Where is everyone going?

[redux]

I wonder if jimtaxwise is the Jim we are supposed to ask for?

Mike

It sure sounds like it Mike.

[Don in Upstate NY]

That s not eactly true, you know. Tax Wise has 9,300 customer accounts. He is inflating the numbers by advertising USERS instead of PROGRAMS SOLD.

And those users include all the IRS walk-in offices, and the IRS TCE and VITA volunteers. In fact the IRS textbook for teaching the volunteers how to prepare taxes (Pub 678) is filled with TaxWise screen shots.

I predict that TaxWise will continue to exist in its present form longer than ATX will, given that both of them serve the small preparer market and both were acquired by CCH last season.

[MAMalody]

Mr Moderator/Administator,

This looks like an advertisement to me. This is the second time this has been posted. It has been shown by KC to possibly be misleading in the wording. I don't know your TOS, however, I hope it does not include allowing commercial solicitation.

Respectively,

Mike

[kcjenkins]

Well, Don, I looked at it, and if I am any judge, it will never beat ATX with customers. The IRS users have no choice, but for those of us who buy our own software to use ourselves, it is much more clumsy and I would never choose it over ATX. It may be fine for those with small practices, lots of simple returns, who just want to save a buck anywhere they can. But it has no where near the functionality that ATX has, for dealing with complex returns. I do not see it replacing ATX, and I really do not see CCH being dumb enough not to know that those programs serve different markets. At least I sure hope they are not that dumb. I'd look for another company if that were my only choice.

[Lion EA]

Hey, MonkeyMan: Where do you see ATX -- the program -- going for tax year 2007? Not the prices, we have the price list. MAX, for instance, what will be the same and what will be different and what will be missing and what will be added? What's happening between and among ATX and TaxWise and the high end CCH programs, if anything? Any and all insights appreciated.

[Monkeyman]

Hey, MonkeyMan: Where do you see ATX -- the program -- going for tax year 2007? Not the prices, we have the price list. MAX, for instance, what will be the same and what will be different and what will be missing and what will be added? What's happening between and among ATX and TaxWise and the high end CCH programs, if anything? Any and all insights appreciated.

Hi Lion,

Things will be pretty much be the same.

If anything, the ATX program will get better because of the new muscle that CCH is putting behind it. The interface will not be fiddled with as they don't want to lose customers, and it works just fine how it is.

All of the forms will still be there. ATX took out all of the lesser-used forms for the 2006 year. These were just a handful of forms that, in some cases, only 2 people were using. Literally, two.

Remember, CCH purchased ATX and TaxWise to get a piece of the middle market they were unable to penetrate with ProFX.

They don't want to do anything that would jeopardize their new share in this market, namely making you guys angry

TaxWise, CCH, and ATX all serve distinct markets so they will remain separate programs....but as we all know things can change very quickly. However, I am optimistic about the future.

Monkeyman

P.S. - I am sorry if this sounded like marketing speak, it really is an honest opinion.

[Lion EA]

What does ProFX offer that ATX and similarly priced software does not offer for personal and business/entity returns? And, how much of a price difference would there be? Is the price gap smaller or larger for 150-250 returns vs. 1,500-2,500 returns?

[Keith]

I am looking for a pay-per-return package, with about 15 business return. I have compared ATX, Drake, Pro series, Great Tax and Orrtax. I used ATX last year, but found many problems, including customer support, and late forms availability. For my situation, Drake, at $ 285.00, is the best value. Plus, I can convert my ATX files to Drake. For 2007, I'm going with Drake. By the way, I use TaxAct for Individual returns. Even though they charge extra for e-file, its still cheaper, given my client volume.

[Julie]

I haven't really had time to consider all the options. Between having a part-time "day job", an almost full-time business, and co-managing my husband's art career, I'm swamped.

I've ordered demo CDs from three different companies, but haven't installed any of them. There's a good chance I'll stay with ATX just because I haven't had time to consider the alternatives, let alone convert all my clients.

[Lion EA]

A couple more items on my wish list:

I do a lot of two/multiple state returns, especially NY nonresident with CT resident, so want software to flow well from federal to state and from nonresident state to credit on CT. In fact, this is a very mobile area around metropolitan NY, so I get a few new-to-me states and part-year states each year and need good help within the program to tackle a WI or AZ or whatever once in a while.

Kiddie Tax! I seem to have several families with multiple siblings that were all growing out of Kiddie Tax as the kids aged, but have returned to Kiddie Tax under the new 18 and now 19/24 law changes. Would love software that would pull from parents' and siblings' returns.

Any good and bad experiences with the above two issues on any software you have tried would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanx. :)

[kcjenkins]

I know there is at least one that will pull from the parents and kids, but I don't remember which one. Just remember that it costs 10K+ and it is not worth that much to me to have that feature, since I don't do that many of them.

[Lion EA]

Maybe they've got a pay-per-return version, lol !!! :rolleyes: