Drake & K-1 Letters

[Terry D EA]

I am looking to try Drake next year and have received the 2014 TY CD. I will get it loaded soon but... wondering if Drake does contain K-1 letters and any other letters like letters for the client stating what their refund or balance due is with instructions? I hope so. I have had to create them myself the last three years and will welcome a change. I'm not lazy just want to work more intelligently and not harder.

[jklcpa]

Yes, it has the K-1 letters and a variety of letters to choose from for all the types of returns. They are easily customized too.  I use the shortened letter that gives the highlights of balance due or refund in block-style format without much in the way of instructions, but there are more comprehensive and detailed letters available.  The program also has a nice 3-year comparison and a summary sheet also.

[Catherine]

In addition to what Judy said, you can also add a custom paragraph to the bottom of a standard letter quite easily -- also to the bottom of any bill.  I use that one a lot, with little notes when something is very different.  Example:  "Bill higher this year due to two state returns needed."  That staves off many of the questions, I've found.

[Terry D EA]

I assume the program will generate a cover page that I can adjust to fit the folders that I buy?? Sounds like this will be the best option for me. I still may take a brief look at ATX. Jack kinda scared me off a bit when he said the feel of the program was nothing like the old days prior to the CCH take over.

[jklcpa]

It has a cover sheet that can be selected to print with every return. It must be a fairly standard layout because the Tenenz site says that the same folders with dye-cut windows will work with the Drake, Taxwise, Refunds Today, and Ultimate Tax.

If you load up the 2014 CD or download from the Drake site, you can play with the practice returns and have a look at these things you are asking about.

I don't know that you should necessarily be afraid of going back to ATX or writing it off your list of possibilities. It's true that the entire program had its overhaul and the engine that runs it is different, and the way it stores files, but the look of the input should be familiar to you. Aside from some of the glitches that you've probably read about, the program has had many enhancements since you last used it. There may be some comfort to you in going back to a product whose input looks familiar to you, especially at this point in the season.

I didn't have an overly hard time adapting to Drake, and I do think it is faster than ATX now that I'm familiar with it. It meets my needs and I'm happy with it, but it isn't for everyone, and I transitioned in early February, not mid-March.  There is no one-size-fits-all, so you should load up that 2014 program and try it out. 

[Catherine]

In addition to what Judy says I'll just chime in about the tax folders.

When I switched, I had a SLEW of ATX-specific folders (from Tenenz) left and the standard Drake cover page did not quite fit.  So I made a Word document that DID fit (took me about 5 minutes) and used that.  Open the doc, insert client name, print, close it again without saving changes.  Boom/done.  Yes it was a tiny extra step - but only until I had used up the ATX folders since I bought the new ones sized for Drake.