWorks but I'm not that happy with it (could be just the old dog/new tricks thing). I'm dealing with a clergy return issue now that exceeded TRX's support capability (the guy I talked with told me he's not a preparer so he was completely ignorant of the issue involved). For the third time this year a support issue was elevated to a software engineer at Red Gear. The previous two times they found the problem--something in the 2010 software that was carried forward when I pro-forma'ed returns into 2011. This time the guy refused to make any changes because his instructions were to do it as written (never mind that it is contrary to IRS instructions). "And besides," he said, "there aren't very many clergy taxpayers who have this particular issue." Ninety percent of the returns I do are clergy. I'm not a happy camper.

Less than an hour after I got off the phone with them I got a call from CCH. They offered me ATX-Max for $795/yr for three years. I'm just about ready to switch back (I told them I wanted to sleep on it). It'll cost me an extra $500 for the next 3 years (and who know how much more after that) but I've just about had it with TRX/Red Gear. I renewed in time to retain the $299 for life deal but I'm not real sure I want it anymore.

[Doug TRX Alliance]

JJStephens,

If you will be willing to look at our TRX 1040 software which I think you find it is suitable for your needs. We are making major changes to it and your help on the clergy would be most appreciated. This way you can help us make it where it flows as you desire and by doing so it will help anyone that uses our product doing clergy returns.

Thanks

Doug Hughes