Improve Your Efficiency in 2016

For the tax industry, the months leading into January build tension in increments, like a banjo string tightening from every turn of the tuning peg. The days are filled with preparatory tasks for tax professionals and software developers alike, a constant buzz of activity that – for many – can determine the success of filing season. At a time when companies are putting the finishing touches on their tax software suites and announcing new features, it’s essential to know that your software continues to improve on efficiency and usability, while still addressing the tax, data, and technology concerns that arise year after year. Drake Software’s newest features predict even better performance than their award-winning showing in 2015.

Drake Software is known for its focus on customers, providing some of the shortest wait times in the industry for support calls, so it comes as no surprise that several updates that will be live in 2016 are customer-centric. This year, they are further streamlining data entry and document proofing by allowing users to digitally markup forms, find relevant client documents, and view previous year’s data. Going paperless has become increasingly important for the tax office, especially now that preparers have to keep track of healthcare-related information on top of myriad other tax form data.

While growing a tax office often means expanding to new locations to increase the reach of the business, it shouldn’t mean including space for rows upon rows of metal filing cabinets. Using Drake’s new DoubleCheck™ feature, you can easily mark items in any text or check box with a green check, red flag, or yellow box, so you won’t have to print client documents and forms just to keep track of the information you’ve verified, the fields you’ve flagged for review, or add and read short notes. If any information pertaining to a verified item changes, then DoubleCheck will automatically flip a green check to a red flag. This helps you – at a glance – see if a return is ready to file.

Finding source documents for displayed data can be a frustrating exercise in shuffling papers or opening PDFs until you hit pay dirt. The cliché “time equals money” might induce some eye rolling, but it highlights something that everyone in the tax industry understands: the faster you can compile, sort, enter, and verify data, the faster you can file a return and move on to the next client. Drake’s LinkBacks™ feature helps you find those elusive forms, schedules, and worksheets by simply right-clicking the text box containing information you need to verify – taking you to the document you need.

The LookBack™ feature helps you quickly find prior year data by displaying the fields containing data in the prior year. Now a simple keystroke can help you process returns for returning customers even more quickly. Combined with other quality-of-life improvements, like simplifying the software update process, Drake Software has a tax package reflecting the company’s commitment to providing the best possible customer experience.

DoubleCheck, LinkBacks, and LookBack are just a sample of the updates Drake Software has planned for next tax season, and they underscore Drake’s commitment to customers, efficiency, and quality. For those who haven’t settled on a tax software package for next year, now is the perfect time to see why Drake Software received the highest overall satisfaction rating from respondents to the Journal of Accountancy’s tax software survey for the second straight year.

Watch the video to learn more about the changes coming to Drake.