Alternative to PTP for tax returns

Giving up on PTP and trying new software this tax year

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I've been using PTP for tax returns from before they were taken over by Iris. It used to be good but I gave up on corporation tax with them a couple of years ago & shifted to Andica which I find very basic and don't like much. I only have a small client base - so a few trusts & about 40 personal tax returns to do and PTP has been OK so far but support & updates have got slower & poorer every year. The latest software actually produces at least one duff report and I am still waiting for support to come back on that.

Aiming to try new software for a couple of clients & run it alongside PTP for this tax year (as I've paid for the full year for PTP). Is Taxfiler the recommended one? Does anyone recommend Absolute? Need something reasonably clear for trust returns and want something more helpful than Andica.

 

 

Replies (11)

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By sallycox
02nd May 2019 13:05

I use TaxCalc - I haven't done any Trust returns, but judging by the Personal & CT returns I would imagine it would be fine. The support is very good and they don't keep you hanging on the phone for hours! Fortunately I haven't needed them for ages. I think it's good value too.
Absolute is excellent but a bit pricey. I've used this too in the past and their support is second to none. Tim Good knows just about everything that exists in terms of tax and any company headed by him would be brilliant.
Both offer integrated packages if that aspect is of interest.

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By sallycox
02nd May 2019 13:05

I use TaxCalc - I haven't done any Trust returns, but judging by the Personal & CT returns I would imagine it would be fine. The support is very good and they don't keep you hanging on the phone for hours! Fortunately I haven't needed them for ages. I think it's good value too.
Absolute is excellent but a bit pricey. I've used this too in the past and their support is second to none. Tim Good knows just about everything that exists in terms of tax and any company headed by him would be brilliant.
Both offer integrated packages if that aspect is of interest.

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By adam.arca
02nd May 2019 13:32

I jumped from PTP years ago and went to BTC's SA Solution.

I found the BTC "experience" (at least for the SA product) and data entry in particular to be pretty similar to PTP and there was no great learning curve. Trusts / partnerships come as standard as well unlike PTP (when I left it).

So, if PTP is still pretty similar to the way it was 7 or 8 years ago, you would hopefully find it a pretty low impact change.

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By 0098087
02nd May 2019 13:45

Tax filer £15 + VAT a month. Cloud based. Love it!

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By TessaW
02nd May 2019 13:53

One thing to add is that I am a little nervous about purely cloud-based products as the moment you stop a licence everything appears to vanish. So new client had Xero for payroll & I suggested it was poor & he would be better off with Moneysoft or something else. Xero are supposed to give 2 weeks access after cancellation I think but client didn't advise he had cancelled & by the time I checked everything had vanished - no reports available etc. I do like the fact that I can still just look quickly at the old corporation tax records on PTP. even though I cancelled the licence years ago, without having to find the backed up reports or get the client's file out.

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Replying to TessaW:
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By johnhemming
02nd May 2019 14:27

TessaW wrote:

I am a little nervous about purely cloud-based products as the moment you stop a licence everything appears to vanish.


I would suggest when considering a cloud product that you look at how good the download functions are. It is entirely possible to get a cloud product to download any data in a format that is viewable locally (if they have written the software to enable this). What I do is allow people to download accounts data in an excel file format (xlsx) which means that they can look at it even if not online.

That would prevent you from having a problem when you end a licence as you would be able to have a copy that not only is stored on your own equipment, but also searchable in some way.

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By Kaylee100
02nd May 2019 14:55

We use Forbes and they have a Trust return (I think we pay a little extra for it). We have used Forbes for many years and found them to be reasonable on price.

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By andy.partridge
02nd May 2019 14:55

I was on PTP for 15 years or more. I moved to Taxfiler last year. If I'd known it was 'that' easy to move I would have done it long ago.

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Replying to andy.partridge:
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By JDBENJAMIN
03rd May 2019 13:04

Exactly the same with me. Taxfiler can't be faulted, other than its accounts production detailed P&L descriptions not being editable.

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By Jane S-D
03rd May 2019 09:54

I switched to Absolute from PTP a couple of years ago and wish I'd switched earlier!

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