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TAX PLANNING Reviews For Your Firm BNA Software — BNA Income Tax Planner 2011 OVERALL RATING BEST FIT Practices offering individual income tax planning services to clients with varying needs, up to and including high net worth individuals with significantly complex income channels and assets. STRENGTHS • Intuitive interface & navigation • Comprehensive tax calculations & analyses • Up to 20 side-by-side compari- sons 800-424-2938 CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business — ProSystem fx Planning 2011 OVERALL RATING BEST FIT Full-service accounting profes- sionals using the integrated Pro- System fx Suite to serve broad client bases. STRENGTHS • Excellent integration with Pro- System fx Tax & Engagement • Up to 30 side-by-side cases • Ease-of-use POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS • Aside from exporting into other 800-739-9998 Tax Planner Included with All-Inclusive Drake Tax Suite While most other tax software developers off er tax planning for an additional annual fee, Drake Soſt ware has gone with an all-inclusive approach to its entire professional tax compliance suite. The suite provides 1040, 1040NR, 1041, 1065, 1120, 1120S, 706, 709, 990 and 990PF preparation, support for all states with income taxes, and unlimited e-fi ling. It also includes document management, write-up and the Drake Tax Planner. Drake Tax Planner automatically pulls prior-year client data from 800-230-2322 12 November 2011 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com returns, and then helps develop multi- year scenario-based tax planning that can identify the eff ects of variables on a client's tax liabilities, including capital gains taxes and AMT. It also offers calculations and tools based on current tax law, income limitations and phase- outs that can give professionals bet er insight for the guidance they give their clients with regard to the best way to implement lump-sum distributions, retirement income, asset sales and retirement savings. Drake Tax Planner can be opened from within a client's tax fi les, or sepa- rately, with an interface built on Excel. It provides planning for up to seven years for all fi ling statuses. Easy-to-use data-entry screens allow users to quickly build scenarios with variations in income, deductions, dependents, retirement information and other fac- tors. Data can be entered on summary or detailed sheets, with the program then calculating projections for regular tax, AMT, credits, other taxes and estimated payments, with the option to print estimated payment vouchers. CCH programs, output is limited to PDF • Plans limited to four years of projections SUMMARY & PRICING As either a stand-alone program or as a part of the broader CCH ProSystem fx suite, ProSystem fx Planning provides comprehensive planning options for professional fi rms, but lacks graphical elements on reports and is limited to PDF output. Those who use other elements of the ProSystem fx Suite would realize the greatest value, with simple data integration between the planning and prepa- ration systems. T e program costs $585 for a single-user license. PRODUCT DELIVERY METHODS: ■ ✔ On-Premises ■ SaaS ■ Hosted by Vendor BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS CORE TAX PLANNING FEATURES REPORTING IMPORT/EXPORT/INTEGRATION HELP/SUPPORT Read the full review of this product exclusively online at www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10415466 www.cchgroup.com • Excellent reporting & graphical customization • Data integration with top tax compliance systems POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS • Doesn't off er 1040 compliance but integrates with top tax com- pliance systems SUMMARY & PRICING BNA Income Tax Planner pro- vides an easy-to-use, yet compre- hensive planning system that can handle most any individual taxa- tion scenario. T e program also offers support for all income taxing states, and has useful client communication features. It is exceptionally suited to fi rms with complex and high net worth cli- ents. Pricing for the base federal system starts at about $600. PRODUCT DELIVERY METHODS: ■ ✔ On-Premises ■ SaaS ■ Hosted by Vendor BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS CORE TAX PLANNING FEATURES REPORTING IMPORT/EXPORT/INTEGRATION HELP/SUPPORT Read the full review of this product exclusively online at www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10415491 www.bnasoftware.com T e Entire Drake Soſt ware profes- sional tax suite, which includes the planner, preparation for all entities, document management, write-up and many other features, costs $1,495 for new users, with discounted renewals. Drake also provides free website hosting to firms using the vendor's soſt ware. www.DrakeSoftware.com