Drake Accounting (Employees module)

[Lily]

I used AMS (1099-Etc), and now I'm using CFS for payroll.  Is there any options/settings to make Drake payroll work more like AMS or CFS?

Does anyone rely entirely on Drake for payroll?  I mean from inputting wage info to filing quarterly reports and W-2s?

[Lee B]

I used Drake Accounting for 2018 "on the fly" W-2s and 4th quarter 2018 Form 94x.

It was acceptable but slow and quirky.

After tax season was over, I spent most of 3 days trying to get ATF and Live Payroll up and running.

I ran into several serious problems related to Oregon Payroll taxes.

Drake Accounting Support answered the phone quickly and were friendly.

However, their knowledge or Oregon Payroll was very limited.

I explained in detail 3 or 4 times what the problems were and was told they would pass on my comments

The problems still haven't been fixed and no one has contacted me.

My conclusion is Drake Accounting Support has room for a lot of improvement.

I do not recommend Drake Accounting to be used for any Live or ATF Payroll applications.

The "Fill in the Form" applications are OK for limited use.

Instead, I have switched over to Medlin Professional Payroll in far less time with excellent support.

Actually I am very pleased with Medlin's Payroll Software and highly recommend it !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lily]

Thanks for the heads up.  I read that speed is an issue in another post...  Definitely something to consider.

If I switch to another payroll software, I hope it's something capable of e-filing at least the Federal payroll tax returns.  I mostly likely will immediately switch if Medlin has that feature.

[Lee B]

Medlin does not efile Forms 94x.

[Terry D EA]

I have been running Drake Accounting for the last year. I have two different payroll clients and have done live payroll consistently without any problems at all. I have filed all quarterly tax forms. I don't think there is a way to connect Drake to EFTPS and if there is, I might be a bit concerned. As long as I have been using EFTPS myself I have no problems. Nothing is late and everything reconciles. 

Recently, I started using the batch feature. Seems to work just fine. Also, I use Kotopay for the direct deposits. I must say that is functioning flawlessly. I do think there are some areas that need some improvement. I don't care for this as an accounting program. I don't like the vendor or customer setup. I renewed again for next year simply because you can't beat the price as a bundle pricing.

I did use Medline a number of years ago and no Medlin doesn't efile any forms. Also, I recommended Medlin to a friend of mine who did not get good support. Couldn't call and all you could do was leave an email. That is a bit discouraging. I was in the middle of that mix and one of the responses from Medlin was if my client did not know what they were doing then they shouldn't be doing payroll. All I wanted to know was if they had a way to simply after the fact payroll to match records. Again, disappointing. 

[Lee B]

Well you are fortunate that they apparently know a lot more about NC payroll taxes than Oregon's payroll taxes.

After all NC is their home state. 

As far as Medlin goes, yes email is their primary support mechanism. I have always received a response within 20 or 30 minutes.

Medlin is definitely a stickler for following payroll rules and regulations, therefore they won't help you bend the rules.

They aren't a very big company so they can't really do phone support.

The program is extremely flexible and very efficient.

Medlin would not be a good program for someone that doesn't already have a good understanding of payroll.

 

[Terry D EA]

On 6/7/2019 at 10:29 AM, cbslee said:

Medlin is definitely a stickler for following payroll rules and regulations, therefore they won't help you bend the rules.

I never said I wanted them to bend any rules. All I asked about was after the fact payroll entry and if their software provided a means to do so. The response was uncalled for and entering after the fact payroll is certainly not bending any rules and had nothing to do with whether my friend/client had any prior knowledge of payroll functions which they did.

[Lee B]

I just finished taking another look at the Drake Accounting Payroll Function.

Probably the biggest improvement is that they now efile Forms 94x.

They finally recognized that their software wasn't handling Oregon's Statewide Transit Tax and Worker's Benefit Fund correctly.

I understand that Oregon is a smaller state clear across the country, but you shouldn't advertise that your software is efile compliant in all 50 states,

when it isn't !!!  Had a long conversation with a very nice support person.  I will check back again next May to see if they had made enough improvements

to make the software's live payroll functional enough for me to use in Oregon.

[jklcpa]

I renewed with Drake earlier today and, for the extra $100, purchased Drake Accounting for next year specifically for its on-the-fly prep and e-filing of the 94x series, W-2s, and 1099s.  I have no interest in using it for write up work though.

[Tax Prep by Deb]

2 hours ago, jklcpa said:

I renewed with Drake earlier today and, for the extra $100, purchased Drake Accounting for next year specifically for its on-the-fly prep and e-filing of the 94x series, W-2s, and 1099s.  I have no interest in using it for write up work though.

Agree!

I do like using It for the same purpose, but it isn't that friendly for anything else.  Love the tax software though!