Crank

I was about to start a thread like this. My drop dead date has to be Feb 1st since thats usually when the ball starts rolling. Im hoping for the best but have to be prepared if the updates dont pan out. Ill probably go with ATX 1040 or ATX Pay per return both >$500 addl cost. I cant afford to lose my client base that Ive worked so hard to build over the last 17 years. Ive held off the refund request (promised TaxWorks) from TRX because of Dougs posts about the product and updates coming. Come on Doug .... We're giving you a shot to prove your product. It needs to be acceptably functional this month for me. Unfortunately if TRX doesnt pan out that doesnt bode well for an ongoing relationship. Id like to keep that relationship going if its beneficial to both parties.

Ugh!

ok, thanks

Well I downloaded 4.0.0.05 and after the download finished all I saw was the apply update button and after applying the window then disappeared. So I didnt get to see a change log button option. How are others seeing this button? Pop-up blocker was off.

I emailed Doug yesterday (12/27) and he said a change log is present on the download screen when a new update is downloading. I havent seen it. Has anyone else? I also havent received one by email from Doug. I will email him again. Here is his email response: Actually it is already there when you do your updates a window will pop up after the download and tere are 2 buttons on it one says apply update and the other says release notes. If you click on release notes it tells you what is in the release. I said that maybe I didnt see it because I had pop-up blocker turned on and he replied. No you had to see it or you could not have updated. I will get you a screen shot

Update 4.0.0.04 arrived Wednesday Dec 26, 2012 and I havent found very many changes to address the recent issues noted in the problems thread. Doug, is there a change log that comes with each update so we can see what issues have been addressed without having to search the entire program. If not can one be provided. Thanks John

When doing an "Auto Error Check" on a joint 1040 I'm getting an error "F1040-007" message, which states "If form 1040 line 2 check box "Married Filing Jointly" is checked then both the primary SSN and the spouse SSN must be present in the return header". Im not sure why its giving this error. The return is joint in which box 2 is checked and both the SSNs are entered (taxpayer and spouse). Its present on each married filing joint return. Is anyone else getting this error on their married filing joint returns? Has anyone found what causes it and how to rectify it? Thanks John

Custom Letter. I have been trying to input the Privacy Policy from the 2011 TRXPro (TaxWorks) and Im having problems with formatting and saving. I cant seem to get the "Center Alignment" to work. I highlight the text, click the "center Aglinment" button but the text remains left justified. I have been able to get Bold, Underline and Italic to work however it only worked on the top 1/3. After saving and attempting to Bold and Underline text further down the letter it works but doesnt save. I click the save button but it never confirms that I want to save, as it did previously. When I exit the document and reopen the text is no longer Bold or underlined indicating that it did not save my changes. EDIT: It appears that NONE of the 4 Align buttons work. EDIT: Also I cant seem to print preview the client letter - standard, custom or in the entire return. Nor does it print to the file cabinet.

1.) Form 8949 which feeds stock sales to Schedule D does require the user to input short term transactions (under 1 year) in a diferent section that long term transaction (over 1 year) requiring the user to determine which section (and therefore if it is short term or long term) the transaction belongs. I tried entering an obvious long term transaction into the short term section and the sofftware placed it in the short term section of schedule D (and a short term transaction in the long term section same result). The software didnt make the determination if the transaction was short term or long term by the purchase and sale dates entered and didnt place it in the correct setion. Doug, If you can, please address this isssue. It would be a great time saver if the transactions could all be entered in one section and then determine whether it is a short term or long term transaction by the dates entered and then place the transaction in the appropriate section of schedule D and form 8949. 2.) I noticed that whenever I entered a date in the software after I entered the "/" key it would always place two slashes in the field (i,e, "//") requiring the user to manually delete the second slash before continuing to enter the remainder of the date. Again, Doug, please see if this issue can be addressed. Thanks John

Doug, The comparison of current year vs. prior year on an almost line by line 1040 form and Schedule A (including $ and % changes from the prior tax year ) is a report that I use on every return I prepare so I hope that it can be included. Speaking of Excel spreadsheets. Is it possible to import an Excel (or Excel compatible) spreadsheet into TaxExact for Schedule D transactions? I have several client that are heavy traders and can have in excess of 300 stock trades in a year. Inputting each transaction manually is a nightmare. Most tax software packages offer a feature to import a properly formated excel type spreadsheet to help populate the fields in these situations. Hopefully it can be done with TaxExact. Thanks John

Doug, The idea of a some kind of "incomplete" notification would be a good addition to the software. I use estimates often as I dont do returns while the client waits and I put in an estimates to let me know Im waiting for good numbers. Same with the "over ridden" field notification. Its always good to know if you have over ridden a calculated field, especially if you come back to the return at a much later date (like after its been filed) so you know why its not calculating what you think it should. Searching an entire return for an over ridden field can be a difficult and time consuming task so having it in the autocheck would definately help.. Thanks John EDIT: Im sorry, I was wrong - the software DOES list overridden items in the error check feature. I missed it.

Wow!

Doug , thank you. Yes the Cannon scanner is the Twain type.

I also requested the "TaxWorks' prodct and was told that it would be available. With that said, I am giving TaxExact a try. I have about 70 clients which equates to just over 100 returns as of the 2011 filing season. I count entire families as one client even though there may be 2, 3 4 or more returns involved due to minor, college age as well as full grown children living in the household with returns ranging from very simple to sole props. I decided not to get into the refund request at this late stage and to give Doug and his team a fair chance to prove their software. Im hoping to be pleasantly surprised and hopefully continuing my relationship with his company. So far Doug seems to be willing address issues and correct them to our satisfaction with his product.

Hi Doug When you attempt to proforma returns the name field is populated with the client's first and last name as one within the field so when you do a sort by clicking on the "Full Name" field header it sorts by the clients first name in the field. I sort by last name to find clients. I can't find a way to sort the list by the clients last name only, Also after proformaing some returrns the "ProFormaed Returns" option under the "Utilities" menu remains blank. I assume is is supposed to show which returns have already been proformaed. Also, is there any way to show which fields have been market as "estimate" so you can update them with the correct entery before filing the return? It would be nice to see these items in the "Error Check" list along with fields that have in "overridden" entry. Also, I am unable to get the "File Cabinet" feature to recognize my stand alone "Cannon LiDE 110" scanner. It does however recognize the scanner feature on my much older all-in-one Brother ink jet printer. Thanks John

Yes, I too thought the proforma format was difficult since it didnt allow you to sort by last name, but instead sorted by the one field that included both first and last name. For example Alice Zettlemoyer appears under the "A" section of the sort. It would be more usefull to create a field for the first name and a field for the last name so Alice Zettlemoyer would appear in the "Z" section of the list when sorting by last names. I too have two returns for clients that were amended and they both appear the same with no way to tell which is which. It would be nice to be able to assign a number to a return as both TaxWorks and ATX do (and I assume others also). Has anyone found a way to have a detail list for an individual field? For example I create detail lists for "Property Taxes" so I can easily tell what makes up the number. For example School Property Taxes $XXX, County Property Taxes $XXX, City Property Taxes $XXX = the total thatg appears in the Property Tax field on Sch A. Aslo has anyone found a way when using the calculator to have the total sent to a field? I highlight the field, open the calculator and preform the calculations and then have to manually input into the field. There is a "Send" button on the calculator but it remains grayed out.

Doug, I will make a list of improvements and suggestions for next season. Im sures other will too. It appears to me that you are committed to making this product a viable contender in the tax prep market. It's commendable that you are personally responding to people's comments / concerns here on this forum. Im hoping that it works out well for this season and hopefully in the future. If it does we all stand to benefit. You becasue of a new product and the users here for getting a good value for future tax seasons with TRXs price guaranty. John

I called yesterday and they said the States should be available by the end of the year as well as the business modules. Im in Pa which also has Local taxing authorities and they said that would also be included with the States. So I assume that is a reason that States arent showing up in Pro Formaed returns The program loaded fine with no issues on Windows Vista Home Premium even though the manual said it wasnt supported. Doing a Pro Forma with mutiple returns didnt work out well for me and although it said they completed they didnt appear under "Open Return" However doing one pro forma at a time did work. I may have to reProforma after the states are available The Peek window shows a 2011 form as mentioned and doesnt fit the form to the screen as in the training video on the website. Ive played around a bit so far and it seems workable at this point. Hopefully it will be more polished with updates and States/Business forms becoming available. I have some issues to ask tech support but I am waiting to get them all together over the next week or so. At this point it is better than I expected and I am giving them the benefit of the doubt to try and work with this new product. All products were new at one time. Crossing my fingers. John

Thanks. I received the notification of shipping email on 12/4 but that was the last correspondence from TRX. I never received a tracking number. Ill give them a call.

According to TRX emails the software was to ship on 12/10. Has anyone received it?

I just downloaded the Tax Software Manual 2012 from trxmembers.com and on page 10 it lists supported operating systems as follows: i. Supported Operating Systems (if It’s not listed, it’s not supported): Windows XP PRO, Vista Ultimate, Vista Business, 7 PRO, 7 Ultimate, Server 2008, 2003 Service Pack 2. Well, I;m running Vista Home Premium 64 bit. I was going to upgrade hardware this year but decided to delay it until next year. Im hoping that it is supported or else there is going to be an issue since I purchased TaxWorks and my OS was supported at the time of purchase. Im wondering what other gems Im going to find in the manual.

The 10MB "sneak peak" on their website of TaxPro is not TaxWorks. I assume that it is their home grown product. I havent downloaded the "demo". We will know soon enough. John EDIT: It looks like the "sneak peak" on the TaxExact" website. I guess we know. EDIT: Upon doing some research it appears that TaxExact IS owned by TRX (Murfreesboro,TN) so could this be their in-house product? If I had read Mike Dubins post properly I would have know that TaxExact is TRXs product. Sorry.

Its nice to see another Linux fan here in the forum. I havent tried to get it to run under Ubuntu but I have tried to get it to run under "Linux Mint" which is based on Ubuntu and I didnt have much success. However, that was using Linux Mint version 9 which was released in april 2010 I believe. Linux Mint just released version 13 about a week ago and it looks and works fantastic but I havent installed it, I just ran it off of the "Live CD". If you like Ubuntu I would highly suggest you give Linux Mint a try. http://linuxmint.com/ I dont know if you are aware of the linux program "Wine". It allows windows programs to run in a linux environment. However, it usually requires some tweaking. If TRX runs under Linux it would be with the Wine program. It should be in Ubuntu's repositories or you could install it with the PPA. Here is the link http://www.winehq.org/ I may try to get TRX to run in Linux Mint when I find some time in a month or so. If you have success please post it here and I will do the same. Good Luck.

Thanks Kea, Let us konw how it works out for you.

Hello all, In Pennsylvania in addition to federal and state income taxes we also have a local earned income tax. Today I received a notice that they are auditing my tax business (sole prop) for the tax years of 2009 - 2011. I didnt even realize they could do this. The notice is from a CPA. Apparently he was hired by the local taxing district. Here are the items that are bothering me. First, tomorrow I will contact the local taxing authority to make sure that this is legitimate. 1.) the local taxing authority accepts Pa Sch C for their returns. They dont require any federal returns. However the audit specifically requests both Federal & State Schedule C's. 2.) I spoke to the CPA and stated that my revenues would not contain asociated client data, except for revenue. He stated that client data is needed and stressed that he is a CPA and it is confidential. I dont feel comfortable submitting Federal Schedules, since they dont enter into the calculation of the local return, only state forms do. And, I strongly object to providing client information. Im a CPA and Im not sure I can even provided that data to another CPA. Your thoughts/comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks Crank