jklcpa Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Since all I've done is complain most of the week, I thought I'd share something positive. I got through a return, created the efile, and printed. The print packets worked well and I like that a custom packet can be printed at the same time as the others. Just for Jack in Ohio I will say that printing this year's return was much faster than in previous years. I don't know why, it could be that I have updated drivers since connecting my 9 year old printer to my system. I had this set up last year though, so that might not be it. It was a simple federal return with 2 states. The entire print job took a little over a minute to finish. Letters were standard, not customized and were a little out of order, but the rest of it was perfect. I was pleasantly surprised, almost excited to have something working. I haven't tried to efile this very simple return. I hope that goes without a hitch. I really would like this to work out that ATX will be able to fix the program. I see lots of things I like and I don't want to switch. I've been using ATX for so long it's like an old friend, but this year the friend is struggling with a personality disorder and needs lots of help. lol I've been fooling around with Drake and could make it work if I really had too. I would quickly come to hate working in it though with all the in and out of the file to calculate and be able to look at the return. Having to repeatedly reopen the file after looking at the return was really annoying and seemed a waste of time. I also saw something about it that could easily lead to mistakes. Yes, there were some things I had trouble finding at first, like how to tell the program to apply the overpayment to next year's estimates. I chalk that up to lack of familiarity. However, what I really didn't like was that the input screens had boxes for entering the number that would appear on the return, but also on the same screen were boxes with +- next to them that would add or subtract to entries derived or calculated elsewhere and those figures were not to be seen. The final number including the adjustment (or they were overrides but you can't tell which is and override and which is an adjustment field) isn't shown anywhere. You have to calc the return and view it. Then to get back to input, reopen the file. I was really unimpressed with this. Depreciation had the look of being very basic. It will let you choose any method or life no matter what year is entered. It could be simply a typo, but the program gives no warning until you calc and review all the notes. If I had to use it, the data entry mode seemed better than forms entry because even in forms entry the preparer can't see the numbers appear. It still must be calc'd, viewed, and reopened. Also be aware that forms entry mode is only available for 1040 prep, not for any of the business returns. Another minor annoyance is that it didn't like that I have 2 commas in my firm name and kept given error messages. I had to delete all of the punctuation in my name to clear these errors. Sorry for the ramblings. I hope this might help others that are looking at Drake. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaB Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Thanks, Judy, this is really helpful to me. I spent three hours today on a pretty simple return with a Sch E that usually takes 30 minutes for the computer end. Not counting chatty with the taxpayer who has nothing to do and assembly. Everything was slow, printing in particular. Boxes would not stay checked, a field in the second column of the Sch E input didn't link to the field right beside it. I spent quite a bit of time dinking around trying to make it link. I have been thinking for a few days about what to do next week if this software doesn't get better. I am having more memory installed, and will have the computer geek see if he can find anything else to work on. But, I amended a 2011 return (it was huge), and it was like seeing an old friend. Yes, I know, that doesn't help... Glad to hear your ideas about Drake, that's the one I was going to look at first, based on nothing but reviews on another forum. Who am I kidding? I don't have time to "look" at software. I will just have to buy one and hope I picked the right one. I really hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm about to the point where I'll never recover. Nobody knows how far behind I am. In a few days, they'll start calling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb39 Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Rita, I know exactly how far behind you are. My inbox is running over and I have spent two days trying to get a WI return to e-file. I finally filed the Federal and will sit on the State and get on to other things in the hopes of better things ahead. I have to agree with jklcpa that I have never had printing speed problems from the start and I have done nothing with my printer. (The print manager is another matter); have wasted a lot of paper and toner. Am now printing my copy on the back of the wasted sheets. Aside from that, FWIW, I have a brand new system this year with Win 7 64 bit. I did bump the Ram up to the max of 16G once we knew we were having issues with the program and returns opening. On the other hand, my laptop is two years old with the same system except that it maxes out at 4G Ram. The funny thing is that there isn't a noticeable difference in the opening of the Program or the returns. I have not tried to print with that one yet; which will be to a different printer, but also a HP. I don't have the time or money to shell out for a different program, nor do I want to. Losing ATX would be almost like losing an appendage. I have to believe that they will get it fixed. That belief is based on the fact that I have been able to complete three returns (simple, of course) from creation to ACK. Have had to do some workarounds, but that is nothing new. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaB Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 In case ATX is reading, one thing has bothered me for a couple of years: Having to recreate e-files every time I sneeze, go to bathroom, go to fridge to see if something edible magically appeared, etc. NO, I DID NOT CHANGE ANYTHING. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaB Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Oh, and another thing: Even when I check that I want to print Sch A when it is not required, and also select the box under forms to print, it doesn't print. Same thing last year. I always had to be looking at Sch A and "print current page." Not cool, ATX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Rita, have you tried going into Preferences, then Print, click View/Edit Print Packets? Within each packet you can mark three ways (default, always or never). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaB Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 OK, sweet, I checked "Always" on Sch A, 1040-SS, and 4562. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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