2011 Tax Software Survey: Ease of Use, Price Top Lists of Likes, Dislikes

This year's tax preparation software survey by The Tax Adviser and the JofA yielded more than 10,000 responses from readers, showing what tax professionals like and dislike about the tax preparation software they used this tax season. As in years past (see the 2010 survey at tinyurl.com/6jl3cby), price and ease of use have a large influence on preparers' feelings about their software. For the first time this year, the survey also shows that having the responsibility for choosing the tax preparation software product affects the user's assessment of the product. As in past years, three products led the pack in the number of respondents using them. Users of ProSystem fx Tax (CCH), Lacerte (Intuit) and UltraTax CS (Thomson Reuters) together accounted for nearly three-quarters of the responses; the remaining one-fourth were divided among, in decreasing order, ProSeries (Intuit), GoSystem Tax RS (Thomson Reuters), Drake (Drake Software), ATX (CCH Small Firm Services), TaxWorks (RedGear Technologies) and seven other products that yielded fewer than 64 responses each and are not included in this analysis. A list of all products surveyed is available at journalofaccountancy.com (enter 20114147 in the search box to find the article). Similar to last year, average overall ratings this year for the "big three" products were a virtual tie and in the same order as previously: UltraTax (4.5 on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest), followed by Lacerte (4.4) and ProSystem (4.3) (see Exhibit 1). In the second tier of products by number of users, Drake once again generated the highest overall esteem (4.4), followed by ATX and ProSeries (both 4.2), TaxWorks (3.9), and GoSystem (3.4). The survey was conducted online in May 2011. Another possible indication of overall satisfaction might be inferred from the percentage of respondents saying they plan to use the same software next season. Ninety-four percent of users of Drake and UltraTax CS plan to stick with them, followed by ProSystem fx (89%), ATX (86.3%), and a tie between Lacerte and ProSeries (84%). PROFILE OF USERS The products are designed for the most part to cater to firms of a particular size and scope, although some products were used across a wide range of firm sizes. Lacerte, for example, showed up mostly in firms of between two and 20 preparers, although it ranked relatively high for oneperson shops, which made up 20% of respondents using it. The leading product for one-person firms (which accounted for 18% of all respondents) was ATX, for which 56% of users were sole practitioners. At the other end of the spectrum was GoSystem Tax RS, where 37% of users were in firms of more than 500 preparers (which for all products were only 4.2% of respondents). As a result, GoSystem was also the only software for which respondents who had no input in choosing the system far outnumbered those who had a hand in selecting it, by a factor of more than five to one. Nearly all respondents prepared a significant number of business returns, which for 48% of respondents constituted between 26% and 50% of returns prepared. A majority of users (54%) said that half to three-quarters of returns they prepared were individual returns, with another 19% saying that individual returns made up 76% of all returns they prepared. FEATURES USERS LIKED MOST AND LEAST When we asked what single attribute of their software users most prized, ease of use got the most responses (28.7%) (see Exhibit 2). ProSeries and Lacerte won the most regard for this (44.7% and 43.6%, respectively). Respondents who had control over the software selection process tended to regard their software as easier to use than those who did not. Users who had made the software purchasing decision (all brands) gave it an average 4.3 out of 5 for ease of use, while those with no involvement in the choice gave it an average 3.7. For the next best-liked feature, number of forms/comprehensiveness, the spotlight shifted to ProSystem fx and GoSystem, both billed by their makers as tax preparation and compliance systems, at 33. …

Field of study: Business