New practice software advise

New practice software advise

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Dear All,,

Please would you advise me on the the following choice of software that I have made for a new practice that I intend to start up.

Accounts Production :- VT

Book keeping:- Sage 50 Accounts Plus 2014 - Two User – unlimited Company

Payroll:-  Sage 50 Payroll 2014 – Multi User – Unlimited Company – Up to 100 Employees

Tax:- Tax Calc

I know sage packages are expensive, however I am receiving external funding. 

Would I need any more softwares.

Kind Regards,

Kev

Replies (13)

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By cbp99
02nd May 2014 08:59

VT and Moneysoft


I would suggest VT for bookkeeping especially as it integrates seamlessly with VT accounts, and Moneysoft for payroll.

No reason to use inferior (IMHO) Sage products just because you can afford them.

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By Wanderer
02nd May 2014 09:01

Drop the idea of Sage Payroll as well & use Moneysoft.

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By carnmores
02nd May 2014 09:03

i suggest you change to

Moneysoft  for payroll   approx £150

Taxfiler or HMRCs own product for SA CT etc £10 pm

Clearbooks or a host of online for bookkkeeping accounting etc , we use Quickbooks which we love   anything form £3o pm or £10 pm

 

or for a totally integrated package www.gbooks.co.uk

 

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By Ken Howard
02nd May 2014 09:06

Don't use Sage payroll

This question has been asked many times, almost weekly, so why not do a search of the forums to find more comprehensive answers, but, in summary:-

Sage payroll is expensive and has been criticised on these and other fora for years for being slow and cumbersome.  Sage are also well known for expensive support contracts and poor call handling, i.e. long wait times and inadequate staff.

Moneysoft is the most recommended payroll software on the forums.

VT is the most recommended book-keeping software which integrates perfectly with their accounts preparation.

I wouldn't touch Taxcalc for tax returns with bargepole after last years new release.  Far too many bugs and glitches and loss of funtionality from earlier versions.  Upto last year, it was the recommended tax return software but has not lost it's place with taxfiler seemingly the popular choice for small/new practices now.

So,

Book-keeping/Accounts = VT

Payroll = Moneysoft

Tax = Taxfiler

As said above, Sage isn't the best, so why pay more for it just because you can?  You'll end up spending more time trying to get it to work.  How valuable is your time?

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By Wanderer
02nd May 2014 09:25

Personally have been using TaxCalc sine 1996/1997, didn't have a problem at all with last year's release & don't recognise the problems that Ken refers to.

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Replying to James909:
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By Ken Howard
02nd May 2014 13:17

I had taxcalc on speed-dial

Wanderer wrote:

Personally have been using TaxCalc sine 1996/1997, didn't have a problem at all with last year's release & don't recognise the problems that Ken refers to.

They scrapped the datamine facility without putting any replacement in place.

Multiple errors/bugs within the "what if" planner, some of which could have landed me with a negligence claim if I hadn't spotted them, such as not giving the right tax relief for pension contributions or tax efficient investments.  Accurate info is essential when you're doing tax planning work with clients and after the first few foul ups came to light, I decided to write my own spreadsheet as I couldn't trust it.

Multiple errors/bugs throughout the return - just look at their update notes.

Database if far slower to load and navigate around than the old stand alone version, more database loading errors, etc.

Basically, for many years until 2013, I don't think I ever had to phone or email them for support or to advise them of bugs more than a couple of times.  Last year, I had them on speed dial and I have literally dozens of emails between us.

At the end of the day, they took their eye off the ball and didn't do the necessary quality testing on the 2013 version.

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By MissAccounting
02nd May 2014 09:59

Bin the idea of Sage full stop, absolutely useless software!  Go with VT for bookkeeping/final accounts and Moneysoft for payroll.

I would previously have said BTC for the tax but having agreed my renewal price they then sent me a subsequent email to say sorry we got your price wrong and its gone up by 10% now from next month.  Seems a classic case of build up a userbase, get them locked in and hike up the price.  Very Sage/Iris attitude!

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By pauljgoodman
02nd May 2014 10:01

new practice software

I've used Taxcalc since the 2009 filing season, and although the 2013 release was quite a change, I have grown completely used to it, and I haven't encountered any problems with it either.

VT Transaction+ is really good for bookkeeping, especially when you can get clients to email you their bank transactions, because you can copy these into VT+ and cut down the time spent in that area. 

 

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By Sherman Holter
02nd May 2014 10:02

Taxfiler for Tax

Taxfiler is the rising star at the moment, and seemingly deservedly so.

However, you need to be aware that it is a cloud option and that may not be your bag.

 

 

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By Kevin8585
02nd May 2014 17:46

Dear All,

 

Thank you for the suggestions.

 

I am taking your suggestions and dropping sage and replacing it with moneysoft and VT

 

I am very grateful for all your advise.

 

Kind Regards 

Kev

 

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By Tomazaan
06th May 2014 12:00

HMRC's own tax products

If you are in business, I think you should never use HMRC's own tax filing products.  They cost too much in lost time.

I am a fan of TaxCalc and love their new interface - but clearly not all do.

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By carnmores
06th May 2014 12:09

utter rubbish

HMRC's self assesment program is fine in almost all cases and we use it as our default and try and get everyone on it if at all possible. CT I grant you is a different matter

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By bharathathi
07th May 2014 19:45

Practice Software

 

Book keeping     Clear Books, clound accounting software - best move i have made

Payroll               Moneysoft without a doubt, dont ever go for sage just rubbish

Final Accounts, Tax, Corp Tax, Co Sec and Practice Manager - DIGITA 

 

cant go wrong with the above

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