Does anyone know where the name ATX originates?

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Yes, my Personal Tax Edge software for tax year 1996 is from Parsons Technology.  That was the first year on my own and affordable. Yes, it was bought by ATX which is why I switched and have been with ATX since through the succession chain of owners.  It's the program  I know best and with just a couple more years to go, the one I will stick with.

[Lloyd Hudson]

n 1984, he founded Parsons Technology in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and began selling MoneyCounts, a home accounting program. In late 1987, Parsons was able to quit his job and focus completely on selling and overseeing growth of MoneyCounts. Eventually, Parsons Technology grew to be a 1,000-employee, privately held company. On September 27, 1994, Parsons completed the sale of Parsons Technology to Intuit, Inc. for $64 million.[20]

I do not think there was ever a connection between ATX and Parsons. 

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Thanks, Lloyd Hudson, for clarification.  I just know that I used Parsons for 1996 and moved on to Saber/ATX after that.  At least I think so.  In my old QB files I see Parsons Productivity software in 1999 and ATX 5 PPR in 2000 then Saber in July 2000.  At $353 I'm guessing it was a renewal but in January 2001 I upgraded to MAX for $277.  My descriptions of 'software' were less than complete back then - well, still are.

[Lion EA]

I used Parsons years ago for my own and my son's returns. Parsons sold to Intuit, and Intuit offered me a cheap price, maybe matched the old Parson's price, maybe for three years. I did use TurboTax for at least one year. Then I was a controller in a small firm with an outside accountant, so I went into his office for a day each year to bang out our returns on his pro software, Pencil Pushers, maybe. Then, my father's estate got added into my mix, plus IL, and I married a teacher with employee expenses. I decided to take the HRB course and learn what I needed to know. Joined HRB for a decade and prepared all our returns on their TPS. We used ATX for all the entity returns. Went out on my own with ProSystem fx.

[glynnwillett]

My brother and I founded ATX and when we were searching for a name, there were over 200 professional tax companies at that time. Since we wanted to be the first company in a magazine review, our first requirement was that the name started with an "A". Also back in the day, "X" was a hot new way to name a company. And last but not least, all the the big companies were three initials--CCH, RIA, BNA, etc. And from here, ATX was born. Later, it was pointed out that ATX was an anagram of TAX so this became our official explanation as the first took too long to explain the real reason. Anyway, it's great to see the community again!

Skol!

Glynn Willett 
P.S.
The rest of the story is that we began www.mobymax.com after ATX, and we are hot on the pursuit of taking over the education market :-)

[Abby Normal]

Wow. This is awesome! FWIW, ATX is my favorite tax software out of the half a dozen or so I've used, mainly because I can fly around tax returns so quickly, so I can charge a higher hourly rate.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

So welcome, Glynn Willett!  So happy you found this diaspora of ATX users, many of us for decades.  Like Abby, I also am a big fan of ATX since 1998.  And will use it until retirement hoping it lasts that long.  Many of us have very fond memories of the great group in Maine years ago and several of us contributed to a picnic for them in appreciation.  We were loyal because they deserved it!

Keep in touch!

[BulldogTom]

2 hours ago, glynnwillett said:

My brother and I founded ATX and when we were searching for a name, there were over 200 professional tax companies at that time. Since we wanted to be the first company in a magazine review, our first requirement was that the name started with an "A". Also back in the day, "X" was a hot new way to name a company. And last but not least, all the the big companies were three initials--CCH, RIA, BNA, etc. And from here, ATX was born. Later, it was pointed out that ATX was an anagram of TAX so this became our official explanation as the first took too long to explain the real reason. Anyway, it's great to see the community again!

Skol!

Glynn Willett 
P.S.
The rest of the story is that we began www.mobymax.com after ATX, and we are hot on the pursuit of taking over the education market

ATX was much better when you were there.   I love the software, hate CCH.   In fact, my screen name on the official ATX board is "Idon'tlikeCCH".   The soul of the company left when they closed down the Caribou offices and moved to Georgia.

Tom
Modesto, CA 

[Jim Oh Bkkr]

13 hours ago, BulldogTom said:

ATX was much better when you were there.

Ditto!  I guess I can quit HOPING your non-compete will expire!

[b#tax]

I worked in my dad's office in the 1980's and remember when he upgraded to computer software from working by hand. The first software he used was Digitax. Ugh, it was my job to align the dot matrix print out with the transparency and make the copies. The first computer we had was an AT&T 6300 with floppy drives which we soon upgraded to a 20MB hard drive.   In 1993, we switched from Lacerte to Taxwise. 

[DANRVAN]

On 7/1/2020 at 11:44 AM, glynnwillett said:

My brother and I founded ATX

I started my own part time practice in 1997 using Intuit Pro Series;  I hated it.

Then out of the blue in fall of 2000 an ATX demo show up in the mail!  I have been using it ever since.  I can't remember the last time I had to call support.