Ftax - Worst tax software on the market?

Ftax - Worst tax software on the market?

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Does anyone else suffer constant "hiccups" with ftax?

Half the time the document doesn't even submit. You press submit, you say I agree and then... nothing happens. It gets stage fright and won't even let you edit anything and even if you close the document down and go back to it and then try again it's completely messed up so you have to start from scratch.

Seriously, I know it's cheap but I'd rather end the frustration and just go with taxcalc which I have used in the past and have never encountered any problems with. You enter the information, press submit and it just does it. Ftax - you do everything and, if you're lucky, it doesn't freeze half way through but then more often than not it just does not submit the damn thing.

Is it just me though?? I have tried the programme on two different computers and have had the same result so surely this can't just be my experience. Can it?

Rant over.

Replies (4)

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Image is of a pin up style woman in a red dress with some of her skirt caught in the filing cabinet. She looks surprised.
By Monsoon
05th Nov 2011 15:34

Works fine for me.
I've used FTax since 0506 and I still love it. I've never experienced the problems you're describing. Occasionally I need to close and re-open, but that about it. You know that if you've clicked calculate, you have to go back and hit edit from the same menu to be able to edit anything in the form? That might fix that one for you. Are you using the latest version? That's usually what I'm doing wrong more often than not when its not working for me. Have you changed the settings in Adobe Reader to the ones they specify? I'm back on Reader 9 as I had problems with Reader X, in general, not just with tax returns.

It's not perfect, the first few versions every tax year can be a little glitchy, but for the price I cannot complain one iota. The customer support is great when I need it. I've used Digita, and much prefer FTax both on usability and value for money.

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By accountant_87
05th Nov 2011 16:16

Maybe...

Maybe it is just me.

It's also compounded with a problem I am having with ixbrl.

The accounts just WONT submit. I keep getting this:

 

Problems found in tax form
Code : 0 Box Location : Computations :  cvc-complex-type.2.4.a: Invalid content was found starting with element 'ct-CaseI:TradingProfitsIndividualTradeSpecialRatePoolNonMainRateCarExpenditure'. One of '{"http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance":item, "http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance":tuple, "http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance":context, "http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance":unit, "http://www.xbrl.org/2003/linkbase":footnoteLink}' is expected.
Code : 1607 Box Location : Computations :  Information within the computations does not match that on the CT600

 

So I then spend about 15 mins tinkering around, changing things on my VT accounts file and on ftax and then ftax freezes and I have to begin an empty CT600 again which yes only takes about 15 mins to re-enter and re-attach ixbrl accounts and computations but.... well, I can just feel my blood pressure being high at the moment and it's an extra annoyance I can do without.

What is really getting to me is that I have entered everything right. A car which is a non-main rate car has been entered in the special rate pool. Box 105 - 106. It has been entered under the same headings on the VT file. WHAT IS THE MATTER???

And the code 1607 error - same as above.

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Image is of a pin up style woman in a red dress with some of her skirt caught in the filing cabinet. She looks surprised.
By Monsoon
05th Nov 2011 16:46

Have you asked Ftax?
Have you contacted support? I sometimes get error messages and so I just pester Richard with them, and he soon sorts it out :)

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By Richard FTAX
18th Jun 2012 09:57

Ftax Support

 

Yes, our email support is available 24/7, and we usually answer within the hour.

The problems accountant_87 exerienced were due to an invalid iXBRL file (not produced by Ftax) and a lack of a leading zero on a 7 digit company number. These sort of problems, have now been largely overcome - iXBRL Account suppliers have corrected their problems - and HMRC now accept a 7 digit Company Number even if the leading digit has been omitted.

Ftax has recently been updated to accept VT iXBRL Computations, which I know many VT users will appreciate.

 

Richard

 

 

 

 

 

 

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