CPA Practice Advisor - 24

REVIEW: TAX DOCUMENT AUTOMATION

By Mary Girsch-Bock

Tired of Late Nights Around Tax Time?
TAX DOCUMENT AUTOMATION capability can save accountants hours and hours of work. Imagine simply placing
documents into a scanner and just scanning them. No need
to worry about organizing the documents prior to scanning
them. Now imagine that same capability can populate your
tax preparation software automatically, extracting tax data
from the source documents directly into your tax preparation software.

CCH PROSYSTEM FX SCAN AND AUTOFLOW TECHNOLOGY
GRUNTWORX
INTUIT LACERTE/PROSERIES SCAN & IMPORT
SUREPREP 1040 SCAN
THOMSON REUTERS SOURCE DOCUMENT PROCESSING

AUGUST 2019 ■

tion options were also examined to
determine if the product is designed to
work solely within a specific application or can be used with other tax
preparation software products as well.
If you're still on the fence about
tax document automation, take a few
minutes and visit the vendor websites
and download a free trial of the products that interest you. And if you're
tired of late nights around tax time,
this software may be the solution. ■
Mary Girsch-Bock is a freelance writer
specializing in business and technology
issues and is an author of several HR
handbooks, training manuals, and other
publications. She can be reached at mary.
girschbock@cpapracticeadvisor.com

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* Done through Tax Caddy
** Only Thomson Reuters applications

24

The reviewed products include:
■ 1040 Scan
■ GruntWorx, LLC
■ Lacerte and ProSeries Scan and
Import
■ Thomson Reuters - Source Document
Processing
■ Wolters Kluwer - CCH, ProSystem
fx Scan
We looked at a variety of features
in each product, such as documents
recognized by the application (W-2s,
1099s, etc.) and scanning capability,
including which scanners are supported. We also looked at the ability to
populate tax forms with information
from source documents, as well as the
ability to create digital files and PDFs
of each folder for easy access. Integra-

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

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tax document automation applications can quickly organize numerous
work papers into a single binder which
provides bookmarks and labels for
the documents, standardizing document order in each binder while also
creating a digital copy of all client
workpapers for firm-wide consistency. For even greater time savings,
some of these applications can also
auto-populate client tax returns,
eliminating time-consuming data
entry. While document recognition
capability can vary from product to
product, most are able to recognize
common tax source documents such
as W-2s, 1099s, K-1, and brokerage
statements. Most of these applications
offer complete review capability, so
users can verify that all important
data is accurate.
The products reviewed in this
issue of CPA Practice Advisor vary
in both size and scope, with some
applications better suited to larger
tax firms, while others
will work best for smaller
firms.
C LO
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AC C D
ESS
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The truth is that using some form
of tax document automation software
can help to automate many of the
processes that accountants frequently
find themselves tasked with, such as
scanning, organizing, and filing tax
documents. Time-consuming data
entry can also use up valuable hours
that are better used on other tasks.
But tax document automation software can reduce, and in some cases,
even eliminate the need to spend
any time scanning and organizing
documents, while data entry may be
reduced significantly as well.
That's what Tax Document Automation does. And while these systems
were originally designed for larger CPA
firms, the applications today can be
used by firms of any size to eliminate
manual data entry and reduce the
potential for costly mistakes.
Tax document automation systems vary widely in both features and
functionality, with some applications
designed to work within a specific tax
preparation software, while others
are able to integrate with a variety
of popular tax preparation products.
Used as an organizational tool,

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