I was raised up using UltraTax and I would describe it as the BMW of Tax software. In the sense that it is expensive, has all the bells and whistles, runs smoothly but every couple of months an unexpected quirk pops up that gives you a near death experience.
I’m coming from an Axcess shop, so that is what I’ll be using as I start my own practice. It and UltraTax were really the only practical options for me due to Oregon’s complexity. CCH seems to be pushing for more share of the small firm space, because it was SHOCKINGLY affordable. Like less than half of what I was prepared to pay. Never quoted UT but based on pricing I’ve heard from others it was significantly less expensive. YMMV.
I also use Access and plan to stick with it when going out on my own this year. Pretty sure they jack up the rates every few years knowing how sticky it is, so be prepared for that.
Totally agree that Drake is a great cost-effective solution for tax prep. I wish they would revamp Drake Accounting. Thanks for the software suggestions for tax resolution and document prep!
No recs that I'm super convinced of since most of the firms I know that outsource work usually come around to direct hiring But Xpitax may be the most reputable
We tried for a bit and it was tricky because I jump around so much. We'll give it another go In the meantime see if this works for you www.delphi.ai/jasonstaats
I used UltraTax at both of my legacy firms and obviously it's good, but also I hate it because it's ugly and expensive. My first tax season (January - April of 2024) of needing to buy my own software I went with Drake and it's ugly but cheap. I'm planning to try ProConnect and the QBO integration this coming year. For anyone that uses ProConnect, what levels of complexity are you finding that it isn't able to handle?
I don’t have any super technical needs yet so pro connect has been good for me. I’m curious what type of “technical” things you are referring to that PCTO wouldn’t handle?
I used Corvee at a firm I worked at but now I’m on my own and Corvee is too expensive for little ol’ me. Any recommendations on building advisory until I can afford Corvee? Or no good replacement so just wait until I can buy?
TaxPlanIQ I believe is cheaper, otherwise I'd try to capture my favorite bits from the reports Corvee creates and put together some sort of presentation template
Didn't dig into practice management systems in this one! Just the doing of the tax work itself It is one of my top PM recommendations tho, just did a video about it on the main channel if it's helpful ruclips.net/video/0wAybnHT1Sg/видео.htmlsi=WhqWiDlk2cThS03D
@@JasonOnFirmsPodcast Yeah but they are venturing into the workflow management systems, with automation stuff. I would love to see them do a little more with it. I am currently tracking everything using trello, as it works pretty well i built some N8n automations to move and notify eveything.
Corvee - For selling tax advisory work and finding tax savings opportunities TruePilot - For culling through client filing history to find the clients you'd even want to offer advisory to. Tho they're moving in the direction of doing more back-of-the-napkin quick calcs TaxGPT - Research, but I'm less into this one right now than I am the other two. Atm I'm not sure TaxGPT gets you anything you can't get from Perplexity Pro
I'm still working for someone else and trying to start something on the side. I'm incredibly frustrated by how many software programs are needed and how they don't seem to work together or connect very well. My current company uses half a dozen different systems and most of them are not connected and a lot of the workflow is duplicated, but not enough that we can drop any of them!
I’m considering Lacerte for my practice. Used Lacerte for the last 4 years with my current firm and we just switched to CCH Access. I had used CCH in the past and thought it was superior to Lacerte but going the other direction, I felt like Lacerte was more reliable and accurate. Axcess seems to have trouble with CA partnerships and I’m finding the need for overrides and workarounds. Not to mention the software is not fully up to date even by end of Feb which concerns me on filing timely.
Oh wow… I’ve been watching all these videos and making the changes to our firm. So hard but know it’s worth it. I know Lacerte has to go but after 20 years of using it makes me nauseous just thinking about it.
But what's with the AI image? It looks cool but weird at the same time haha It reminds me of a coach inside a soccer/football video game. Or a fan on the stand of those games.
31:41 TruePrep ad: Jason wearing a robe and an ornately bent stick, yells out into a cauldron "SHOWETH ME EVERYONE WHO FILED IN NORTH DAKOTA" and TruePrep does its thing 🧙♂️🪄🎩
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
I was raised up using UltraTax and I would describe it as the BMW of Tax software. In the sense that it is expensive, has all the bells and whistles, runs smoothly but every couple of months an unexpected quirk pops up that gives you a near death experience.
Thank you for the timely update on this episode. After some time of struggling , I’m moving from Lacerte to Proconnect for 2025.
Canopy is pretty good tax resolution module. It also has a client portal, CRM, and has a few decent workflows
I’m coming from an Axcess shop, so that is what I’ll be using as I start my own practice. It and UltraTax were really the only practical options for me due to Oregon’s complexity. CCH seems to be pushing for more share of the small firm space, because it was SHOCKINGLY affordable. Like less than half of what I was prepared to pay. Never quoted UT but based on pricing I’ve heard from others it was significantly less expensive. YMMV.
I also use Access and plan to stick with it when going out on my own this year. Pretty sure they jack up the rates every few years knowing how sticky it is, so be prepared for that.
Totally agree that Drake is a great cost-effective solution for tax prep. I wish they would revamp Drake Accounting. Thanks for the software suggestions for tax resolution and document prep!
Who is your top/favorite company for outsourcing work? Not just adding a contractor, but outsourcing the work
No recs that I'm super convinced of since most of the firms I know that outsource work usually come around to direct hiring
But Xpitax may be the most reputable
On these types of videos, can you add chapters? Would really help for navigation later on when referring back to these reviews.
We tried for a bit and it was tricky because I jump around so much. We'll give it another go
In the meantime see if this works for you www.delphi.ai/jasonstaats
What about TaxWise?, any thoughts?
I don't think I've ever met someone in the wild who's using it! And I don't get super excited about WK stuff
I used UltraTax at both of my legacy firms and obviously it's good, but also I hate it because it's ugly and expensive.
My first tax season (January - April of 2024) of needing to buy my own software I went with Drake and it's ugly but cheap.
I'm planning to try ProConnect and the QBO integration this coming year. For anyone that uses ProConnect, what levels of complexity are you finding that it isn't able to handle?
What are the main complexity limitations of ProConnect? Cloud based is very enticing
Give it a try to see if it does what you need - it'll be very firm specific, region specific as well. But it's more akin to Drake than Ultratax
I don’t have any super technical needs yet so pro connect has been good for me. I’m curious what type of “technical” things you are referring to that PCTO wouldn’t handle?
@Jason and others - How about PDF annotation add-ins for adobe for US individual tax practices? We use tic tie calculate, any others out there?
Pdflyer
The only other I'm aware of is PDFlyer, but I'd say most workflow solutions are going away from PDFs these days
I used Corvee at a firm I worked at but now I’m on my own and Corvee is too expensive for little ol’ me. Any recommendations on building advisory until I can afford Corvee? Or no good replacement so just wait until I can buy?
TaxPlanIQ I believe is cheaper, otherwise I'd try to capture my favorite bits from the reports Corvee creates and put together some sort of presentation template
No Taxdome? I would think you would see that in the workflow.
Didn't dig into practice management systems in this one! Just the doing of the tax work itself
It is one of my top PM recommendations tho, just did a video about it on the main channel if it's helpful ruclips.net/video/0wAybnHT1Sg/видео.htmlsi=WhqWiDlk2cThS03D
@@JasonOnFirmsPodcast Yeah but they are venturing into the workflow management systems, with automation stuff. I would love to see them do a little more with it. I am currently tracking everything using trello, as it works pretty well i built some N8n automations to move and notify eveything.
I've asked under a couple of videos. Does anyone use My TaxPrep Office?
Curious how you would compare Corvee to TruePilot and TaxGPT?
Corvee - For selling tax advisory work and finding tax savings opportunities
TruePilot - For culling through client filing history to find the clients you'd even want to offer advisory to. Tho they're moving in the direction of doing more back-of-the-napkin quick calcs
TaxGPT - Research, but I'm less into this one right now than I am the other two. Atm I'm not sure TaxGPT gets you anything you can't get from Perplexity Pro
@@JasonOnFirmsPodcast Thank you for responding. very helpful
Does ATX count as one of the smaller solutions?
Yeah and I don't think I know any firms using it for full blown tax prep. I'm sure they're out there, but it isn't common
I'm still working for someone else and trying to start something on the side. I'm incredibly frustrated by how many software programs are needed and how they don't seem to work together or connect very well. My current company uses half a dozen different systems and most of them are not connected and a lot of the workflow is duplicated, but not enough that we can drop any of them!
Yeah, a super bummer state of things
How is the migration for experienced users from Lacerte to ProConnect?
I’m considering Lacerte for my practice. Used Lacerte for the last 4 years with my current firm and we just switched to CCH Access. I had used CCH in the past and thought it was superior to Lacerte but going the other direction, I felt like Lacerte was more reliable and accurate. Axcess seems to have trouble with CA partnerships and I’m finding the need for overrides and workarounds. Not to mention the software is not fully up to date even by end of Feb which concerns me on filing timely.
I was surprised you didn't mention ProSeries
So was I!
I use ProSeries
Oh wow… I’ve been watching all these videos and making the changes to our firm. So hard but know it’s worth it. I know Lacerte has to go but after 20 years of using it makes me nauseous just thinking about it.
Yeah changing is rough. If I were in the same situation again I'd probably try to ride out Lacerte until a new, better option emerged
But what's with the AI image? It looks cool but weird at the same time haha It reminds me of a coach inside a soccer/football video game. Or a fan on the stand of those games.
Lacerte is not the place the be
Did you get to check out Tallyfor at Xerocon?
Yeah I've known Peter & the team for years!
31:41 TruePrep ad: Jason wearing a robe and an ornately bent stick, yells out into a cauldron "SHOWETH ME EVERYONE WHO FILED IN NORTH DAKOTA" and TruePrep does its thing 🧙♂️🪄🎩
Pretty much exactly how it works the cauldron analogy is good