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Converting to ATX


Prov

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I've just attended a demo of ATX as the last year I looked at it was 2012 when there was the whole program debacle. I've read a lot of threads here where people jumped ship to Drake and are very happy -- wonderful.

I'm currently a Drake user exploring options. Has anyone converted from Drake to ATX? What pushed you to convert and do you feel it's improved your workflow?

When I started in public accounting, I used ProSystem so I like CCH. It seems that CCH has made some integrations over time, but I'm not sure the extent people feel they are part of the family or more the distant stepchild. Any feedback would be appreciated! 

[Side note: I don't do a ton of returns, only about 40 individuals and 10 entities, so PPR is the only thing I'm looking at.]

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I can't speak to converting from Drake to ATX.  I can speak to my experience with ATX.  It's been generally excellent.  I use the program on a stand-alone desktop and have fortunately never experienced the "debacle" or other issues you may have read about.  Year after year, the program has worked well for me.  Have there been hiccups, yea...but not to the point that I've seriously looked to jump ship.  

Over the last two years, there have been a few instances where I have needed to contact ATX support.  I chose the online chat option and in every instance my issue was resolved in a reasonable amount of time.  

I suggest testing ordering a demo of the ATX program and seeing if it meets your needs.  I believe they offer some type of pilot option that would allow you to see what the solution offers.  Good luck!

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I used Drake two programs ago. I switched from Drake to TaxWorks and was blown away how much more sophisticated TaxWorks was than Drake. Then TaxWorks went away and I switched to ATX and was blown away how much more complete and how much faster I could do returns than TaxWorks.

ATX is better for people with above average computer skills and self-starters who can solve their own problems.

ATX's biggest problem is memory usage, but the solution is simply to close ATX after every return, especially big ones, to clear out the memory. You can install, and I highly recommend it, Large Address Aware, a 3rd party utility that let's ATX work fine above the 1 GB memory limit that 32 bit programs suffer from.

Instructions for LAA are attached.

Large Address Aware Instructions.rtf

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A long time ago, I used ProSeries PPR.   Once I grew out of PPR, I switched to Max in 2001.   I like the software, but there are things that are making me go "huh?" over the last 2-3 years.   Support has deteriorated to the point of little use.    The states don't seem to be a priority anymore.   Back in the early days, they used to advertise the Zillion Forms.   They don't talk about that anymore, but really, that has been the thing I am most hesitant to move away from.   I can't tell you how many times I needed a county property tax return or some other 1 time use form and I was pleasantly surprised to find it in my software.

I bitch about ATX a lot...more than it probably deserves, but that comes from the frustration of knowing what they used to be and what they have devolved into since the CCH takeover.  If they were to get their support in order, I probably would not have much to complain about.  I think I will be able to complain for a long time....

Tom
Modesto, CA

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Thank you all, I'll certainly try a demo and play around with it. I like a forms-based entry and the ability to see the numbers updating in real time vs. needing to calculate every time. I realize that certainly eats up a lot more computer resources (which I think most of the players are guilty of, except Drake).

Tom, they certainly promoted that during the demo of all the unique forms they have. I think it's helpful for when you may need to do one of those one-offs. So it seems, from your experience, that support has declined since the CCH acquisition probably because this is not as profitable to them as say ProSystem FX. 

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3 hours ago, Prov said:

Tom, they certainly promoted that during the demo of all the unique forms they have. I think it's helpful for when you may need to do one of those one-offs. So it seems, from your experience, that support has declined since the CCH acquisition probably because this is not as profitable to them as say ProSystem FX. 

Bingo.  Lets be real here.   I big reason why I use ATX is because of the price.    I am not ever going to step up to a premier software while I am a part time preparer.    I am very price sensitive.   I think most of us who use ATX are price sensitive.   And in business, if you can't get your customers to pay more, then you have to lower the cost of the product somehow.   The "easy" answer is cut the support budget.   

I think CCH has tried a couple things to decouple some of the features of the software (fixed assets) and sell them as an add on.   I don't think it worked well.

Tom
Modesto, CA

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After 20 years with ATX, I switched to Drake prior to last tax season.

I am glad I switched although it probably still takes me longer to prepare a return on Drake than it did on ATX.

My state of Oregon was a ways down ATX's priority list. It was usually around the 20th of February or later, before I could efile any Oregon Business Returns.

Even then there was usually problems related to the actual efiling which usually took another week to be fixed.

I notice that you are from RI. If the efilling of state business returns during the first 3 weeks of February is a priority for you,

you need to find out when the efiling of those returns became available the last 2 or 3 years.

Based on my experience, you can not trust which ATX will tell you about this issue.

You will need to find another ATX user from your state  in order to get the real dates. 

The final straw for me was that, I didn't feel that I could trust what ATX was telling me any more !

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I've suggested that ATX include a small number of support calls (6-10) in the base price, and then charge a fee for each additional call, to cut down on people who lean too heavily on support. And perhaps email support could be free. When I encounter an issue I can't resolve myself, I email support and move on to the next return. I've had them call me within 10 minutes of sending an email, and often within an hour or two. Caveat: I haven't needed support in over a year, so I don't know if this is still true.

I don't understand people who constantly complain about things like ATX crashing during printing, but then balk when the solution/workaround is suggested to them to close ATX before a big print job, or to print to PDF only, because it "should work".  I timed it and it took me 10 seconds to close/restart ATX. But, whatever, you do you.

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22 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

I don't understand people who constantly complain about things like ATX crashing during printing, but then balk when the solution/workaround is suggested to them to close ATX before a big print job, or to print to PDF only, because it "should work".  I timed it and it took me 10 seconds to close/restart ATX. But, whatever, you do you.

I hope I don't constantly complain, but I do like for things to work the way they are supposed to.  ProSeries had an issue with the print this year, and the best work around I found was to open everything up to the PDF printer and print from there.  I am still doing that because I got in the habit and it works  But I would still consider it a flaw in this year's software that I had to adapt to. 

I may go back to ATX.  They had some major problems in 2012 because they did a major re-write of the software.  The problems seemed to mostly affect users operating in a network environment  Tax software has to be one of the most difficult programs to provide, especially in years where there are major revisions to the tax code and little to no lead time.  And that is just for the federal portion that we all use the same!  And we all want it to be perfect and do all the work for us. 

I don't think I will ever find a software that I think is perfect for a price that I am willing to pay.  I do think that ATX provided a lot of value for the price.

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13 minutes ago, Lily said:

Am I supposed to keep LAA open at all times?

No, you run it once and you're done. It tweaks some setting in windows somewhere.

But the 18.3 update disabled LAA for ATX 2018, and I only learned about it accidentally on the official forum from a fellow user who had been told this by support. So I'll be checking LAA after every update from now on. And, yes, I did notice ATX being sluggish after LAA was disabled. I was worried ATX had serious problems or that my computer might be ailing, but all was good after re-enabling.

Speaking of updates, it's sure been nice these past two years only having 3 updates. Really, it's only 2 updates because x.0 that comes out in the fall is obviously a preliminary release, so x.1 to me is the real release and I usually wait for x.1 before I even install. I don't use the payroll function.

Hmmm, I need to suggest to ATX to split off the payroll as a separate product, so that those of us who don't use it, aren't paying for it.

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CCH bought out a software provider which was based in Maine so that's how long I have been with them. I enter my info from each form and have had a few problems over the years but I plan to stick with CCH until Gabriel blows his trumpet. I have a 64 bit machine and now must upgrade to Windows 10😖. Y'all say a prayer for me.

 

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On 4/24/2019 at 1:39 PM, cbslee said:

After 20 years with ATX, I switched to Drake prior to last tax season.

I notice that you are from RI. If the efilling of state business returns during the first 3 weeks of February is a priority for you,

you need to find out when the efiling of those returns became available the last 2 or 3 years.

That's a great observation and factor I'll look at. With Drake, it isn't always a high priority either but admittedly the state is slow at the approval process. Often I'd prepare the returns, get signatures, and hold for when e-filing was available as I could generate everything necessary for the letter and such. 

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I don't like to do any returns before early February, unless they're really simple. We did one about 2/1 this  year and right after we transmitted, they got a 1099 in the mail that they didn't realize they'd be getting and we had to amend.

For businesses we'll do the federal and and make a list of state returns to be efiled later. Usually no reason to rush entity returns anyway.

But if you're doing super low-end returns for folks desperate for their refunds, I can see how your business would suffer for not having states ready to go.

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1 hour ago, Abby Normal said:

I don't like to do any returns before early February, unless they're really simple. We did one about 2/1 this  year and right after we transmitted, they got a 1099 in the mail that they didn't realize they'd be getting and we had to amend.

Love those customers.   They know it is their fault and they know they have to pay me for the amended return.    

Tom
Modesto, CA

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23 hours ago, Abby Normal said:

But if you're doing super low-end returns for folks desperate for their refunds, I can see how your business would suffer for not having states ready to go.

Not my client base at all. :) Mine are more apt to send their things in as late as possible! I do have one business client who gets documents in around January 2 or 3 each year, which I like. I always have to hold off on e-filing, but it is what it is. 

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