Petz Enterprises is going the bar-code wrote for W-2s and 1099s, says VP Chuck Petz. Payroll services, he notes, are going to start encoding the data via bar code for these source documents. Petz says having the code read and data important will be much more effective than scan-and-fill.
Intuit is going two ways. It is supporting scan and fill, but also starting to bypass paper altogether with its ProLine Tax Import that can feed W-2 and 1099 data directly into Lacerte and ProSeries 1040s with Lacerte users able to try out the tool with 2009 software for free. Tax Import will be available to ProSeries customers later this year.
Product manager Kristi Gardi says the key to the program's success is going to be 1099Dropoff.com, a page via which preparers can enter credentials and request the documents electronically from 10 financial custodians that are participating initially. The preparer will send an email to taxpayers notifying them go got to a website "and enter the credentials and those credentials will never have to be entered on the preparers computer, she says.
On the more standard scan-and-fill side, the scanned documents are sent to Intuit, which extracts the data and populates the 1040 returns. Preparers will be able to check the status of all jobs and identify which clients they wish to work with. Fields that have been filled with extracted data will have that data displayed in figures highlighted in Green. Gardi says Intuit tested the system with and without a highlighted PDF and found preparers preferring to have the PDF with the green ink.
Imports will be priced a $9.99 for each return; $999 for 150 returns and $1,499 for unlimited 1040s,
Tax Works has also devoted effort to simplifying input with the introduction of what it calls Star (Simple tax return) Wizard that will adjust the inputs the system requests based on those previously entered."If I'm head of household, it will not ask for spouse information," notes marketing VP Lynn Tenney. She adds that the system is "really helpful for those who have a lot of people who work for them and don’t have a a lot of experience,' she says.
On the Card
For companies whose products serve the lower-end of the market, helping preparers get paid has become a part of the process. Last year, Drake Software added eCollect, which enabled preparers to collect their fees from taxpayer's refunds. The company is offering a pre-paid E1Visa card that enables customers to receive refunds, minus the $5 Drake charge and the preparer fees. There's a $10 fee on direct deposit and for customers without bank accounts the preparer can print a cashier's check in office for $20.
This week, CCH Small Firm Services announced it has arranged with Western Union to issue the MoneyWise MasterCard, a prepaid debit card, to enable taxpayers to receive state and federal income tax refunds. The MoneyWise card will be available to the more than 11,000 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites. Consumer paychecks can also be directly deposited on the cards and users can add money at participating Western Union Agent locations.
TaxWorks is also offering a prepaid bank card which provides a method for taxpayers to get refunds and preparers their fees. "It’s for the client to find a way they can get their money and get a micro line of credit, established," says VP Tenney. "It’s really for the unbanked.
The Online View
Intuit has made a lot of changes with its third tax prep product, ProLine Tax, a Web-based system that was available only for 1040 returns and only 25 states last year. However, product manager Jorge Olavarrieta notes that even though the system was in test mode, there were more than 600 paid returns filed by preparers who wanted to use the system to complete the process.
This year, the 1040 library will have every state and every efiling state. Federal and state business tax returns will be available for partnerships, corporations and S corporations. The application will also be available in multi-user form for 2010.
Olavarrietta says Intuit found it needed to make ProLine Tax easier to operate. "We are vetting new navigation that will be ready in September. It will save time by reducing the number of clicks," he explains. Enhancements include the addition of auto-fill capabilities. There will also be greater visibility in managing clients. When a preparer selects a client, the system will display all engagements for that client. Engagements are also designated by year so the application displays 2010 returns with 2009 returns following immediately and each year, the newer returns will be added to the list.
Drake Software has had Internet-based consumer products for several years via its 1040.com and professional products for three years, although it has not heavily promoted the latter. This year, it has introduced the names of its online professional offerings, Remote 1040 and the totally hosted Web1040, which offers an interview option.
Web-based preparation is also old hat for users of Thomson's GoSystem, which has been online for about 15 years, and has about all the forms that anyone could want. 'We are not neophytes at it anymore," says David Bishop, director of product management for GoSystem, which is part of Thomson's Enterprise suite. The company has decided this year to fill out its states and efiling states. 'We've behind on the lesser-volume states,' Bishop admits.
There is a lot of work going on with firms that want to integrate the browser into their workflow systems. While that type of customization has been used by national firms, "It has started to sink lower," Bishop says. The firms design their own browsers and integrate the GoSystem data. The firms need about 30 days of programming support to accomplish these tasks. Bishop says his operation is also working with the sister UltraTax product "to feed their portals. If you are a GoSystem client, it will be as seamless as if you were using UltraTax."
With its CS Professional Suite, Thomson offers UltraTax, which is available as a hosted application via Virtual Office, and a SaaS product that was announced earlier this year. The SaaS product, however, has been tested for three years and there are "hundreds of firms on it now," says Scott Fleszar, VP of strategic marketing. "We expect to have another 1,000 firms move to SaaS this year," he continues.
In light of the mandate from the Internal Revenue Service that professionals who prepare 100 or more returns must efile for 2010, Thomson has introduced what Fleszar call "a more robust tool for monitoring the status of returns." That includes an option for preparers to set up notification that will automatically be emailed once a return is accepted. The company has also invested in improving the performance of Ultratax on multiple monitors. For example, the forms block, a bar on the left side of the screen that enables users to move between forms and input streams, can now be hidden to open up more screen real estate.
CCH, which has been spending more time on its tax research platform this year, is continuing to work to increase the speed of operation for the SaaS version of ProSystem fx Tax, and it is working on multi-user capabilities, although the latter probably won't debut until after tax season, says product manager Tanya Rose.
The company is continuing to make products available on its new SaaS platform, and connecting this applications to it common client database. As far as the online system, "most of what we are doing is taking the features we have rolled out in SaaS and enhancing them," she says.
Mobile technology is also making its way into the tax preparation business, although not directly in preparing a return. For example, CrossLink Professional Tax Software launched CrossLink for iPhone.The application is designed to help CrossLink customers to manage their operations by utilizing the Apple device. Users can perform reporting, receive product and industry updates and manage office functions via iPhones.
