questioning my decision to change to Drake

[schirallicpa]

I changed - I went to Drake.  Now I'm wondering if that was such a great idea.   It's different and I'm getting old and grumpy and don't like change.......................

[Lloyd Hudson]

I tried about 2010 and just could not do it. Too old and inflexible I guess

[Lee B]

2 hours ago, schirallicpa said:

I changed - I went to Drake.  Now I'm wondering if that was such a great idea.   It's different and I'm getting old and grumpy and don't like change.......................

I definitely felt the same way when I switched two years ago.

It took me about 10 days before I adapted to all of the differences.

I don't regret changing although it still probably takes me a little longer to prepare a tax return on Drake.

[jklcpa]

It is a totally different program than others. I would give it about 2 weeks of use and then reevaluate. That should give you enough time to explore features and any limitations that may be specific to your practice, and still be within the time frame to request a refund if it still isn't a good fit.

[schirallicpa]

Just feeling quite frustrated with the input and the lack of Jump-to's 

[Max W]

It takes some getting used to, especially the menu.  It is all worksheets, but you can go to the form based entry, which will take you to the right worksheet.

The best part of Drake, if you get stuck, is customer service.  They answer on the first ring and are very helpful.  

Good Lick!

[Jim Oh Bkkr]

I did it last year.  As I did each return, I reconstructed 17, prior to rolling over 18.  By the middle of Feb, I knew my way around pretty well.

I'm old 'n grumpy too, (30+years ), and can retire this year.

Not being able to create a multiple returns to play with numbers was a royal PITA, but the ??future scenario?? works well.  Married v Separate was easier than ATX.

Just glad to be rid of WK!

[Patrick Michael]

I switched over several years ago and do not regret it. It took a little while to get used to the new input screens but once I did I found it faster than ATX.  One feature that I love is the macros that you can write to speed up repetitive inputs.  Writing macros looks intimidating at first, but after you get the hang of it they are not hard and really does speed things up. 

[Roberts]

I used Drake for a few returns I handle and while it can be exceptional, it can also be bewilderingly complicated on something new. There are times it isn't intuitive at all when it comes to entry because of all the different tabs. For example on a trust trying to attribute a fee between taxable income and non-taxable took me 2 hours to figure out the first time - I needed to do an override. It was easy once I figured it out but it was completely mind boggling to figure it out that first time.

If you do something once, keep really good notes for next year.

 

[Tax Prep by Deb]

I spent some time using their practice returns so by the time the season got cooking I was up speed.  It is different but I do not regret switching at all.

[Lee B]

2 hours ago, Roberts said:

 . . . ., it can also be bewilderingly complicated on something new. There are times it isn't intuitive at all when it comes to entry because of all the different tabs.

 

I totally agree, even now beginning my third year, there several things that are so nonintuitive that I still struggle.

For example whenever I have to attach a pdf to an Oregon return, I end up calling support every time.

Fortunately, someone answers the phone immediately!

[ILLMAS]

This past Saturday l attended a tax update seminar and the instructor was raving on Drake’s questionnaire, does ATX have one?  Apparently this questionnaire is independent of the tax organizer and his reason of recommending Drake’s questionnaire for clients is because soon the IRS be making tax preparer liable if they are not asking questions on bitcoin or other income found during an audit.  I can share the questionnaire, please PM.

MAS

[jklcpa]

28 minutes ago, ILLMAS said:

This past Saturday l attended a tax update seminar and the instructor was raving on Drake’s questionnaire, does ATX have one?  Apparently this questionnaire is independent of the tax organizer and his reason of recommending Drake’s questionnaire for clients is because soon the IRS be making tax preparer liable if they are not asking questions on bitcoin or other income found during an audit.  I can share the questionnaire, please PM.

MAS

 

Before sharing items from any vendor, please check for copyrights and if an item is accessible to the public without purchasing that vendor's software.  If what you are sharing is copyrighted and not accessible outside of the software or without logging in to the vendor's site, including items like checklists, organizers, or practice aids, then those items should not be shared. I can't control if you share it privately, but please do not post it in any topic here for all to see and use.

[ILLMAS]

13 minutes ago, jklcpa said:

 

Before sharing items from any vendor, please check for copyrights and if an item is accessible to the public without purchasing that vendor's software.  If what you are sharing is copyrighted and not accessible outside of the software or without logging in to the vendor's site, including items like checklists, organizers, or practice aids, then those items should not be shared. I can't control if you share it privately, but please do not post it in any topic here for all to see and use.

Good point, thanks.

[Catherine]

On 1/5/2020 at 3:26 PM, schirallicpa said:

Just feeling quite frustrated with the input and the lack of Jump-to's 

The lack of jump-to's bothered me for a while, until I realized that I could go to the view mode faster than ATX moved to the jump-to screen.  

It *is* a transition to make.  I was very frustrated for the first week or so, and on occasion I still call support when doing some oddball thing that I can't remember (or have never tried before).  Support is great (as others have said) and after a while it gets more intuitive.  The input screens for most standardized-ish forms are set up to be as much like the original documents we get from clients as they reasonably can be.  That speeds up input considerably.