[Gordon Wiber]

Paid my $550 for the 2009 FX version to get a head start on the T4's, T5's, T5013's etc. before the circus (AKA The Olympics) comes to town in February and I have to drive through 3 checkpoints to get to our office, only to find the army has commandeered my parking space as a security risk since our office is across the street from the athletes village.

Actually, I not jaded.... yet! we shall see

Of course Intuit accepted my cash and I see the related the charge on my credit card, but alas no 2009 FX program yet ready for download.

Good cash flow move for Intuit, - think i should ask my clients to pay their fee before we give them any idea as to when we will start and complete their file.

[unknown]

have not renewed yet...

yet, you can do most of your prep work as in the 2008 program it has a provision for next year's figures...which will populate the current form on carry over....

[BalancedBooks]

That's been a complaint of mine as well. There is no reason Intuit can't give us the FX program sooner than late January or whenever it is.

I like to get my T4s done before January 15th so I can ensure the final monthly remittance covers any reconciling discrepencies.

Bert, do you enter the next year info in the carryforward area of the T4 detail? Does it work well? Can you get summary reports of the carryforward data or do you have to roll forward first?

Dan

[unknown]

The carryforward works well. No you do not get summary reports until after the carryover.

It is great to use it when you are doing the corporate year end, where you have set the owner's renumeration...

[Lee@Intuit]

Hello everyone,

FX has a current target of mid-December for release. We're just finalizing our testing for that next FX version now.

As mentioned above, you can start entering your 2009 data into the current version of FX. This will carry-forward into the next year's version when it is released. This feature allows you to get a head-start on the time-intensive data entry but does not provide any aggregate reports. For that, you will have to wait for the carry-forward into the 2009 version when released.

Timing of releases is always a balance for us. Many of our users would love constant updates to get access to the latest forms and features ASAP. Others have emphatically told us that they do not appreciate constantly having updates to attend to and manage, especially during the tax season. For them, less is better. We appreciate feedback on this matter so we're better able to strike that balance. Please let us know your preferences and what changes will help you work more effectively.


-Lee

[BalancedBooks]

Lee@Intuit, on Dec 4 2009, 02:56 PM, said:

Hello everyone,

FX has a current target of mid-December for release. We're just finalizing our testing for that next FX version now.

As mentioned above, you can start entering your 2009 data into the current version of FX. This will carry-forward into the next year's version when it is released. This feature allows you to get a head-start on the time-intensive data entry but does not provide any aggregate reports. For that, you will have to wait for the carry-forward into the 2009 version when released.

Timing of releases is always a balance for us. Many of our users would love constant updates to get access to the latest forms and features ASAP. Others have emphatically told us that they do not appreciate constantly having updates to attend to and manage, especially during the tax season. For them, less is better. We appreciate feedback on this matter so we're better able to strike that balance. Please let us know your preferences and what changes will help you work more effectively.


-Lee

Thanks Lee

I see a difference between constant updates and a filing version of a program (which I would consider as 1 release assuming the program works).

As also mentioned above, many of your clients buy FX or the entire package now but some of the programs (FX and T3) are not normally available for several weeks. I used to be an "early bird special" buyer but don't see the point if the programs are not available. Since we cannot efile T1s until mid February, why buy that program in December? A mid Dec release of FX may bring me on board sooner.

Dan

[Reg]

Lee:

I'm with Dan on this. I could start using a 2009 FX program right now but don't need T1 until February. It would be nice to get T1 in mid-January so one can play around with any changes, but any sooner than that is simply not needed.

Reg

[Lee@Intuit]

Dan and Reg,

Thanks for your feedback. Good points.

Part of our balancing act with releases contemplates multiple modules, as you mentioned, tied together by MAUI. As well, we must take into account different types of users. For instance, our discounters are more eagerly awaiting a release of the T1 in December, whereas many other T1 users don't care to see it until February or even March. Same module, two vastly different sets of release timing requirements.

Ideally, we would push updates almost daily and our users could, at their own convenience, easily decide which modules to update and when to apply the changes. For now, we'll rely on feedback from our users and deliver the best we can for the diverse requirements each type of office presents. So again, I thank you both for providing your input to help us.

Have a great weekend!

-Lee

[Tim Parris]

As for timing of module releases, I purchase a US tax preparation software package which has each form individually released as a module and each may separately be downloaded from the manufacturer. There are days when I have over 100 updates on my first update and then, an hour or two later, another 10 or twenty. These updates take about 20-45 seconds to implement.

I live with it.

However, I notice that Profile does not have individual forms updating but rather the modules (T1, T2, etc.) updating. A change to a single form would result in a 20Mb or more download. Given that most ISP charge for the downloading after a certain amount, I can well see why clients would complain.

[Lee@Intuit]

Tim Parris, on Dec 5 2009, 07:42 AM, said:

As for timing of module releases, I purchase a US tax preparation software package which has each form individually released as a module and each may separately be downloaded from the manufacturer. There are days when I have over 100 updates on my first update and then, an hour or two later, another 10 or twenty. These updates take about 20-45 seconds to implement.

I live with it.

However, I notice that Profile does not have individual forms updating but rather the modules (T1, T2, etc.) updating. A change to a single form would result in a 20Mb or more download. Given that most ISP charge for the downloading after a certain amount, I can well see why clients would complain.

Very true, Tim. There would likely have to be some serious changes to the way we do distributions in a daily update model. The other option providers look at is doing software as a service over the web, whereby there is no downloading of the actual software regardless of where the user files are stored. Updates are instantaneous and virtually invisible. Of course, this approach still has it's own drawbacks.

For Canadian tax, if you had to chose between the US model and the current ProFile model which would you prefer?

-Lee

[Tim Parris]

Lee@Intuit, on Dec 7 2009, 11:10 AM, said:

Very true, Tim. There would likely have to be some serious changes to the way we do distributions in a daily update model. The other option providers look at is doing software as a service over the web, whereby there is no downloading of the actual software regardless of where the user files are stored. Updates are instantaneous and virtually invisible. Of course, this approach still has it's own drawbacks.

For Canadian tax, if you had to chose between the US model and the current ProFile model which would you prefer?

-Lee

I would not accept an online model, since several of my clients are served without access to the internet.

Either model works fine to me as I have had experience with both and can live with both - I have never complained about the updating method. I will point out that either model has both detractors and proselytizers - take how Microsoft switched from patching on a semi-daily basis to once monthly and is now moving to a more frequent updating model. I will point out that your competitor has a similar number of updates as you but tends to get its updates out faster than you -- Mind you, the competitor also costs more.

[unknown]

Just saw the Efile Association T1 Software review -

Prices for T1Premier(equiv)(with efile) from 2006 to 2009:

Profile
800
900
900
900

Cantax (Silver)
949
992
1049
1099

TaxPrep
1455
1540
1715
1800

TaxTron
195
195
195
249

DT Max
800
800
800
800

VisualTax
319
349
349
349