TaxDome vs Canopy

We're a week into a free trial of TaxDome and I'm still undecided. The platform is powerful but the interface can be frustrating and is not very intuitive. I can see getting used to it over time and maybe realizing some efficiencies if client adoption will be decent.
My biggest complaint so far are signatures for MFJ. The spouses cannot use a shared email to sign the forms (a lot of my clients have shared email). Each spouse must have a separate email to sign.
Taxdome's suggestion was to add "+1" in the email address and that sends both signature requests the same email, but to sign each spouse has to log in to their portal and the "+1" spouse has to login with that "+1" in user id. I can already anticipate confusion over this. Is there an easier process?
I'm also doing a test run of Canopy and their signature process is so much easier. Signers can sign from a link without logging in to the portal and shared email works. The interface is cleaner and more intuitive, but Canopy lacks in other features especially with customizable organizers and automation. It looks like we'll need to manually upload organizers to Canopy as their default questionnaire is not customizable and won't work for us. I also got a feeling that we'll need to continue using a spreadsheet for project tracking or maybe I just don't have enough experience with it yet.

We are about 2 months into the Taxdome implementation and so far I can tell it will be one of the best pieces of software I've had for project management. I've heard FAR more favorable comments about Taxdome than Canopy and actually just read comments from one Canopy user that they are regretting the decision.

One thing I have learned is that people (myself included) will ALWAYS come up with that one case that happens 0.1% of the time which they use to decide against something. For you, how many clients really have only 1 email between both spouses? Seriously, I cannot believe that could be a thing today. I'll bet if you asked, they would provide the other email. If not, treat those 2-3 cases and have them do something different. But don't let a tiny fraction of your clients decide how you will run your practice.

Well in my practice a lot of MFJ clients share 1 email for tax stuff. Yes, we can find a workaround and it's not a deal breaker, but it's an annoyance and an inefficiency.
I see in reviews that people who like TaxDome are almost fanatical about it. It just doesn't click with me that way. I think it's useful, but too complicated for some basic things. Maybe it will grow on me over time, but still undecided at this point.

Although a bit of a tangent, multiple people using one email for esignature is a problem from a risk exposure standpoint. If one person claims that they did not esign a doc, it might be difficult for you to prove they did (versus a family member that also has access to the account). It's a best practice if each individual has a unique email that only they have access to.

Although a bit of a tangent, multiple people using one email for esignature is a problem from a risk exposure standpoint. If one person claims that they did not esign a doc, it might be difficult for you to prove they did (versus a family member that also has access to the account). It's a best practice if each individual has a unique email that only they have access to.

Good point, but KBA would solve this problem. There's no nothing to prevent a spouse from downloading and signing 8879's for both spouses now and sending it back (as I'm sure some already do).

I hear you about the fanatics. I was also highly suspicious as I have tried a lot of software over the years and always ended up disappointed. But as I dove into Taxdome I felt this was different. I agree it might be too much for simple things, but 95% of the time it is going to streamline workflow. For my firm, it certainly is going to make a big difference.

Well in my practice a lot of MFJ clients share 1 email for tax stuff. Yes, we can find a workaround and it's not a deal breaker, but it's an annoyance and an inefficiency.
I see in reviews that people who like TaxDome are almost fanatical about it. It just doesn't click with me that way. I think it's useful, but too complicated for some basic things. Maybe it will grow on me over time, but still undecided at this point.

I use Canopy. The only compliant I have is that its a little pricey, but my clients like the portal and its worked for me.

I use Canopy. The only compliant I have is that its a little pricey, but my clients like the portal and its worked for me.

The younger clients will figure out either TD or Canopy portals. I think the older ones would struggle more with TD than Canopy and I'm leaning to Canopy for that reason.
How do you gather information and deliver tax returns with Canopy?
I was ready to pull the trigger with them, but a lack of customizable organizers is a big issue. I require most of my 1040 clients to complete an organizer before we start any work. They get an organizer emailed directly from Lacerte with prior year info (many sch E clients are adamant about having prior year numbers for reference). We would have to print the organizers to PDF and then manually upload each one to Canopy which would be an extra step from what we do now.

If you're still using Lacerte why can't you still email the Organizers?
And, do you email pdf Organizers or do you use the e-Organizer?

If you're still using Lacerte why can't you still email the Organizers?
And, do you email pdf Organizers or do you use the e-Organizer?

I was hoping we could customize and have clients fill out the built in organizer in the practice management software. TD allows customizable organizers, but not Canopy as far as I could tell. Sch E clients and the one who need prior year info would get their Lacerte organizers uploaded to the portal.
We send PDF organizers from Lacerte and it's one by one which is a pia.

If you're still using Lacerte why can't you still email the Organizers?
And, do you email pdf Organizers or do you use the e-Organizer?

I was hoping we could customize and have clients fill out the built in organizer in the practice management software. TD allows customizable organizers, but not Canopy as far as I could tell. Sch E clients and the one who need prior year info would get their Lacerte organizers uploaded to the portal.
We send PDF organizers from Lacerte and it's one by one which is a pia.

It appears to be confirmed that they do not yet have that: https://feedback.getcanopy.com/forums/9 ... r#comments

Thanks for all the feedback. I have watched several hours of videos and am leaning towards TaxDome.

Still trying to understand the flexibility of the organizer set up. Can I print out an organizer or light organizer in UltraTax, upload it to clients' account in TaxDome, and it will convert it to a fillable PDF version through Adobe magic? I really like the short version checklist organizer that UltraTax prints out using last years information to create a checklist. Also would like to print out Schedule E and C organizer worksheets that show previous year's amounts.

Thanks in advance for any help you are able to provide.

Hi EZTAX,

I use taxdome, and really like it. The workflow and automations are great, and they are continuously improving features.

Regarding organizers: As far as I know, you can print your organizer in ultratax, and then easily upload it to each clients taxdome account as a pdf. Taxdome has no special ability to make it fillable, so I don't know how you would do that.

The taxdome "organizers" are more like questionnaires that you can build and customize yourself. i.e. you could make different questionnaires for different tax return types, but there isn't really an option for creating personalized organizers for each client like the tax software can do e.g. with prior year info.

I believe there is an option to carryforward the prior year answers from a taxdome questionnaire, but it isn't really the same thing or a replacement for the organizer that tax softwares can create.

I disagree and think the old school organizers are outdated and useless--the questionnaire aspect is what matters, everything else is BS for modern practice, IMO. That is where the "organizers" (aka, questionnaires) in TD excel--they are 100% customizable and I can add or eliminate whatever I want, request specific document uploads within the questionnaire, etc.

The option to carry forward data from prior years was implemented this year as long as you are using the same template that has the same questions as last year. It is enabled by default, I had to go through and disable it for every question on every questionnaire. I want 2022 to be the base year I use for that function, and then I'll modify next year's organizers to allow only certain questions to be prepopulated.

Thank you both. That was very helpful.

Cornerstone, now that I know that prior year information will be carried forward I am on board. I can just send them a copy of the organizer this year for reference to show the prior year information.

Yeah, that is a good idea.

I was considering doing that.

FYI, setting up all of the questionnaires and workflows and templates is pretty time consuming. Actually, I think you need almost a year of tinkering around with everything before you will be happy with how it works.

I am just going to start with a few clients to work out the kinks. Best of luck!

Yeah, that is a good idea.

I was considering doing that.

FYI, setting up all of the questionnaires and workflows and templates is pretty time consuming. Actually, I think you need almost a year of tinkering around with everything before you will be happy with how it works.

Yeah, after a year of using TD I went through and modified the organizers to better suit 2022 tax matters, made engagement contracts more generic and perpetual ("until tax code changes necessitate a change in engagement terms"), and modified my pipelines to be more efficient (such as removing stages I did not use).

But man, once all that is set up it is such a huge time saver.

Just received an email from Taxdome support and they claim that if I upload an organizer checklist from my tax software (UltraTax) to the portal that it will be fillable. We will see.....

Yeah, after a year of using TD I went through and modified the organizers to better suit 2022 tax matters, made engagement contracts more generic and perpetual ("until tax code changes necessitate a change in engagement terms"), and modified my pipelines to be more efficient (such as removing stages I did not use).

But man, once all that is set up it is such a huge time saver.

Out of interest Cornerstone, how many stages do you have in a pipeline?

e.g. For my individual tax return pipeline, I have 12 stages!

And, I have a total of about 5-6 pipelines. (We have 2 taxdome users).

My pipelines are long and complicated, but I think that is how I like it....