CPA Practice Advisor

APR 2015

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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April 2015 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 5 PROFESSIONAL TAX PREPARATION SYSTEMS REVIEWS Professional Tax Preparation Systems By Steven M. Phelan, CPA.CITP W el l, we sur v ived a n o t h e r t a x season! Tis one was as difcult as any other was, but still distinctive in its own way. Tis yea r, o f co u r s e, the Afordable Care Act was in full effect, w hich added a number of challenges to both clients and tax practitioners. We also had a number o f t a x b e n e f i t s e x t e n d e d o n December 19, 2014 through the Tax Increase Prevention Act. Tough it was somewhat expected, it did put a wrinkle in the frst eleven months of 2014 tax planning. As we look forward to tax year 2015, the majority of the extended benefts have already expired, but expectations exist for many of these benefits to return. Coupled with the Afordable Care Act changes efective this year, it looks like we are in for another crazy ride. Tankfully, our tax vendors are doing their best to keep up with all of the changes and push updates out to us in a timely manner. For this year's tax sofware reviews, we looked at eleven ta x soft ware solutions. As in prior years, we sepa- rated the rev iews into two broad categories – Advanced Workflow and Traditional Workfow. Te key diferentiator between these catego- ries comes down to how returns fow w ithin each office. The advanced workflow solutions typically have stronger review and collaboration tools, as multiple users touch returns. Advanced workflow solutions are typically reserved for larger organiza- tions, but smaller organizations may beneft from the increased function- ality. Traditional workfow solutions are much simpler in feature sets and general ly focus on pract it ioners pushing a large volume of returns each year. A couple of new trends for the current year releases are the rise of electronic signatures and electronic f i l ing enhancements. Beg inning March 11, 2014, the I R S al low s clients to sign Form 8878 and Form 8879 electronically. Full guidance on this change is available through P u b l i c a t i o n 1 3 4 5 o n t h e I R S website. Due to this change, many ta x vendors recently introduced add-on options to integrate thi s capability into their sofware ofer- ings. Tis new capability will assur- edly save tax practitioners time in tracking client signature forms. As the electronic fling require- ment is now in place for most tax practitioners, vendors are putting development ef for ts to the elec- tronic fling modules. Many tasks are becoming more automated, such as notif ying clients (and sometimes the actual preparer) of return accep- t a n c e b y t h e I R S a n d s t a t e t a x j u r i s d i c t i o n s. En ha n ce m e n t s to modules also include a host of new report and tracking options greatly reducing time. Data import continues to be on the forefront of vendors' minds, and clever import automation is starting to appear. Although each vendor views data import diferently, most tax practitioners may utilize simple tools to reduce and in some cases eliminate data entry. Gone are the days where the only import options were from accounting solutions within the vendor suite lineup or though Microsof Excel. Now vendors are teaming up with third par t ies or develop ing their ow n in-house solutions to allow electronic documents to convert directly to import data files. With technology advances, this information converts to useable data within an hour or two by a third party provider, and for simple returns, it may only take minutes. Cloud technology continues to remain a divisive area among vendors. Each vendor views this differently w ith some just now pushing out portals for tax practitioners, while others are in the process of developing c l o u d-ba s ed s o l u t i o n s f ro m t h e ground up. Tis year we reviewed four cloud- b a s e d s o l u t i o n s , t w o a d v a n c e d workflow solutions and two tradi- tional workfow solutions. Te two advanced workflow solutions offer similar features to desktop solutions and are able to process nearly any return type. Te traditional workfow cloud solutions, however, were a litle light on capabilities and focus mostly on processing large volumes of simple individual tax returns. Tax portals are still not fully defned and consistent across vendors. Some practitioners are relying on the portals for simply housing client documents or workpapers, while others are creating interactive points within the portals. With the new guidance on electronic signatures, this is surely an integration point most vendors will feature in the coming year or two. ● REVIEW SECTIONS BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTION • Installation Ease • General Navigation & Ease of Use • Industry-Specifc Templates • Industry-Specifc Features • Platform Support CORE ACCOUNTING CAPABILITIES • GL/AP/AR Functionality • Sales Tax Functionality • Payroll Functionality • Audit Trail • Multi-Currency • Multiple Language Support • Multi-Location Support • Multiple Users DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS • Sales/Point of Sale/Shipping • Customer/Vendor Employee Management • Inventory/Purchasing • e-Features • Remote Access MANAGEMENT FEATURES • Dashboard Overviews • Reporting • Security Features • Integration/Import/Export • Data Transfer • External Integration • Online Accountant Transfer Tool HELP/SUPPORT • Built-in Support Features • System Updates • Support Website/Documentation • U.S.-Based Support Steven M. Phelan, CPA.CITP Steven M. Phelan, CPA.CITP manages an accounting practice in Oklahoma City, specializing in taxation, general accounting and tech consulting. He is active within the CPA profession and is a fequent speaker at seminars and conferences throughout Oklahoma and across the nation as a discussion leader for K2 Enterprises. He was a 2012 Oklahoma Society of CPAs Trailblazer recipient, which recognizes service to the CPA profession and to the community.

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