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The Tech Getting Us
Through the Pandemic

By Isaac M. O'Bannon

SOME SAY THE Covid pandemic changed everything.
Others say, it just rapidly pushed technology adoption to
move faster. In either case, technology has played an important
role in the evolution of the accounting and tax profession, and
remote technologies were critical over the past year, as virtually
all firms moved to remote work environments that centered
around digital collaboration with no direct client contact.
While most accounting firms had
already at least partially adopted
systems that would enable this new
work model, many had to design an
effective workflow model to ensure
productivity and client support. At

the same time, accounting firms
were often the first line of support
for clients who were trying to build
their own pandemic business models, implementing technologies, and
learning to work with limited contact

with their customers. It has been a
challenge. But because accounting
professionals truly are tech savvy,
they were able to meet this challenge
and help their clients succeed, and
also make their firms stronger and
more resilient.
Now in their 17th year, the CPA
Practice Advisor Readers' Choice
Awards year, are a way for our
readers to spotlight the technologies they most rely on and trust to
manage their firms, provide client
services, and help those clients run
their businesses. From online tax

and accounting systems, practice
management, document automation and workflow tools, to apps for
collaboration, mobile productivity
and research. And, of course, office
hardware.
The awards also let professionals
see the technologies and workflow
systems their peers are using, which
can help them stay competitive and
build stronger firms. We thank the
thousands of professionals that
participated in voting this year. And
now, the results are in:

available tax research systems integrate with
tax preparation programs, while others are
used separately and can be used alongside
any system.
WINNER: TheTaxBook -
Tax Materials Inc. (60.1%)
Runners Up:

* Bloomberg Tax 709 & 706 Preparer (2.4%)
* Xero Tax Touch (1.2%)
* Taxfyle (1.1%)
* Other: (0.5%)

IN-FIRM TECHNOLOGIES
FEDERAL/STATE INCOME TAX
PREPARATION

Insight: The most voted on category in the
awards each year, nearly all respondents
report using a professional tax system.
Drake Software's customers always turn out
in high numbers to vote, resulting in another
win this year, and showing the loyalty these
customers have for this company's tax and
tax practice management software.
DRAKE TAX SOFTWARE: 37%
Intuit Lacerte, ProSeries or ProConnect
TaxOnline: 27%
Thomson Reuters UltraTax or GoSystem RS: 8.7%
Wolters Kluwer CCH Small Firm Services ATX
or TaxWise: 8.6%
Wolters Kluwer CCH Axcess
or ProSystem fx: 5.7%
TaxAct Preparers' Editions: 3.8%
RCS TaxSlayer Pro: 2.7%
MyTaxPrep Office: 1.9%
Other: 4.6%

TAX PLANNING SYSTEMS

Insight: Major tax law changes are now an
annual occurence, with makes tax planning
a challenge, and makes having a good tax
planning system critical. With the major
changes in the CARES and ARRA laws, both
for individuals with for businesses (PPP),

12

APRIL 2021 ■

planning for 2021 and beyond will take
exceptional skill. Tax planning also offers a
great chance for an additional engagement
with your clients, helping to create hypothetical situations based on current and projected
tax law, phase-ins and outs, and life event
changes such as variations in income, college
and other family matters. The result can be
proactive tax savings.
WINNER: Drake Tax Planner (39.7%)
Runners Up:

* Intuit Lacerte Tax Planner (26.7%)
* Thomson Reuters Checkpoint or Planner CS (10.9%)
* Wolters Kluwer CCH ProSystem fx Planning and fx
for Small Firms (7%)
* Bloomberg Tax Income Tax Planner (4.2%)
* Corvee Tax (2.5%)
* Other (9%)

TAX & ACCOUNTING RESEARCH
SYSTEMS

Insight: To reiterate: major tax law changes
every year, ugh, making tax research more
important than ever. Even if the tax law stayed
the same for several years, there would be
a need for tax research, since nobody can
know everything, and periodically you will
have a situation that you hadven't addressed
before, or in years. A comprehensive research
system should include primary source material such as the federal tax code and state tax
laws, as well as tax court rulings and expert
analysis of these materials. Some of the

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* QuickFinder Tax Handbooks (8.2%)
* Thomson Reuters Checkpoint (RIA) (7.1%)
* CCH IntelliConnect (Wolters Kluwer) (5.3%)
* TaxSpeaker (4.9%)
* Parker Tax Pro Library (4.8%)
* Intuit Tax Research & TaxAlmanac.org (4.7%)
* Tax Talk Today (2.7%)
* Bloomberg Tax Financial (2.2%)

SPECIALTY SYSTEMS & TAX
PREP TOOLS

Insight: Sometimes even the most comprehensive tax prep system doesn't quite have
everything you need for uncommon returns
or your practice's workflow process. We call
these tools that fill in the gaps or help amp
your firm productivty, " specialty systems. "
WINNER: QuickBooks Self-Employed
(26.7%)
Runners Up:
* GruntWorx (20.7%)
* CCH Axcess, ProSystem fx Suite and
Scan w/AutoFlow (Wolters Kluwer) (19.7%)
* Canopy Tax Resolution Services (8.7%)
* Thomson Reuters UltraTax CS Source Doc
Processing (7.8%)
* SurePrep 1040SCAN & TaxCaddy (5.1%)
* DynaTax (3.5%)
* Sageworks E-Tax Return Reader (2.6%)

TAX DOCUMENT AUTOMATION

Insight: Do more with less, by automating
some of the data entry. When the source
documents are scanned, the systems identify
the data and automatically populate client
returns with it. Many of these systems also
prepare digital workpapers.
WINNER: Intuit Tax Import for Lacerte
& ProSeries (29.3%)
* GruntWorx Populate (22.8%)
* Thomson Reuters Source Document Processing &
Workpapers CS (10.7%)
* Wolters Kluwer CCH iFirm and ProSystem fx Scan
with AutoFlow (8%)
* Canopy Tax (7.4%)
* SurePrep 1040Scan Pro, 1040Scan Organize (6.7%)
* cPaperless (4%)
* Corvee (0.6%)
* Other (10.5%)

SALES & USE TAX
PREPARATION

Insight: Sales taxes can be quite simple for
very small businesses, with one or two short
online forms to fill out per quarter. But for
growing business with an online presense,
it has always been a challenge to keep up
with so many jurisdictions. Wayfair was
supposed to make things easier, but in just a
few years, it has become the same albatross
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