ON-FORM ENTRY IN DRAKE

[taxxcpa]

I looked into the on-form entry option with Drake software. Here is what I posted on the Drake forum and the responses:

MY INQUIRY IN DRAKE FORUM:

From another forum:

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 ATX 2 years ago, but I really like the on form entry. That was the only reason I did not switch in the past.

Is this available now? If you could move from a line on the 1040 to the appropriate supporting form, that would be a major enhancement. I haven't seen a way to do that this year, so it may be something brewing for next year.

__________________

Atticus Thomas

http://www.1040.com/taxxcpa

http://wwwtaxman.blogspot.com

FIRST RESPONSE:

under FILE> Form Based Data entry...

It brings up the 1040 with hyperlinks at each line. Click on the link and it takes you to the appropriate form to fill in the info.

Is this what you mean? I think this has been a feature of drake for some time now.

SECOND RESPONSE:

Wow, I never knew this was here. This is only my second season with drake but I miss the data entry on the government forms with ATX. I will have to try this out.

THIRD RESPONSE:

I didn't know that was a feature either... I'm definitely going to have to check it out.

[BulldogTom]

Thanks for the update. I am really going to look at that software this year.

Tom

Lodi, cA

[taxxcpa]

I'll post more after I try it. It may not be quite as effective as ATX's method. Someone said you could toggle back and forth from the form-based method to the other method. You can also type in a form number and access the input form that way.

If you switch to Drake, I will recommend you the the private "taxsmart"forum which is only available to those approved by a vote.

[JohnH]

I used Ultra Tax before coming over to ATX, and they had an alternate "Forms Entry". You toggled using an icon at the top of the page. I used it, but found it cumbersome because you never knew what entries could be entered directly and what entries had to be entered via the worksheet. It was better than worksheet entry only, but still not as seamless as ATX.

I'll be interested in hearing more about how Drake handles it, as that is the software I'll most likely go to if I ever give up on ATX.

[David1980]

I pulled out one of my marketing emails from Drake (I never delete anything) with download information for the Drake 2008 demo to test this out myself. Here's the info to try this out if you're interested (and have a spare moment...)

https://www.drakesoftware.com/Login.aspx?Re...er/Default.aspx

Use EFIN T82442

Password d2j9j

The installer I think didn't like the fact my computer does not have a C: drive. Oh well, after the initial error I just told it to continue and got it to install on I:. Couldn't get states installed like the directions say, that gave me other errors. Not that I really am worried about states, I primarily wanted to see this forms mode. Also you can't create new returns but that's understandable. The test returns wouldn't show up until I did a repair index.

That done, I'm not overly impressed with what they have but if I was on the fence it might be enough. Basically their forms based entry gives you a 1040 (I didn't test to see if they have it for corporations or S-corps or anything) and on the 1040 for each line that has a worksheet for it has a link to the worksheet that the entry comes from. So for example, if I wanted to enter itemized deductions I would click the link "A" on the appropriate line, and that opens the normal Drake worksheet. It does not give you a direct forms based input like ATX has though - after clicking "A" I'm on a worksheet and not a Schedule A. I can't override anything direct on the 1040 because it's just a graphic with links to drake worksheets on it. I also couldn't figure out how to do an IRC 1341 repayment from the forms entry (or worksheets, but I probably didn't look for the right worksheet long enough), did not seem to be any link to it. That's exactly the kind of thing I need forms mode for is because I don't want to go poking around worksheets when I know where it goes on the form. Yet the forms mode for Drake doesn't help with that. It only helps with the stuff I wouldn't need help with anyway.

But at least it's something. On the other hand I do like the change in their printing interface. It's basically like the taxworks print mode ("peek") where you can select just what you want to print. I hated the old Drake print so that's a huge improvement for me.