TaxCalc Price Increase

Great price, does the job, excellent customer support.

If you're price conscious, it's a really good way to go.

We've been using it for 3 or 4 years now with no complaints.

I'm sure it's not as all-singing-all-dancing as Digita, PTP etc but it does the job, the reporting function for 2008-09 was much improved on prior years (emails PDFs of tax return and taxcomp to clients) and it's a very reasonable price. I do recommend it :)

I have found ftax to be good for individuals and partnerships.  I haven't had much experience with other packages but chose ftax a couple of years ago after seeing reviews here.

It is fairly basic in that you type the data in to a pdf version of the return, but it seems to do the job well enough for me.  I also use VT accounts which will send the data to ftax for sole traders which is useful.

I only have a few corporation tax clients so use the HMRC software for those.

I do sometimes wonder if I should be spending more money on something more sophisticated but it does the job for me.

 Hi, I too will be looking around to see what other software is out there.  As a Tax Calc user since 2005 I am disappointed at the price increases since then.  Back in 2006 I paid £175.00 + VAT for the Pro Suite and today am being asked to pay £400.00 + VAT a difference of £225.00 + VAT!

The software is excellent and very easy to use but the latest increase does leave a bad taste in your mouth!!

Am currently using Digita for accounts production, which I find great so am going to look at their tax software which would integrate everything.

I would ask Tax Calc to review their price increase for long term users who put their faith in them when they when they started out!!!

How can Digita not give you a price?

They may not give you a price if you are just fishing but if you show you are seriously looking I am sure they will give you a price. I don't find their product expensive and it depends on the number of users and the number of clients. The first year is the most expensive because you buy the product and future years it's just the subscription you pay for. For next year I expect to have all their products and be paying about £2.5k to £3k and I am a small user but I wouldn't be able to service half the clients without their products.

You really need to think about integrated software if you are preparing accounts for companies as well as individual tax returns. 

Last year we paid £325 plus vat (after £50 2008 user discount) - this year we are paying £375 plus vat (after £25 2009 user discount)

This is an increase of approx 15.4% - still worth it in our opinion.

We don't take up the dividend option, as this info can be found on various free websites.

We like the product and the support is second to none! (Just put that in cos I know they monitor this site - you're welcome!)

Lisa

have a look at Forbes.  Every two-three years we look around and then return.  The price is the same as last year and the year before and....

David Forbes must work on the volume principle.

Dear All

Thank you for your postings regarding TaxCalc;  I’d welcome the opportunity to clarify our price increase.
 
The increase this year for any professional product is £25.00; following exploration this appears to be one of the lowest increases in the market, moreover this follows a price freeze in 2008 and 2009.

Regardless of increasing development costs to us and the investment made in new functionality we have kept our prices static and not raised year on year.  This would have been an option open to us but we decided to support our users by retaining the existing price level for two years; the software has then been increased by £25.00 only.
 
There are specific discounts available under certain circumstances which I believe two of the Anonymous posters are referring to; if you could please take the opportunity to call the team (as suggested by another poster) you will find that discounts are still being offered under these instances although not necessarily at the previous level.
 
As I am sure you can appreciate we ensure that we are one of, if not the most competitive providers for the multi-user, unlimited returns we offer and even with the increase this remains the case.
 
Should you have any queries I would appreciate you calling us directly.
 
 
Anne Porter
Brand Director
 
anne.porter@taxcalc.com
0118 936 4837

TaxCalc has never caused any problems for us apart from some teething problems when Acorah initially took over. It's the best value standalone tax package for smaller practices who don't need an integrated suite. We will be reupping this year.

Bit of a prickly reply from Taxcalc I thought, and they've always seemed so nice on the phone!

Will be sticking with them though - good price and good service.  You lot made me panic with your £400 comments - I only paid £275 last year, just checked though and the version I use is now £300, still a bargain compared to the likes of Sage, CCH etc.

Hi Julie

Apologies if the response seemed prickly, that certainly wasn't the intention.  We simply wanted to ensure that it was clear that there wasn't an astronomical increase and also to ensure everyone knew we were here to discuss any specific queries or concerns.

And yes, we are nice - honestly - our Mum's tell us so every day.

Kind regards

Anne

Anne's reply wasn't prickly.

I don't see why they shouldn't make whatever prices increases they want. If you don't like them you change.

I accept that you don't want to be swapping supplier every year but as long as you take a long term view it's fine.

I was with Drummohr for several years who were slightly more expensive than Taxcalc and kept increasing their prices year on year.  I only left them because they were taken over and I wanted to make alternative arrangements rather than risk being forced to upgrade to their purchaser's far more expensive system in years to come.  I moved to Taxcalc and have never looked back.  The program and support are every bit as good, all for a fair reduction in annual cost.  I'm more than happy to pay this kind of annual price increase imposed by Taxcalc as it's still cheaper than their competition.  I'd only move away if the price increases started getting ridiculous or if the product or support deteriorated.  For such a small amount of money, for one of the cheapest/best packages, I think a lot of the posters are complaining about nothing.  If you really want something to complain about, try paying for the bigger firms, such as Sage, Iris and Digita, and "enjoy" their support, which is often fairly poor.

I WILL BE LOOKING AT TAXCALC IN MORE DETAIL TO ASSESS ITS EXCECELLENT REVIEWS - YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR - I USE DIGITA AT PRESENT - EXCELLENT PROGRAMME AND FIRST CLASS SUPPORT.

David, I've just checked the TaxCalc site. The Pro package costs £300 + VAT (compared to £275 + VAT last year), but the Pro Suite package costs £400 + VAT (compared to £375 + VAT last year). Thus as Anne Porter says there has been a £25 increase which seems reasonable.

The difference between the two packages is that Pro Suite also includes corporation tax returns.

If you want to include Trusts returns yoo need to add a further £100 + VAT to the above prices.

Hope this clears things up.

Can the poster who tried TaxCalc, but prefers Digita explain why he thinks Digita is better?

Digita is expensive, and there are several hidden costs that they do not tell you about until you have bought the product.

Backups are difficult with Digita as there is no individual data file for each client. You have to back up a huge database every time. I understand this is because their products all use MSSQL.  MSSQL itself can be a bit of a pain too; very resource-hungry. Don't try and use Skype when you have a Digita product open.

I find Digita products very unintuitive and difficult to use, although they do seem to do everything required (if you pay for all the extras).

The main reason I like Digita is that it saves me a lot of time in preparing accounts and tax returns.

I don’t consider Digita expensive. You pay to buy the software and also an annual subscription. The prices are based on the number of users and clients so you can start quite cheaply. I don’t know about any hidden costs unless you mean extras like dividends feeds.

I’ve not had problems with Digita backups. Digita provides a backup tool which backups and restores with the minimum of effort.

When I first got the software I didn’t know where to start and there was no manual. I phoned technical support and was walked through a tax return in half an hour. After a few years of using Digita products I can prepare a tax return or set of company accounts in a fraction of the time it took me previously.

Digita have recently brought out improvements to their practice management software and a new product called FileCabinet which helps with managing documents especially if you want to go paperless. Digita software is much more useful when the software is integrated together.

It’s not easy to judge a product without using it for a period of time but after several years of using Digita software I am very happy with it.

I should have been clearer about the Digita backup problem.

I backup my data both remotely (online) and locally.  To backup your average non-Digita data file online, I merely have to add it to the backup set of my backup software, and it does it automatically every night. With Digita I cannot do this as there is no identifiable data file.  To get round this problem, Digita supply an additional bit of software which has to be configured to produce a data file which I then need to add to my backup set for online backups.

To configure the software to do this automatically, you need to log a call to their tech support line to do it for you. They then call you back and when they get hold of you, they log in to your PC and do it for you. This in itself is a lot more hassle than just adding a data file to the backup set of your backup software.

If you ever get a new machine, or have to do a reinstall, you h ave to remember to call Digita to set this up all over again and, apart from the hassle, there is a real danger of forgetting (something you really do not want to do with backups).

Also, the files created by the Digita backup tool seem to be enormous and take a long time to back up on line.

Their tech support team are very good and very friendly and helpful, but I find the whole system a lot of hassle and it runs the risk of backups being forgotten.

I have tried to be as specific as possible in my comments, but I notice some of the comments here just say "I recommend product X because it is really good, and better than product Y". If your recommendation is really based on any sort of useful comparison, you should be able to say why, with specific reference to functionality, ease of use or problems with the other piece of software.

I don't understand the problems you are having with backup.

You can schedule Digita to backup to a specific folder and you should be able to do any online backup from a specific folder. Why does Digita technical support need to get involved in that simple scenario?

It is the scheduling that is difficult.  It might be straightforward for you Peter, but not for me. 

There's a schedule button for the Digita backup. Are you able to click that button?

Rather than select a different file each time you want to do an online backup if you select a folder once then you wont have to do anything else.

If your online backup doesn't allow you to backup folders or you don't know how to do it I would say that you shouldn't be blaming Digita.

I'd used TaxCalc. For accounts production I'd used a combination of Excel and Word.

Before deciding on Digita I looked at various websites and brochures and I went to seminars for Digita and IRIS.

I am sure you are right and I am just too stupid to use the product properly.  However, there are many products which are user-friendly enough even for an idiot like me. I just find Digita products difficult to use, and the backup issue is one of the problems I have. I am not blaming them; simply making an observation.

By the way, what specifically is it about Digita that makes you prefer it to other products, such as TaxCalc?

“I am sure you are right and I am just too stupid to use the product properly.  However, there are many products which are user-friendly enough even for an idiot like me.”

I’m not saying you are an idiot. What I am saying is that your comment doesn’t make sense. You say that because you have a new Digita backup file you can’t back it up online without the involvement of Digita technical support. Surely every day you must be creating new files. Do you have to get somebody else involved to enable you to backup online every individual file? You must have a rubbish online backup system if you can’t specify which disk or folders to backup.

“I just find Digita products difficult to use,”

In what way?

“and the backup issue is one of the problems I have.”

I think I’ve made it clear that the problem lies with your online backup or your use of it rather than Digita. I use Digita’s backup tool and I use another backup and I have not needed the involvement of Digita’s technical support – or even myself – all the backups are done automatically.

“I am not blaming them; simply making an observation.”

I hope I have shown you how the observation is not Digita specific but your backup specific!

“By the way, what specifically is it about Digita that makes you prefer it to other products, such as TaxCalc?”

The way you say that it’s like you want me to say I prefer their payments on account dialogue box or something!

It fundamentally comes down to their products being easy to use. It doesn’t take long to get the information into the software and the reports are usefully and easily saved. Their programs work well together and are compatible with a paperless office.

I am sorry Peter, I did not mean to offend you. You are obviously very fond of Digita, and it obviously works very well for you.

I also apologise for the question regarding specifically what you preferred about Digita to TaxCalc. I was merely trying to get some useful information with which I could compare the two products. No offence was intended.

You will find that you need to try both products to compare them. Unless one just doesn’t work properly it’s not like you can just list what’s better.

Ask Digita for a demonstration and see what you think.

They have integrated products which saves an incredible amount of time.

 http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/technology/tim-good-returns-absolute-accounting/409772

I moved from keytime (for personal and partnership tax and corporation tax) and PTP (for final accounts) to digita two years ago.

Initially i found it quite hard to get use to the digita concept, and not having a manual is a little awkward, the help screen are good but when you just want to get going they can be to detailed.

But speaking to their excellent support people i very quickly picked up the very sound methodoloy behind the digita suite.  I now would not use anything else.  The practice management software is the central data base holding all of the client details and all other suites (tax, CT and final accounts) all work from here.

I work in a more systematic way, with everything integrated, i have definatly become much more productive. The time invested in my first year with digita was well worth it and subsequent years have become much easier.

In the first year you do pay for the software and the licence fee and in subsequent years you just pay the licience so it is not too bad.  For what you get it is by far the best value for money, i can totally depend on the software and the support is just outstanding.

Bharat, BdH Chartered Certified Accountants.