Yardley CPA Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 I recognize it is still relatively early in the season, but I was wondering your thoughts on this year's ATX program? How is it working for you? Any issues? Have you needed to contact Customer Support? If so, how did that go? From my end: so far, so good. The program has worked well. No major issues at all and things have run smoothly (I don't mean to jinx myself here.) Haven't had to call customer support yet but I have noticed in increase in their communications (emails) to make us aware of various issues/topics. I think that is a positive over last year. I hope that trend continues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAXBILLY Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Everything has gone relatively smoothly for me so far. taxbilly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 It's working well for me, and the only times I have called tech support they have been good. Hold time is improved, also. Of course, by this time each year it always is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 It's working well for me, and the only times I have called tech support they have been good. Hold time is improved, also. Of course, by this time each year it always is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRS Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Working well for me. The only problems I've had, I created myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulldogTom Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 I am glad you are happy. I am not so thrilled. Not that it is terrible, and not that it is all ATX fault, but..... 1. Forms are later this year than last 2. Bank products are a disaster (for some reason we are seeing more this year than any year in the past) 3. E-file on CA is not smooth 4. Customer Support is not very helpful (even with the sweet southern accent they talk with) 5. Customer Support wait times are still about an hour 6. Misterious little bugs keep popping up and then disappearing. Nothing major, but still unexplained little problems that are fixed with restarts. 7. Some of the changes to the software were a suprise this year. Little things that are just annoying because they aren't the way they were. If you take each item, it seems like little things, and they are. But taken as a whole, I am just not as happy as I have been in past years with ATX. I got an e-mail from Drake that says they have direct to form entry now. I am going to look at it very hard this off season. I wanted to pull the trigger on them 2 years ago, but I really like the on form entry. That was the only reason I did not switch in the past. Tom Lodi, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Tom, it's a smart thing to look at options, every year. I don't disagree there. But I will nit-pick at the second and third items. The bank products thing is not an ATX thing, it's a BANK thing. And from what I hear, it's affecting them all a bit. It comes down to them being scared to make some of the loans they used to make, I think. And the CA thing is a CA thing. You know that. CA is using every slow-down the outflow method it can think of, and making up new ones every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulldogTom Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Tom, it's a smart thing to look at options, every year. I don't disagree there. But I will nit-pick at the second and third items. The bank products thing is not an ATX thing, it's a BANK thing. And from what I hear, it's affecting them all a bit. It comes down to them being scared to make some of the loans they used to make, I think. And the CA thing is a CA thing. You know that. CA is using every slow-down the outflow method it can think of, and making up new ones every day. The bank thing is not a bank thing -- it is an ATX thing. They "require" that you go through their system so they can get their $10 from the client. And their banking system is set up for Taxwise, not ATX. We have had multiple problems with their banking products, and none of it relates to the bank. We did a couple of direct deposit rals, then we were not enrolled for check rals. We could not print the checks off their site and they could not tell us why. The bank did their part and sent the authorizations to ATX for us to print the checks. ATX screwed it up. And the process of getting enrolled is horrible. And when you call their support, they don't know a thing. I have worked with SBBT over the years, and they are solid. It was only when ATX forced us onto their online banking system that this got screwed up. Look back at the posts where people are having problems with the bank products and you will see the common thread is ATX, regarless of the bank. And if you look at the first line of my post, I said some of the things are not necessarily ATX's fault. I know the forms are IRS release issues and I know that CA is slowing everything down. But taken as a whole, I am not as happy with ATX as I was 2 years ago (when it was darn near a perfect season for us). I still love you KC. I am just venting. Tom Lodi, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxbrewster Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 It has been ok so far, I wanted to pull the trigger on the bank products this year, but didn't, I guess that was a good call, hearing the stories. Nothing big, program still runs a bit slower that I would like, couple of programming issues, overall things are ok, it is only feb 9th... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry D EA Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 Been okay so far with me as well. I do very few bank products and have not had any trouble with the few that I have done. The only time I called support was when the 2007 files were not able to opened after rolling over to 2008. Support identified the problem and fixed it quite quickly. A quirk they are not sure why it was happening. I agree Tom, that looking at other programs is always a good thing to do. I want to see the Drake direct entry as well. I must admit, I have been using ATX since 1998 and really don't want to go through any learning curves. I have looked at some and still come back each year. Terry D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb39 Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 I am finding the program to be extremely smooth. I don't really mind the changes because I don't believe it hurts any of us to have to THINK and not rely too heavily on the program doing all the calculations without us having to find out WHY. We are supposed to be professionals and this is a professional program. I don't do bank products so can't comment on that and I have not had to call tech support thanks to the great people on this board. Basically, I feel that I got my money's worth now that the 8839 came out and I am able to carry forward adoption credits. I have a friend who has messed up twice so far this year using Tax Act online. When she filed hers, I had to amend it for her because she took a dependent she should not have taken. Now she botched up her son's. She just faxed me the whole mess. Makes one wonder how many people are doing returns wrong year after year and not knowing it. She has wasted so much of my time. (Vent is over)! All in all, I am feeling happy from where I sit.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxit Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 I agree the program is working well but slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Jani Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 So far so good in my practice as work now picking up. But printing is still problem. So started pdf and printing from their. B Jani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 OK, I will concede to you on the bank products, since I don't use anything but the Fee Collect, which is through SBBT, and has not given me any problems at all. Not using them, I don't know a thing about the problems. Of course,, I've only done one Fee Collect so far, so it's not much of a test. I think the thing that bugs me most is them changing which button you click to print to pdf factory, instead of THEIR pdf printer. Last year it was the first button, now it's the second one. And since I'm still using the pdf factory by choice, moving it is just a pain. But I still like it better than any of the options I looked at. Although I will look at Drake again, if they now let you work directly on the forms. And of course, I'm still holding a lot of hope for Mel's program......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chowdahead Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 I've notice the program is more unstable. I've had about 6-7 incidents of it freezing and having to ALT+CTRL+DEL to end the process. Not to mention this whole mess with the Recovery Rebate Credit. ATX should have allowed an option to make the RRC a RED error message during the error check, or to automatically calculate it for rollovers, or to automatically enter a zero on the RRC line. This may have minimized RRC delays. I have certain refund transfers (aka FeeCollect) that were transmitted as early as January 24 that have not been funded yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolynm Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 I I got an e-mail from Drake that says they have direct to form entry now. I am going to look at it very hard this off season. I wanted to pull the trigger on them 2 years ago, but I really like the on form entry. That was the only reason I did not switch in the past. Tom Now that is an interesting tidbit. I tried out Drake using PPR last year. I was very impressed with the speed, support, and accuracy. However the navigation killed me. There are a lot of forms I may only use once in a tax season and the learning curve trying to find out where to get something checked or entered would have killed me if I used it as my main program. I can see why once people master the program they stick with it -navigation seems to be the weakness, and once by that you'd be set. I will definitely revisit Drake if the navigation has changed. Carolyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 The program is working well here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontanaEA Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 I had that erroneous $10/return being charged on all returns after I signed up for fee collect. ATX FINALLY owned up to the error, turned off the $10 charge (it was supposed to be for RAL's, not fee collect, and I was being charged $10 for ALL returns, not just the one and only fee collect return I processed). BUT, that was after HOURS and HOURS on hold to support during multiple phone calls. I really yelled at them about that - the very first support tech that I talked to should have been able to handle it! Other than that and all the spam email from ATX about RAL issues since I signed up for fee collect, things are running smoothly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxxcpa Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 I have not seen anything in Drake that allows you to jump from a line on the Form 1040 to a supporting schedule, but if you want to go to a form, there is a box at the bottom of the screen where can type in the form number. To enter Estimated tax payments, I just type "ES" and the input screen pops up. Since Drake has several input screens, it sometimes takes some getting used to, but being able to access them by typing in a form number helps. I've posted the comment regarding direct on-form entry on the Drake Forum. I've asked for clarification and will try to report back when someone from Drake responds. While there are a lot of improvements in Drake this year, I don't see much difference in the way of entering data and see no way to jump from a line of the 1040 to a supporting document other than as I explained above, which was available last year also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN dhawk Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 I am quite happy with the program this year. This year the MN return arrived about 3 weeks earlier. I have had no trouble e-filing. The client letter seems to take way less time now to remodel. Who gives a client a return copy after e-filing anyway? It gave me great pleasure to see that for 2008 if you add a comparison form, it opens with the prior year data in it. It didn't do that for me last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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