HAS ANYONE EVER HAD THIS????

[Sasha]

I must say it is hard for me to grasp the fact that folks cannot grasp forms-based software. I mean, if one doesn't have a basic understanding of what the finished product should look like, grasp how the data of forms interrelate, how can one know whether a return is correct or handling the input correctly?

They don't, which is a frightening concept but a realistic one. I field questions daily from preparers who become angry because I cannot (or rather, am not supposed to) tell them what goes in a given field. We're simply not allowed to do that and yet I get yelled at at least twice a day (but hey, used to be much higher earlier in the season!) because I cannot help them fill out the form. I can troubleshoot the form, I can make sure it's calculating correctly, I can make sure that it's linking appropriately - but anything further than that and we are just simply not allowed to do that per both CCH and the IRS.

2012 is the current year slotted for the project rollout. And again, it's in such early stages at this point we truly don't know what it will look like.

[Yardley CPA]

They don't, which is a frightening concept but a realistic one. I field questions daily from preparers who become angry because I cannot (or rather, am not supposed to) tell them what goes in a given field. We're simply not allowed to do that and yet I get yelled at at least twice a day (but hey, used to be much higher earlier in the season!) because I cannot help them fill out the form. I can troubleshoot the form, I can make sure it's calculating correctly, I can make sure that it's linking appropriately - but anything further than that and we are just simply not allowed to do that per both CCH and the IRS.

2012 is the current year slotted for the project rollout. And again, it's in such early stages at this point we truly don't know what it will look like.

And rightfully so, Sasha. Your job shouldn't be to help a preparer "complete" the form...it should be to make sure the form and program are working correctly.

As for 2012, we're simply looking to you to make sure the project looks more like ATX than Taxwise. :D

[TaxmannEA]

I teach Federal income Tax at the local Jr. college. I have had 3 or 4 H&R "tax school" graduates take the course. All have told me that they exceed the actual tax code knowledge that they got from the previous training in Chapter 2 of our text. These people are getting just basic training about filing status, exemptions, etc. and then the rest of the course is how to input data on the tax software. They follow a dialoge prompting system that guides them. They have no idea what the results are supposed to be. As I don't allow the use of software in my course, by the time they are finished, they know what is happening (hopefully!).

That probably explains why so many are confused by form - based software.

[Slippery Pencil]

As more and more states look into & implement testing requirements in order to preparer taxes, a lot of the less knowledgeable preparers are going to either have to learn how to do taxes for real, or move on to some other career.

Just like state licenses have eliminated bad haircuts, crooked lawyers, untrustworthy building contractors, bad drivers, lousy mechanics, dishonest car salesmen, etc. Just like the SEC regulations have eliminated security fraud and accounting scandals. Just like the USDA has eliminated food poisoning in govt inspected meat.

If you think state licensing is going to improve the tax prep business, you haven't been paying attention.

[Lion EA]

Amen!

[grandmabee]

Oregon has a very very tough licensing law and I think it helps and weeds out the unlicensed non-educated preparers.

its hard to pass test, required 30hrs of update education every year. and tax board has a large staff that goes around and checks on licensees and non licensed people. they are very active in weeding out.

actually Federal is looking at the way Oregon does it and is thinking of following our system for the federal license

[David1980]

Just like state licenses have eliminated bad haircuts, crooked lawyers, untrustworthy building contractors, bad drivers, lousy mechanics, dishonest car salesmen, etc. Just like the SEC regulations have eliminated security fraud and accounting scandals. Just like the USDA has eliminated food poisoning in govt inspected meat.

If you think state licensing is going to improve the tax prep business, you haven't been paying attention.

It can absolutely create a higher cost barrier to entry into the field. If you have to take a test that requires a good bit of studying you will no longer have people walking off their job at McDonalds to get a tax prep job. Nothing will guarantee 100% of preparers will be knowledgeable and honest, but these things can help.

[joelgilb]

I stopped reading this thread as I thought it was about H&R trying to buy our practices.

Thanks to Don, I now see the thread took a turn and shifted to CCH abandoning or combining Taxwise and ATX into one product.

As a former user of Tassc, I can see the advantage of developing a new product that takes the best of the forms type of tax software and combines it with the input sheet style of tax software.

I would hope that CCH see the strengths in both packages. I for one would hate losing the features any of ATX, but can see an advantage in adding an input sheet "OPTION" for tax return preparation. The ability to switch between either interface on the fly would also help us where finding the ATX input for a particular item is difficult. I do not want to lose the ability to edit the Excel base forms, or the huge base of forms available in ATX vs all other tax software.

Maybe its time to let a software company know what, we as users want in a tax software product