Does anyone know where the name ATX originates?

[Abby Normal]

I never thought about it until today. Is it an abbreviation? Who originally wrote and sold ATX? Did they sell to Kleinrock, before it all got sold to CCH?

[BLACK BART]

Couldn't find anything on it, but years ago a venture capital trio of people in Austin, Texas put some money into it, so maybe that has something to do with the ATX name.

[Elrod]

I may be wrong Abby, but it could be....Athletic T Rex...

[jklcpa]

I don't know where the name originated but maybe Eric would since he worked there.

Based in Caribou, Maine, and Ft. Pierce, Fla. ATX Forms was founded in 1992 and owned by brothers Glynn and Steve Willett.  The company's tax software under the ATX Forms name was MAX and Saber.  Glynn Willett agreed to stay on for roughly four years when UCG purchased ATX Forms in 2002 to oversee the company’s tax research and software business.  UCG is the company that had Kleinrock.

I started with Saber, and it started with a tiger roar upon launch. iirc, it was some sort of excel-based program, but I could have that confused with some other program at this point. I also had something called Zillion Forms around the same time.

https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/kleinrocks-ucg-acquires-atx-forms

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Loved that roar!  Still miss it...

[Catherine]

1 hour ago, jklcpa said:

something called Zillion Forms

I remember Zillion Forms!  Hadn't thought about that in years and years.

[Max W]

2 hours ago, Elrod said:

I may be wrong Abby, but it could be....Athletic T Rex...

Is that one of the new Revenue Officers being hired?

[Roberts]

I always assumed ATX stood for Advanced Tax software.

 

Anyone ever make a list of all the tax programs they've used?

TaxAct, TaxWise, Drake, Intellitax (My favorite), ATX, Proseries and OLTPRO are mine I think. Has to be another 1-2.

 

H&R Block had software they sold to professionals - anyone remember the name?

[Joel]

Best Software was the tax program H&R Block purchased in the early 1990's and converted it to their own program for 1040 returns.  For a while they used ATX for the business returns in their premium offices. It became available for the franchise owners to use in their offices.

I purchased and used the Best Software for my Block franchise office the year before Block purchased the rights to the program.

[jklcpa]

30 minutes ago, Roberts said:

Anyone ever make a list of all the tax programs they've used?

The two firms I worked during the years 1981 through 1995 both used CCH ProSystem. Once on my own, I used ATX for tax years 1995 through 2011 and now Drake starting with 2012 tax year.

[Patrick Michael]

45 minutes ago, Roberts said:

Anyone ever make a list of all the tax programs they've used?

 

 

 

Started out with TaxAct in 2001, then switched over to ATX from 2005 until 2012 and been with Drake ever since.  Part time gigs reviewing for other firms I have used Proseries , CCH Prosystems, and another god awful program whose name I have erased from my memory.

[Abby Normal]

As best I recall, in this order, Intuit Proseries, Dalton, TAASC, Drake, TaxWorks, ATX. That doesn't seem like enough.

[jklcpa]

16 minutes ago, Patrick Michael said:

another god awful program whose name I have erased from my memory

   Oh yes!  There was one program that the preparers looked up entry line numbers and had a pages of paper with blank lines to write the line numbers and amounts, then hash totals. Data entry person entered all of that into a DOS-based program that generated a rudimentary tax form with a dot matrix printer on tractor fed paper.  Ah, the good ol' days ... NOT! 

It was truly awful, and the entry person had to start the entire process over from the beginning if there was a mistake because there was no way to go back to correct anything.

Seriously, I could have done the entire return faster with a pencil and eraser than all of that nonsense.

[Roberts]

52 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

TaxWorks

That's the one I was thinking about. H&R Block owned them.

[Gail in Virginia]

I know I can't remember the first one, maybe two, programs we used.  Then TaxWise, Drake, ATX, ProSeries. 

[Lynn EA USTCP in Louisiana]

Like Gail, I too do not remember the first tax program we used.  It was written by 2 men from the northshore (northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, New Orleans area), and was DOS based.  When they closed shop they suggested we use Crosslink for personal and Drake (I think) for businesses.  I loved Crosslink but we didn't do bank products so the fees and efiling fees were eating us up.  Drake, meh.  We used Zillions Forms for sales taxes.  When I made the decision after Hurricane Katrina to d/c Crosslink we switched to ATX Total Tax Office or Max, whatever allowed us access to all forms (personal, entities, payroll, sales taxes).  I've been with ATX ever since and have no plans to switch.  I tried UltraTax during the 2012 debacle - too expensive and did not have the heart in me to learn another program.

 

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Before starting my own practice, I used CCH in the late 80's, early 90's.  I began with the fill in sheets which had to be sent to a processor but my boss then had us hand prepare returns too to be sure of the amounts and results.  Then CCH online.

My first program for my business was the 1996 Parson's Personal Tax Edge costing, I think, $69.  They either closed up shop or were bought out and I've been with ATX ever since, MAX most years.  I haven't had nearly the issues that some experienced, especially in 2012, so have never felt the urge to change.  With just a couple more years to go, I plan to stick with them. 

[BulldogTom]

My first job out of college was using UltraTax.   When I started my own practice in 1997,  I used ProSeries PPR.   In 2001, I switched to ATX.   Looked at Drake in 2012 but could not make myself pull the trigger.   I probably should have, so now I am ATX for life.

Tom
Modesto, cA

[ILLMAS]

Axcess Tax, X is just for windows programing 

[Catherine]

First pro software I used on my own was TaxAct - dumped it after a couple of years because at the time it had almost no part year or non resident state forms.  Switched to ATX, left in the midst of the 2012 filing season debacle for Drake and have been with them ever since.  Used a couple of forms from Zillion Forms to get the PY/NR forms I couldn't get from TA at the time, too.

As a consumer a bazillion years ago I used MacInTax, then Ttx (briefly; never liked it), after they started pushing e-filing and I left paper behind.

For friends and colleagues, I have helped using ProSeries, ProSystem FX, and others that I frankly don't recall.  Do remember I hated ProSeries with a passion (it was the most convoluted and non-intuitive program I've ever used, including writing my own programs in Fortran with punch  cards), and thought that ProSystem would be a lovely option if it wasn't obscenely expensive.  LOL; I don't really remember it too well (it was a LONG time ago), but I do recall there were a couple of really complex individual returns with lots of states, and a gnarly S-corp that I finally beat into submission.  Maybe they were all related.

[WITAXLADY]

I used a program from MN... which had MN and WI - and then did the SABER!!!

miss that and the bunny hop...

need some fun here...

D

 

[Jim Oh Bkkr]

19 hours ago, Joel said:

For a while they used ATX for the business returns

The name Best doesn't ring any bells, but in the early 90's I was using some "off the shelf" program, don't even remember the name.  One year they added business returns, and if you shut a business return down improperly, you had access to a "return manager" (you actually had to force access to it).   After a little "snooping", I discovered it was ATX. 

600 bucks for MAX, and I NEVER had to worry about ANY form ever again.  Stayed with ATX, until Drake in '16 or '17.

 

[Abby Normal]

13 hours ago, Catherine said:

First pro software I used on my own was TaxAct

In the ATX users Facebook page, there was a post about switching to TaxAct. Some really liked it.

[Roberts]

Tax software is IMO the ultimate in finding something that works with your brain. If their style isn't intuitive to how your brain works, you are going to struggle.

Intellitax worked so amazingly well for my brain and OLTPRO is very VERY similar so it's why I stick with it. Forms entry seemed so impossible to learn but once I did - I couldn't go back to anything else.

I switched around on my own until I found TRX and then THEY switched me around until the debacle that was 2013.

[Christian]

I started out using pen and ink. The first tax program was out of Maine I think. It cost $75 per year and worked quite well. How sweet it was !