[jay1942]

Hi Everyone I am in the process of starting a tax firm and was curious if anyone has used tax wise for software. From what I hear it is very intuitive and easy to train staff on. Any Thoughts?

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[san4596]

Ultra Tax is the BOMB! However, I hear it might be a little pricey.

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[taxgeek83]

I've used TaxWise for years volunteering for VITA – I love it! You're basically just filling out the tax return, line by line. If first year volunteers with no tax experience can figure it out within a week or two, you and your staff should have no problem with it.

Note: VITA doesn't allow more complicated returns (no depreciation, no farm income/expenses, no pass-through or corporate returns, etc.), so I don't know how it performs as far as that goes. I would imagine it wouldn't be too much different than just basic/intermediate individual returns though.

[Anonymous]

I have also used Taxwise for VITA. For basic returns, it is very easy to use. I know the options are there for more complicated returns, but that was out of our scope, so I can't help you there.

[Anonymous]

I'm a fan of both Ultra Tax and TaxAct Professional. For 1040s, whether basic or complicated, I'm of the opinion that TaxAct is easier to train staff on than Ultra Tax. I haven't done any corporate or partnership returns in TaxAct but I have heard that it's not as robust as some of the pricier tax software. I'm hoping to pick up at least one 1120S return this year on my own, so I'll be finding out if that's the case or not. My firm uses only Ultra Tax and I find it fairly easy to navigate but we've had new staff with experience using other tax software that have had some issues finding where to enter all of their clients' tax data.

For a tax firm that's just starting out, you may want to look into something like TaxAct for now until you have the revenue to look into the more expensive tax software. There's a free demo download on their website if you want to look into it before making any purchasing decisions. The price really is very decent for what you get, though- $1,099 buys you the 1040 federal edition, all state returns, unlimited 1040 e-filing, and the 1041, 1065, 1120S, and 1120 federal and all states editions. And you also have the option to purchase enterprise editions, which gives you multiuser networking capabilities, online data backup, a document manager, etc.

[Author]

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