Drake

Hello

I’m a relatively new CPA and new to the forum. I’m hoping to start offering tax and bookkeeping services. My previous tax software experience was with Lacerte, and I really liked it, but it’s a little bit out of my price range, especially since I’m not going to be taking on anything too complex at first. I have read that Drake is pretty popular with new and/or small tax preparers. Does anyone have experience with it? What do you think? Pros and Cons? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

Good morning -

I have been using Drake for almost 6 years and we love it. We use it at the firm I work for and I use it for my side gig. Here is a brief list of pros and cons from my limited experience:

1. Affordable and prices will remain constant each year.
2. Customer Service that is unmatched.
3. Easy to learn. When we get seasonal preparers, they are able to learn it fast.
4. Each year they add on great tools I.e. import, export etc.

Cons

1. State returns have to reviewed carefully as some items do not flow from federal.
2. Mutil State returns have to reviewed diligently.

As side from the state issues, its a great product. I am a big advocate for Drake.

I use it. We had to switch from TaxWorks literally within 48 hours, to Drake back when TaxWorks imploded. Scary proposition but the fact that it was glitch-free and productive with hardly any learning time speaks a lot. Now that I'm out on my own I continue to use it and have been very happy with it. You do have to know enough not to 'trust' it for certain things however - like education credit options, you are the optimizer not the software. There are probably other "optimize" things missing; in general it relies on you to know the best answer for your client, given choices...it does not try to figure that out for you.

Customer service is excellent as noted by WITaxGuy. I actually have been impressed with multiple states but maybe just got lucky so far. I know certain things (again, education credits) it relies on me to make sure NYS dollar amounts are valid since NYS does not consider all the same expenses as Federal, as eligible.

I do a couple of very simple s-corps and partnerships...and I know that the heavy hitter guys/gals here who do much more complex business returns feel that Drake falls short in those cases.

One nice thing they've been doing are these little mini-videos for help. So if you are on an input screen for vehicle expenses for example, there may be a link "see how to enter vehicle expenses" - and your browser will open up with a short video showing you exactly how to do it correctly.

As an I/T guy one thing I really like about Drake is how light of a footprint it has. Installing TaxWorks was like installing a friggin operating system - and you had to make a sacrifice to the god of ethernet to get multi-client networking to work. Drake installs like a good old fashioned simple program file, and is perfectly happy wherever you put it. At home I have it parked on the Linux server in my basement, and any client machine in the house can easily install the lightweight program launcher from that share, and run it. Everything about it is 'snappy' and quick - install, updates, backups, e-filing, etc.

I am sticking with Drake for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for the input guys.

We switched from ProSeries 4 seasons ago, and are very happy, not only with the price, which has saved us thousands per year, and does some forms which, for us, required us to buy third party software to complete.

Switching was a pain, leaning a new platform and method, so my advice is choose wisely because making a change in the future is very hard.

Drake is not perfect, and lacks some features offered in other packages, but it offers a lot, at a very good price, and with exceptional service and support.

One huge benefit is the burden for internal support. We are a husband and wife team, my wife is the CPA, and I am a retired engineer who manages the office, and keeps the IT up and running. Drake is extremely easy to install and manage, and includes networking other suppliers charge extra for. One of the reasons we switched from ProSeries was a defective pre-season release which corrupted our network server. I was able to repair the damage and get our systems back online, but we had friends who had to wipe and reinstall their servers.

Another major issue for us is data security, ProSeries network install splattered confidential "homebase" client information on the workstations, not just the server. Drake is self contained on whatever computer you install it on, which makes securing the information much easier. We run Drake from an encrypted disk on our server, so if someone breaks in to our office and steals the server, there is no data breach since it is all locked up on the encrypted disk.

You have to be on your game though. Like one friend said, it does not offer tax research by software - where the software will guide you to the right answer if you don't know it. But, the truth is, when we switched from our other software, we found mistakes that software made, and we never noticed, because we assumed that software was correct. You are the professional, and should always be on your game, even if it is just to concur with that the software produces. No matter what software you use, at whatever price, you are responsible for the result.

Drake unlimited includes e-filing for all packages, individual, entity, and states, at no additional charge.

Drake unlimited also included the Client Writeup, which is Quickbooks very lite. It lets you do basic bookkeeping and payroll, which we don't use. What we do use is the ability to prepare 940, 941, and 1099s, and e-file them. That is huge for us, and a big convenience in that we previously had to buy separate software to prepare those forms.

Drake also does some forms which our previous software didn't even attempt, specifically the Maryland Form-1 and AT3/51 Personal Property Return. I suspect there are other state's specialty returns Drake prepares, but I can't say. I only know Maryland. We used to have to buy a separate, stand-alone software package to prepare those returns.

Drake integrates to its client portal product, Secure File Pro, which is fairly convenient to use. I have tried it, but decided on another product which better fits our needs. Starting out, it may be a good addition with the benefit of one stop shopping. Plans are modestly priced.

Document manager is included and built in. We don't use it, having our own system, but starting out it can be a convenience.

I don't think you can go wrong with Drake, especially if you are just starting out.

What we do use is the ability to prepare 940, 941, and 1099s, and e-file them.

Wat. I've been using drake for 4 years and I had no idea!!!

Drake integrates to its client portal product, Secure File Pro, which is fairly convenient to use. I have tried it, but decided on another product which better fits our needs.

What did you go with just out of curiousity?

What we do use is the ability to prepare 940, 941, and 1099s, and e-file them.

Wat. I've been using drake for 4 years and I had no idea!!!

Check out the Drake Client Writeup Manual, page 1, and pages 183 to 197 for what you can forms you can prepare and e-file. It isn't as smooth and polished as some software packages, for the number we have to prepare, free is good.

"Drake's Client Write-Up (CWU) provides the capability to prepare and print both live
and after-the-fact payroll, W-2/W-3, 1099-MISC/1096, 940, 941, 941SS, 943, 944
and 945 forms."

"Electronic Filing ........................................................... 183
Forms 941, 940, 944, & 941SS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Uploading W-2s and W-3s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Uploading 1099s, 1096s, and 1098s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 191
Filing a 1099 Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194"

Does print out a very nice laser form. You can create W2s with the bar codes if you want. No special paper or pre-printed forms required.

The old journal just rated softwares(they do every Septemeber) and Drake really came out well. I use Ultra, but the ratings for Drake were the biggest surprise to me.

I use Drake and I'm very happy with the software and the company. Unlike Intuit & Lacerte, Drake tries to be a partner with you and doesn't compete with you the way Intuit does with Turbotax... Software is easy to use, and their support is great: rarely more than a few rings before they answer the phone. I only file about 40 returns a year, and almost all of them are IRS and California only, except for an occasional W2 from another state, and I haven't had any problems. Drake has a great forum (available to its users only), and there are some discussions in there about deficiencies in the state software, especially California.

Drake has a number of Software Sales Seminars throughout the year - they're near the end of the cycle but there's one in Newark on October 24: I'm sure they've had them in San Jose...
http://www.drakesoftware.com/site/Train ... minar.aspx

I use Drake and I'm very happy with the software and the company. Unlike Intuit & Lacerte, Drake tries to be a partner with you and doesn't compete with you the way Intuit does with Turbotax...

Let's get some facts straight -- it's not true that Drake does not compete the way Intuit does, go see https://www.1040.com.

[edit in partial response to following post - remainder of this post is generally commentary on the thread topic, not a response to MikeH post above]

You may be "happy with ... the company" but not everyone will be. Here is some interesting info on the company founder, who is certainly entitled to his free speech, and whose personal views probably don't affect software development, but who knows?

[edit in partial response to following post - in order to be more balanced, I have added another link about the founder and CEO of Drake software, so there is one mostly positive and one mostly negative. Don't read either one if you don't care about the personal history of Phil Drake]

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/i ... ess-empire

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/0 ... ngry-kids#

Back to the software itself -- to each his own, but as one who has used ProSeries, UltraTax, TaxWorks, Drake, and H&R office software, Drake was tied with H&R as my least favorite to use. I'm not sure what they have now, but as recently as a few years ago their idea of a tax planner was to dump you into an Excel spreadsheet. And since no one else has tossed it out yet, I'll add that before you put too much value on Drake's fabled customer support, you have to ask why do people need to call Drake customer support so often in the first place?

It's responses such as the above that make me not want to be a part of this forum.

It's responses such as the above that make me not want to be a part of this forum.

If you want to report my post, just click on the little inverted triangle icon with the exclamation point. I'm curious what you find objectionable -- correcting your mis-statement of fact, expressing my opinion of the software compared to others, or pointing out a business-related issue with a particular vendor?

There are two, maybe two-and-a-half tiers of tax software as far as price and features go. Drake is probably the best of the bottom tier. A lot of people love it because of its price and customer service, but makbo does allude to the reason so many people know about their customer support.

I used it for eight years at the firm I recently left. It's fine for basic and intermediate federal issues. It's fine for basic state issues. Once you get more advanced than that, you will be wishing you had a typewriter because at least then you can type where you want to. I often found myself missing CCH ProSystems fx, which wasn't always user-friendly but could do anything we ever asked of it. But ProSystems is expensive, expensive software.

If you feel that the lower tier of software fits your practice, you will likely be happier with Drake than any of its competitors.

There are two, maybe two-and-a-half tiers of tax software as far as price and features go. Drake is probably the best of the bottom tier. A lot of people love it because of its price and customer service, but makbo does allude to the reason so many people know about their customer support.

I used it for eight years at the firm I recently left. It's fine for basic and intermediate federal issues. It's fine for basic state issues. Once you get more advanced than that, you will be wishing you had a typewriter because at least then you can type where you want to. I often found myself missing CCH ProSystems fx, which wasn't always user-friendly but could do anything we ever asked of it. But ProSystems is expensive, expensive software.

If you feel that the lower tier of software fits your practice, you will likely be happier with Drake than any of its competitors.

I think this is a very fair review of drake. Don't get me wrong, I am what you would describe as a "very satisfied Drake customer", but the criticisms leveled above are reasonable, if you even want to call them criticisms.

the criticisms leveled above are reasonable, if you even want to call them criticisms.

Oh, I think they are criticisms. But they are couched in the old axiom that you get what you pay for.

Being less polite, I would have drank a lot less over the last few years were I able to override a taxpayer's residency status for Missouri. Thank you, Drake, Korbel, and Tanqueray.

As I look to start up my own firm, I'm likely to send money to Drake Software, but again that's because they are the top of the value tier of tax software and that I'm familiar with the package.

I have been using Drake for a couple of years and i like it, however it has a lot of quirks and traps especially when it comes to dealing with states adjustments, so you should be careful.

One of the most annoying thing i found is that it cannot produce/track flow through entities basis for states and amt purposes. So if you have an individual with numerous K1 forms you may have to do a lot of manual tracking.

Overall I like it, but I am considering of switching my more complex returns to Lacerte.

I'm not sure what they have now, but as recently as a few years ago their idea of a tax planner was to dump you into an Excel spreadsheet.

Drake has implemented a very good tax planner in the current software. You can create unlimited derivative scenarios using the live return as a foundation. This was sorely lacking in previous editions, and lets you run scenarios and see not only the federal impact, but state impacts as well. They have current year and next year tables built in, to the extent that anyone can guess what next year will bring! If you can figure out what the government will do to the tax code next year, your crystal ball is much better than mine.

I'm not sure what they have now, but as recently as a few years ago their idea of a tax planner was to dump you into an Excel spreadsheet.

Drake has implemented a very good tax planner in the current software. You can create unlimited derivative scenarios using the live return as a foundation. This was sorely lacking in previous editions, and lets you run scenarios and see not only the federal impact, but state impacts as well. They have current year and next year tables built in, to the extent that anyone can guess what next year will bring! If you can figure out what the government will do to the tax code next year, your crystal ball is much better than mine.

I wouldn't call it "very good", but it's much better than the old version, which was sorely lacking.

Hello

I’m a relatively new CPA and new to the forum. I’m hoping to start offering tax and bookkeeping services. My previous tax software experience was with Lacerte, and I really liked it, but it’s a little bit out of my price range, especially since I’m not going to be taking on anything too complex at first. I have read that Drake is pretty popular with new and/or small tax preparers. Does anyone have experience with it? What do you think? Pros and Cons? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

I test drove Drake this summer after being a Lacerte user since 1995. I prepared several individual and biz returns on Drake and got fairly comfortable with it.

My assessment - if price is your number one consideration, I can't imagine you can beat Drake - for around $1k you can run your tax prep practice - wow! Coming from Lacerte, that was a major plus.

Having said that there were some deal stoppers in Drake for me, so I am not continuing with it:
- Losses not automatically taken against debt basis (I thought it had to be me, but confirmed with support it wasn't, just doesn't do it automatically). This was a deal stopper for me as I have lots of real estate partnerships/LLCs that this is an issue for.
- State penalties and interest not supported - the state notices for my extensions are coming in and they all come to me from my client wondering "what did you miss"
- Foreign tax credit carryovers - have to do a "unformatted statement" that you have to update manually
- Filing instructions always say to sign the returns (confuses the heck out of my efile clients)
- Lots of other state items don't flow over directly - muni interest, GA retirement exclusion with muni-interest
- Generating next year estimated coupons I just couldn't figure it out if say for the first two quarters no payments were made, there was an overpayment carrying forward when the return got filed and then you wanted to apply the overpayment and trigger 3 and 4Q estimate vouchers.
- As related to the previous comment, I was on with support for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to do this, although very quick to respond and willing, he didn't know any more about how to do it than I did - i found that often the case with their support - it's quick to answer but often just as clueless as me and they just keep trying things until it worked.


Now what I decided though, was to go with Ultratax and am in process converting to it now and learning it - I think it will give me a more "Lacerte-like" experience, but at a much more affordable price going forward - happy to give you more details if you like by email.