How do you polish Drake returns, so they look professional?

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#1
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Drake user for a few years now. Very small practice, maybe 300ish returns per year. Drake gets the job done for me, in general; only very rarely have I run into errors that they didn't patch within a couple of weeks.

My big problem with Drake is with how unpolished the final product (tax return provided to client) is. There's no consistency about how statements are titled or organized, the prior-year comparison page is downright awful, there's no consistency about the way filing and payment instructions are presented for different states/localities, pdf bookmarks are haphazardly named, and so on. I'm at the point where I don't give my clients anything but the bare minimum (tax return forms/schedules and any e-filed statements, payment vouchers, maybe depreciation schedules, nothing else) because I'm frankly embarrassed by the way it looks if I include anything else.

I'm not switching away from Drake. That would be way more hassle than it's worth! But do any of you out there have any tips/tricks for polishing Drake's final product? How do you make it look "professional"? As a CPA, I don't feel good about handing my clients a tax return that looks worse than what they'd get from Turbotax.

Granted, most of my clients don't spend more than 2 seconds looking at their tax return, but for those who do, it's frustrating that the questions they ask are generally 100% valid and I have no answer for them other than, "Yeah, I don't know why my software shows things that way. It's confusing. Sorry about that. Here's what's really going on: ..."
 

#2
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I've been using Drake for many years now and have no problem with the presentation for clients. I use the comparison page when we go through the return together and I really like that it now covers three years instead of two and they've added a state comparison, too. I don't agree that it "looks worse that what they'd get from Turbtax."
 

#3
CathysTaxes  
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I have no problem with Drake reports. I think some of them can be customized.
Cathy
CathysTaxes
 

#4
ATSMAN  
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Print the return to pdf without password and then use your favorite full feature pdf editor (not the trial ware stuff) to edit anything you want.

You will never find any tax software that gives you reports 100% to your liking but a good pdf editor can work magic. :P
 

#5
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My biggest issue with the presentation last year was that the font could vary from page to page. Small bold font vs large skinny font. (the Drake users know what I'm talking about) But...that's really outside of my control.

It does appear to be getting better. In the 2019 software there is more consistency. The small bold font is on all of the federal forms and schedules, while the other font is on statements and state tax returns.

I do some light re-arranging in form ordering so things print in the order I prefer for my client's and my final copy. E.g. for 1040s, I have the comparison page before the return, rather than buried in the statements as is default. I also move the 8582 worksheets directly behind the 8582 so it's easier to review and answer any client questions (they are also buried way back in the statements by default).

Finally, I generate a very nice summary T-Letter for both the client's and my final copy and insert it as the first page. It looks very nice and professional, and it's the first thing anyone sees when they open the PDF.

That said, I don't worry too much about the small things like the font inconsistency anymore. It's really about if the returns are correct and we're executing well for our clients. Plus...how many of our clients actually go through the returns page by page? Not a high percentage I imagine.
 

#6
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ManVsTax wrote:
That said, I don't worry too much about the small things like the font inconsistency anymore. It's really about if the returns are correct and we're executing well for our clients.


I say this^^.

IMO, a professional tone in correspondence/conversation, good customer service, and reliable expertise wins over presentation.

When a client comes in with a fancy folder, I make a quick joke about how they paid for it and that I don't need any flash - just get it done right and to not make it too complicated or stressful for the client.
 

#7
ATSMAN  
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When a client comes in with a fancy folder, I make a quick joke about how they paid for it and that I don't need any flash - just get it done right and to not make it too complicated or stressful for the client.


I use regular Economy Tax return folders that cost roughly $0.70 a piece. I do keep a small supply of the fancy folders with embossed lettering and pockets for my top clients. It costs roughly $3 a piece. Check out Tenenz.
 

#8
MWEA  
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I use nice folders with our logo embossed, print the client’s name to the folder. For $5 and 60 seconds of staff time, it seems like a no brainer. It’s all part of the client experience and it’s the only tangible thing you hand the client.

I always felt like going cheap here was shortsighted. I certainly respect others have other opinions.
 

#9
ATSMAN  
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Years back I used to give fancy folders to all clients. What I found was that most taxpayers take the folder apart and toss it the first time they have to use the tax return for a loan, college financing or just to fax it to someone.

Some clients who come to the office will have the previous year's return stapled, clipped, crumpled etc.

So I guess the life of a nice folder is very short :o
 

#10
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Atsman, I use PVC folders from Rochester 100. I trialled them in my part-time practice some years ago, as an alternative to Staples brand at the sort of price point you use. The reaction was universally positive. My last batch cost me an average of $1.43.

I remain wholly unconvinced about the expensive cardboard folders with staples everywhere. I have one side to hold the returns and the other to hold payment vouchers, my fee note and sundry other useful stuff. I use card to print a front cover for the return - the color of the card complements the folder color.

Could it look fancier? Well, yes, but I still can't get past the four or five staples along the top of the folder, holding the the returns in.
 

#11
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I work strictly from PDF; I don't print returns or use folders.

Here's a very clear example of what I'm talking about:

Drake allows me to rename the pages in View ('Setup'->'Form Properties'). All good there. But wouldn't you think that if I then generate a pdf of the return, those names would match the names of the pdf bookmarks? Nope. I'm stuck with bookmarks named things like "SCH_1" and "FED~DEPR" and "QBI_SMPL". Also, inconsistencies like "W2 List" and "1099_LST".

Unpolished, ugly. Maybe I'm missing the setting that allows me to rename the pdf bookmarks within the software?? Someone please please tell me I am! I will gladly and graciously eat my hat if someone here can point that out me.
 

#12
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I don't think there is a right or wrong here. Go with what fits your firm's personality.

I've gone the expensive folder route and really like the image it portrays. Some clients may think they're paying for fluff that doesn't mean anything to them. They can live without it. On the other side, there are those personal tax return clients to whom I charge a handsome fee. They expect it.
 

#13
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Getting a little away from the original subject, I don’t use a tax return folder anymore (because I too see so many destroyed) and instead invested in high quality packets. They are a thick paper board type of envelope embossed with our name. I just slide a stapled copy of the return into the envelope with their original docs. I’ve had positive feedback.
 

#14
Beagle  
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ATSMAN wrote:Years back I used to give fancy folders to all clients. What I found was that most taxpayers take the folder apart and toss it the first time they have to use the tax return for a loan, college financing or just to fax it to someone.

Some clients who come to the office will have the previous year's return stapled, clipped, crumpled etc.

So I guess the life of a nice folder is very short :o



THIS. When I got into taxes I met with several people and reviewed their tax returns with them just for guidance. They had all either destroyed the folders that they came in or told me how much they hated them. My dad's tax preparer had used those plastic spiral report covers and he told me straight away he hated it with a passion. To make a copy means he has to take the entire thing apart and it's never going back together again so what was the point?

I work with several law firms and about 1/2 use a special binding system that I know for a fact the clients hate (they can't sit down and read things with one or no hands). Or they can't read the print in the left hand margins which ticks them off to no end.

Since then I give clients a stapled return in a manila envelope with my contact information and the year of the return on a label affixed to the outside. All their documents fit inside the envelope so they are kept together and we all know for a fact that unless they are getting a loan application, they are sticking it in a drawer and never looking at it again.


I've used Drake software, I see absolutely nothing unprofessional about the return it produces.
 

#15
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This is pretty interesting...

Do most of the people on here give a bound hard-copy in a binder/folder to all clients by default?

I only do e-delivery as a PDF for the client/as-filed copy. No one has raised any objections or requested a hard-copy, and I have some senior clients. If clients need to send a copy to their banker, mortgage broker, or financial advisor, it's already in electronic format and ready to go.

I find this approach lowers my overhead and is better for the environment, as all those paper tax returns and binders are just going to go into a landfill eventually.

When I started at my first firm, they were phasing out of bound copies and only giving those to legacy clients or clients who request them. I'm sure most clients would just throw a hard-copy return on their shelf and forget about it.
 

#16
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I deliver what the client wants. only a couple have specifically said they do not want a hard copy. I have inherited a relatively old client base and a hefty portion of them tell me they don't do e-mail.
 

#17
ATSMAN  
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hefty portion of them tell me they don't do e-mail.


I have a bunch of older clients and they tell me the same thing and then I find out a few do indeed have an e-mail account because they e-mailed me asking a tax question. They are proud of keeping tax return hard copies to the days when they first started filing :P
 

#18
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ATSMAN wrote:They are proud of keeping tax return hard copies to the days when they first started filing


Sounds like a fire hazard to me... ;)
 

#19
jesella  
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We deliver hard copy returns to all clients that have in-person wrap appointments. Call me old-school, but I find it easier to go over the return with them on paper, and I'm printing the 8879 for their signature at that time anyway. If their wrap appointment is by phone or video conference, they only receive the electronic version that goes to them for e-signature.
 

#20
ATSMAN  
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I find it easier to go over the return with them on paper, and I'm printing the 8879 for their signature at that time anyway.


I completely agree. I have had phone conference calls (not sophisticated enough to do video calls), and going over a pdf on screen without the ability to point out the page and line is challenging to mildly put it. Also in person meetings are valuable to see the body language and facial expressions to see how the engagement went. I can almost predict 80% of the time if a new client will be back next year or not :ugeek:
 

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