No more complains

[cantup]

Hi everyone on this forum

First of all thank you so much for all your support, ideas and experiences; I think we all have a lot of things on common and one of them is success on what we are doing (Tax Preparation) for individuals or business.

Since I started using ATX (2003) after Ortax, I think I found a new way to work using ATX's forums, I learned a lot of hings from your experiences, and keep learning till today thanks to your posts.

No one is perfect, but for some reason we always found something to complain about and make a big deal about it, including myself; today I decided don't complain more about ATX's software.

I like it, I been using it for 5 years and besides I discover they don't decide for me.

I have my answer, I have my choice, and I think I know your answers too; most of all we are going to renew our ATX software for the next year although we continue complaining about it.

That's the reason I have decided no more complains about ATX's software, instead we should encourage each other to work harder, helping ourselves, that's what I enjoy more of this forum.

Hope you are having a nice tax season.

Pedro

PS. sorry for my English hope you understand what I tried to say :scratch_head:

[wendybooth]

I to have used ATX since 2000. I will agree with you I will probally renew my ATX next year. I don't have many complaints because I only have a few clients. I like the form based software of ATX. I have tried others but with my limited PC skills the learning curve is too steep. Thanks for the uplift!!!!

[MargaretMort]

Gosh, I am glad to read the non-complaint idea. I have been using ATX for quite a few years, like the forms input, like the community board--yes, I was stunned last April and am thrilled that ERC started this one--and have learned a great deal. I will probably renew because the price is right for my small practice. I have a great deal of sympathy for the people who have larger tax practices and lots of questions and little help from the powers that be but......Sometimes we do go overboard. (I know I do this in relation to a golf course I am a member of--no input, no info, lots of question and complaints on my part) I certainly can't fuss about their complaints, just extremely glad that either my questions are answered on this board before I need to ask them or I have instant response the few times I have requested help. Here's to a final push to April 15.

[tilt]

I have a little different perspective on this. I am a ProSeries user who was originally granted access to the ATX forum when I demo'd ATX several years ago. Although I decided ATX was not for me, I have valued reading the posts and replies that both forums have generated. I appreciated the breadth of knowledge and have learned many things just from reading and lurking. Thank you for allowing me to continue to be part of this forum.

[Gloria]

I switched from ATX to Proseries last year -- and I am back with ATX this year. I was dissappointed with ProSeries all year. Quite a few years I used Proseries for two years after Intuit purchased Parsons Technology who had a taxpackage for a little over $300 or maybe it was even under $300. Of course, afer the acquisition they did away with the program and we were offered the ProSeries at a dsicount for two years. I was very impressed with Proseries back then but I had to find a different tax program when they increased the price the third year--with my part-time tax business I could not justify the high price. I found ATX/Saber and I was dissapointed with all the features that ATX did not have compared to ProSeries but the price was reasonable. Over the years ATX has continued to make improvements and the program is now better than ProSeries. I switched to ProSeries because they contacted me and they offered me a good price for two or three years and I did not know what was going to happen with ATX after CCH took over ---- PLUS I remember how much I liked ProSeries several years ago --- BUT LAST YEAR, I REALLY MISSED THE EASE OF USE that ATX provides -- so I am back with ATX -- and I really hope the program is not discontinued by CCH. I, too, have also learned a lot by reading the posts when I have time. Thanks everybody for helping out with the questions that are posted.

[Jack from Ohio]

I want to hear input from another firm that does nearly 3,000 returns each year, like the firm I work for. If you do more than 200-250 returns, there are MANY reasons to complain than have not even been considered for change. ATX uses an Access 97, that's right, 97 databse to store the information. Every time you open a return, it has to sort through the entire database before allowing you to open it.

Using 11 year old technology as the base for a 2007 or 2008 tax program is nothing to blow your horn about. Also, try networking the program with 12 workstations.

I really would love to hear from someone else that uses ATX with more than 500 clients.

Are you out there??

[fredazcpa]

I want to hear input from another firm that does nearly 3,000 returns each year, like the firm I work for. If you do more than 200-250 returns, there are MANY reasons to complain than have not even been considered for change. ATX uses an Access 97, that's right, 97 to store the information. Every time you open a return, it has to sort through the entire database before allowing you to open it.

Using 11 year old technology as the base for a 2007 or 2008 tax program in nothing to blow your horn about. Also, try networking the program with 12 workstations.

I really would love to hear from someone else that uses ATX with more than 500 clients.

Are you out there??

I am not the computer savay, but no wonder it slows down during the season, Jan through Oct, and I kept thinking it was the PC, and I am sure that is part of it, with a three year old machine, it may be time to upgrade, but not wanting to learn a new opeing system, the wifes laptop drives me up the wall when I use it

[Linda Mathey]

I to have used ATX since 2000. I will agree with you I will probally renew my ATX next year. I don't have many complaints because I only have a few clients. I like the form based software of ATX. I have tried others but with my limited PC skills the learning curve is too steep. Thanks for the uplift!!!!

I have used ATX since 2002. I like having a program where I can unprotect worksheets and change font sizes, etc. I will continue to renew as long as CCH supports the software. I think it is a bargain considering I can prepare 1040, 1041, 1065, 1120, payroll, etc. and all EFiling is included. I do not do over 2,000 returns and do not have 12 networked computers and I am not sure this program is intended for that type of high traffic use.

[rfassett]

I am a long time ATX user and hover right around the seven hundred mark for number of returns. And they cover the gamut. 1040's, 1041's, 1065's. 1120's, 1120S's, 990's, etc., etc. And this has been the smoothest year so far with the tax software. I am using hardware that is approaching 2 years old and running dual monitors. Just in the last month I am starting to experience some resident memory issues. Most likely caused by the number of different programs opened at any one time (upto six) and opening and closing as many as 15 to 20 tax returns in a day. After tax season I am going to add more memory. I do not fault ATX for my problems, I fault my hardware. And I would be willing to bet that most ATX issues are more hardware related than software related. Just my thoughts - and now back to work!

[Maribeth]

We will do about 500 returns this year -- the whole gamut, 1040, 1120, 1120S, 1041, 990, 1099's, W-2, 941, 940, state payroll & sales taxes. We run ATX on a 3 computer peer-to-peer network. For the money ATX is the best I have found. It has all the forms we need, I love the forms based input, and the price is right. I will probably renew ATX next year (unless Mel has his software up and running) but I will not renew Kleinrock, I'll be going to a different research source.

Maribeth

[joanmcq]

If you are doing 3000 returns a year (unless you are a mass producer type of preparer), wouldn't it be better to upgrade to profx or one of the other software packages that is geared to larger firms? Its perfect for my solo practice, and since I am picking up more and more out of state returns, it is great to have all states and all forms supported, especially the 982 this year!

[diligentbiz]

I've been an ATX user for MANY years. I was surprised to receive their CD this year, ahead of my purchasing. Last year, I ordered in Feb. and was told the CD's got stuck in Canadian customs, so had to download from the web. With the CD this year, all I had to do was order and get an unlock code. I'm a very small biz and ATX has made tax season simple, except for eating a 1040 and not doing what I needed with Sch. D and carrying to the right places from K-1 input. I love that you can over-ride and get what you want. Of course, I always do a quality check to make sure everything calcs where it should. I hope ATX is available next year...and their CD is sent out same as this year. I'll order! I live in a rural area and repeatedly asked to get my CD's by regular mail. Whatever you tell them, they do what they want. I hope they develop some understanding of why we ask for things. Until then, we're needing mercy. Hope they don't charge more for mercy ; )