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Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 5 seconds

Thomson: Be Cautious with New Tax Software

Scott Fleszar, Thomson ReutersThe secret to dealing with disasters with new tax software is keeping the prior year's product available. That has been the approach of Thomson Reuters which appears to have been unscathed by the kinds of tax software problems experienced this year by CCH's ATX, TRx, and TaxWorks, all of which had severe issues with their rewritten 2012 products. And that does not include Intuit, whose products had to be fixed in Minnesota, or H&R Block which had issues with health credits.

"The approach we have had is to have your legacy program available while you are cutting your teeth on the new program," says Scott Fleszar, the VP of strategic marketing for the company's professional software unit. "The first year you hope you have 10 percent of user customers on the new product and work out the kinks." That way, in the second year on the market, the rewrites have a better chance of avoiding major issues and most of the user base will be ready to switch.

That approach would have helped some ATX and TaxWorks users who were begging their suppliers to let them use the older version while the disasters with the new software were addressed. The problems with TRx Software Development were so severe that the Better Business Bureau lowered TRX's rating to an F and during February, the BBB of Middle Tennessee issued a statement headlined " TRX Software Development, Inc.=Tax Preparer's Nightmare".

Many complainers who used TaxWorks and TAX dropped their packages so they could continue operating and Thomson, with its UltraTax, and Drake Software appear to have benefited greatly. Fleszar anticipates the tax software buying season should be a busy one. "We think there is going to more professionals in the market than usual," he says.

Bob Scott
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
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