Booger Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 After spending about a month comparing ATX to Drake (cost, ease of use, support) I'm making the switch. Won't go into a lot of detail here, but after using Drake to prepare all extended returns I was sold. Hardest thing to get used to is not seeing the particular form that you are working on. Booger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Won't you miss Catherine?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 LOL!! Just because he's switching to Drake doesn't mean he will abandon us at this forum. Lots of folks here have switched away from ATX but can't leave their friends. Booger's posts are always welcome here -- and I hope he'll keep us updated on Drake, too. They've been my fallback for several years now - I evaluate them every year and keep thinking that if CCH ever pushes me too far, I know where I will jump. Catherine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Well, good, Catherine. We've enjoyed watching the "office" romance! (Not to mention that I myself do not use ATX any longer but have hung around to be with great minds.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Office romance only as running gag -- but it certainly has been funny, I've gotten many a chuckle from the various posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Yes, our virtual water cooler has its own virtual office romance! The posts have been fun and creative. And, we see your handsome hubby in your family protrait avatar, so I don't think anyone jumped to a wrong conclusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxxcpa Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Hardest thing to get used to is not seeing the particular form that you are working on. Booger Drake has a feature called "Forms based entry." for Form 1040 returns. Just right-click and select "Forms based entry" or you can press Ctrl+G. Then you go to the line on Form 1040, click it, and it takes you to the input screen for whatever you are looking for; e.g. Schedule C, Est tax paid, etc. Once you get to the input screen it is very much like entering it on the form itself. Drake has a feature called "macros". The offer a lot of them, but you can add new ones or change some existing ones. For example I have created one macro that checks all the proper boxes For Form 8867 (EIC). They also have a way to import Schedule D information from an Excel worksheet which will carry forward to the input screen and is much easier to do than inputting it on the input screen itself. It takes a little time to get used to all of the features, but the more you use it the easier it gets. One of the more difficult things is e-filing 1099s. You have to go through the IRS FIRE system and will need to keep a record of all passwords, IDs and other hoops the IRS requires you to jump through--but it works very well and if you make an error you can correct it after you e-file it. (Once I entered the same figure twice so the 1099 was twice the correct amount. As soon as I discovered it, I went back into the FIRE system and changed it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraEA Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 "I have created one macro that checks all the proper boxes For Form 8867 (EIC)." Um, I seem to remember that the IRS doesn't want to see F8867 programmed to automatically include the "correct" responses. That's one thing they said they were looking for when they did their first rounds of preparer EITC audits. Where I work, we do very few EITC claims, and we know most of our clients. Still, we had to take the auto feature out and actually ask the questions just in case we got a surprise visit from a compliance officer. Have you seen F8867 lately? It's 3 pages long now. And I believe that beginning this filing season it has to be filed with the return. Best to ask the questions and record the responses, even if it takes a little longer and may mean a phone call to a client who dropped his/her stuff off. The IRS has tried a million things over the years to stem EITC fraud, but the error rate is still stuck around 28-30% (and a zillion dollars). Guess this is their next best effort. I don't think the fraud will end until they get EITC (and all refundable credits) out of the tax system and into the agencies that are legally permitted to ask questions first and then dole out the money. Unfortunately, the IRS isn't allowed to do that in most cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gail in Virginia Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 The IRS has tried a million things over the years to stem EITC fraud, but the error rate is still stuck around 28-30% (and a zillion dollars). Guess this is their next best effort. I don't think the fraud will end until they get EITC (and all refundable credits) out of the tax system and into the agencies that are legally permitted to ask questions first and then dole out the money. Unfortunately, the IRS isn't allowed to do that in most cases. There was a rumor in this area last year that one of the tenants in a section 8 housing unit had purchased Turbo Tax to do their tax return. They noticed that if they increased the amounts on their W-2, their EITC went up. So they played with the program until they were getting the maximum amount of refund. Then they helped all of their friends by doing their taxes for them. I don't think that filing the 8867 will help with fraud like that. Nor will my asking more questions. Unfortunately, if people decide to cheat they can only be stopped after the fact, if then. By the time the IRS matches the real information to what was put in to get the most credit, the people involved will probably have moved on, or at the very least the money will be long gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxxcpa Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 The IRS doesn't want you to use automatic EIC checking, but I do it anyway. I only do about three EIC returns and am not adding any new ones. After going through the inquiry process several years ago with my few EIC clients, there is no need to go through it again as long as they continue to qualify. Fortunately, for all of them, their children will soon be too old to qualify them and I won't have to bother with it in the future. Prohibiting the use of automated checking will not stop the fraud. The IRS should get out of the welfare business if they want to stop the fraud. But they are stuck with it as long as congress wants it that way. If the IRS wanted to check my office, I would immediately delete the macro that checks all the EIC boxes. (Then add it back when the IRS completed its examination.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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