Lacerte Addons/Practice Management

We're a 100% tax focused firm that uses Lacerte.

We've been trying to incorporate Intuit Practice Management but we're pretty underwhelmed.

Does anybody have suggestions for software that pairs nicely with Lacerte for functions like time and billing, client/project tracking, client portal, document storage etc?

Will be following this.
Have you tried time entry that's included with QBO Accountant? I think they use T-Sheets and it's included for free.
Wonder how it integrates with Lacerte for time and billing

I'm very interested in this myself.
I want to use UltraTax for prep, but the integration advantages of QB and Lacerte are tough to ignore and I haven't used UT since 2011.
IPM, TaxDome, and Canopy all seemed pretty skinny in the time/billing area when I demo'd them in Spring 2021.
We went with Onvio (a Thomson Reuters product), but it has had its own meaningful issues.

I use Lacerte but TaxDome for practice management/portal, and all billing is tracked within QBOA (if necessary--I generally charge a lot more for tax returns than my hourly, so I usually do not track it).

I use Lacerte but TaxDome for practice management/portal, and all billing is tracked within QBOA (if necessary--I generally charge a lot more for tax returns than my hourly, so I usually do not track it).

I'm planning to demo TaxDome too.
How do you handle tax return delivery with Tax Dome?
Do you need to print signature forms as separate pdf's and run them trough a template in TaxDome, so a client can esign?
Tax payments and vouchers?
Estimated payments and vouchers?
Instructions to client?

I print PDF copies to OneDrive, which is how I follow my retention policy (7 years), and then upload them to TaxDome. I could print directly to TaxDome from Lacerte via a PDF print driver, but I go through the "tax preparer review copy" and separate it out since it is that file that contains the eFile forms, estimated payment vouchers, etc. If a balance is owed, I will save the voucher slips as a separate PDF and upload it. It seems like a lot of work but it is not--for the average client it takes me 5 minutes.

You can set up templates for the eFile forms. I have not, don't find it excessively time consuming to set it up on my own, but I will play with it this next year. I am curious if it is smart enough to recognize one form buried in with multiple eFile forms--some of my clients file in 15+ states and not all accept the Federal eFile form.

Everything is sent to Client via a message template, which also includes a video review I do and the password to access it. It has various tasks the client needs to complete in order for them to stop receiving reminders.

Having used it for a full year now, I will make a few changes for the upcoming year to simplify pipelines and further leverage automation (eFile form signatures being one example).

Question about one drive, how do you set it up to follow your retention policy? I’m switching from Lacerte DMS to tax dome but trying to figure out the best way to store documents until being deleted, but be able to efficiently delete them when the time comes. Ideally I’d have a folder for the client and sub folder by year but it would mean going through each file to be able to delete the old years

I print PDF copies to OneDrive, which is how I follow my retention policy (7 years), and then upload them to TaxDome. I could print directly to TaxDome from Lacerte via a PDF print driver, but I go through the "tax preparer review copy" and separate it out since it is that file that contains the eFile forms, estimated payment vouchers, etc. If a balance is owed, I will save the voucher slips as a separate PDF and upload it. It seems like a lot of work but it is not--for the average client it takes me 5 minutes.

You can set up templates for the eFile forms. I have not, don't find it excessively time consuming to set it up on my own, but I will play with it this next year. I am curious if it is smart enough to recognize one form buried in with multiple eFile forms--some of my clients file in 15+ states and not all accept the Federal eFile form.

Everything is sent to Client via a message template, which also includes a video review I do and the password to access it. It has various tasks the client needs to complete in order for them to stop receiving reminders.

Having used it for a full year now, I will make a few changes for the upcoming year to simplify pipelines and further leverage automation (eFile form signatures being one example).

I print PDF copies to OneDrive, which is how I follow my retention policy (7 years), and then upload them to TaxDome. I could print directly to TaxDome from Lacerte via a PDF print driver, but I go through the "tax preparer review copy" and separate it out since it is that file that contains the eFile forms, estimated payment vouchers, etc. If a balance is owed, I will save the voucher slips as a separate PDF and upload it. It seems like a lot of work but it is not--for the average client it takes me 5 minutes.

You can set up templates for the eFile forms. I have not, don't find it excessively time consuming to set it up on my own, but I will play with it this next year. I am curious if it is smart enough to recognize one form buried in with multiple eFile forms--some of my clients file in 15+ states and not all accept the Federal eFile form.

Everything is sent to Client via a message template, which also includes a video review I do and the password to access it. It has various tasks the client needs to complete in order for them to stop receiving reminders.

Having used it for a full year now, I will make a few changes for the upcoming year to simplify pipelines and further leverage automation (eFile form signatures being one example).

Thanks for sharing this.
I did the SafeSend demo and I really liked how their returns delivery feature works. You print a client copy pdf from Lacerte to SafeSend and it automatically assembles the tax return and walks a client through tax payments, signatures and estimated payments. If a client fails KBA for esginatures, there's a big button with an option to print and sign the efile forms and a window stays open where they can upload them back to the program.
I'm still not convinced their price is worth it, but they showed me their organizers feature and other things they're implementing with extensions and estimated payments that makes it more tempting.
It still lacks the many features that TaxDome has like a true CRM, billing, a real client portal, time tracking, project tracking, automatons, etc
I'm curious if a step by step process can be set up in TaxDome for tax delivery through templates and tasks.

I think it depends just how much you want to break it down. TaxDome does not break anything out; it is strictly what is uploaded. SafeSend, as you already noted, targets a very different type of service whereas TaxDome is more about automations across the Board and doing many other things, all within one platform.

I like SafeSend, they hound me all the time, but I am just not going to switch and have less at my disposal. Plus, my clients REALLY like TaxDome for its ease of access including its Client Mobile App, which is everything they can do via a standard browser + "scan" documents as a PDF and upload.

I like SafeSend, they hound me all the time, but I am just not going to switch and have less at my disposal.

I'm not interested in maintaining a portal for clients, which is what TaxDome does (I think) and SafeSend avoids. They aren't mutually exclusive, though, IMO. Safesend is solely for delivery/receiving info; TaxDome is practice mgmt.
I don't see any platform doing everything perfectly at the moment. I think you carefully choose which parts of the available tools work for you and hone your process(es) thoughtfully around those tools.
I'm currently working through this exercise myself. More questions than answers as I type this.

Also depends on mix of tax vs. other clients. Tax is still only around 25% (intentionally) of my practice, most is controllership. While I use TaxDome for both, I can see where firms more heavily focused on tax could see significant benefit from SafeSend.