New version of tax calc - what do you think?

New version of tax calc - what do you think?

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Downloaded this late Friday afternoon & wish I hadn't ! Don't like new user interface , lots of the old functions appear to have been changed . Have to roll on each tax return individually can't set up all in one hit , can't see number of returns in progress/ filed etc at a glance anymore . Could have done without the time I will have to spend learning to generate tasks/reports etc . Only use tax calc not planning on buying the other software on offer so dont really need database System , it was fine as it was . Rant over ! How is everyone else getting on ?

Replies (69)

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By ShirleyM
05th Apr 2013 21:41

I'm holding back

I spotted several things on the website that I wasn't sure about, so I held back from renewing. I will trial it before buying this year.

I messaged TaxCalc, and to their credit they contacted me immediately and explained the changes, but I'm not sure I will like the new version. The tax software cannot be used without the Practice Management, and backup is done as a whole, rather than individual files. It also uses SQL, which means we cannot store the data on our NAS drive and have real time backup.

I will trial it, but that's as far as I will commit myself for now.

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
05th Apr 2013 21:58

:(

Exactly same initial reaction.

Looks horrid to me, just messing about with it myself.

It looks like there is going to be lots of clunky crap in the way of just doing a tax return. 

Very depressing 

Log in? Why? Waste of time. 

Seperating client set up and doing a tax return, why?

Cant even search for existing tax returns using windows, why?

have to give clients a "code"? Why? Yet another complication. 

We have our own (very simple) client management systems in place, and don't need a barrier.  if I wanted to buy an integrated package I would have - I dont I just want something to file tax returns with that is QUICK and SIMPLE to use. 

So far this just seems to be trying to plug their accounting software which I am afraid was clunky and crap last time I looked. 

I really hope this is not excellent software ruined. 

 

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By Whinger
06th Apr 2013 09:24

.
Ah. I too am holding back.

When you say it uses SQL does that mean you have to install a server and all complicated? Or will it work on a simple windows system. .?

And what other options are out there in this rough price bracket? I tried ftax for couple years but it was not my cup of tea.

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By Viv100
06th Apr 2013 09:33

Quite like bits of it

I quite like the interface.  I'm not bothered (yet, anyway) by going through the hub to do a tax return.  I quite like having client codes, because I use them anyway.  I've decided to move away from Sage Act for PM, so I am looking for a replacement.

TaxCalc hub still doesn't go quite far enough (although it is a good step in the right direction and was better than the trial version I tried a couple of months ago).  I'd like to be able to add "custom fields" to the client records. (For example, record if they have a P11D dispensation, and if so, what for.  And to record important "standing notes" about the client).

On the other hand, I like the idea of "tasks" so far - will have to trial that one a bit more.  Is there a way of adding "custom" task "types"? (I can't see a way, though)

Having to log in doesn't bother me.  In fact, I was quite pleasantly surprised to be able to restrict particular clients (I have just taken on someone for a 3-6mth contract, but she is a relative of a client and I didn't want her to be able to access that client's records).

I'm not sure what the consequences of saving a client tax return "in the database", as opposed to individual client folders (as I do now) will be.  I wish they had explained that more fully in the "help" documentation.

I like the mail-merge feature for engagement letters (as, although I have mine all templated, I never got round to mail-merge or automating them a bit more).

I haven't got AccountsProduction, but I'd be interested to know if it's now possible to import a TB rather than having to re-key it into TaxCalc. (which seemed ridiculous in AP software)

I quite like that they are integrating their tax & AP, there is a definite gap in the market for affordable integrated software.  Although I hope Taxcalc won't suddenly push the price up in two years..

A major part of why I stayed with VT for AP was because of their fabulous price for unlimited clients.

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By jaybee661
06th Apr 2013 09:56

,,, interesting stuff...

... it would be nice for the comments to keep coming as I was seriously thinking about using the software for my PM (and obviously my tax returns)... have heard mixed reports about the Accounts Production but I guess, with VT around, it does have a lot to live up to... if anyone else has bought/tried the software I would be very interested...

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By ShirleyM
06th Apr 2013 10:10

@Whinger

TaxCalc have assured me that the SQL software will work fine on a PC, and a server is not required. This is hunky-dory if you only have one user, but we have 2 users. We don't link our PC's on a peer-to-peer network, as we use a NAS drive for all shared data and SQL can't be run from a NAS dive. So I am thinking we may have to change our network setup, or restrict access to one PC, which would be a backward step.

I also have concerns about backup, as our backup is a 'set it up then forget it' real-time backup of all the data on our NAS drive. TaxCalc say you have to request backups at the moment, but they are looking to provide a scheduled backup. This is a backward step for me personally as it isn't as good as real-time, where a power failure, or whatever, means you only have to restore the client file you were working on at the time, and this feature was one of the things I loved about TaxCalc.

Personally, I don't particularly want integrated software, as it adds complications that often outweigh the benefits. There are quite a few integrated packages available at reasonable price already. I preferred the simplicity of standalone.

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By Ken Howard
06th Apr 2013 11:06

Argghhhh

Thanks for the warning, I was about to renew (for my 6th year), but have downloaded the trial version instead and hate it - the "hub" for PM is very basic - no user definable data fields is a killer.  As mentioned above, I'm also unhappy about the backup and having to backup the entire database rather than having separate files for each client/return like the old version.  I won't be buying it, so what else is there?  I'm about to get the trial of BTC - anyone have any comments about that?

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By occca
06th Apr 2013 11:49

Trial

I too have just asked for a trial based on this thread.  Not being able to back up individual clients is a deal breaker for me, so if this option has been removed I too will be going elsewhere

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By User deleted
06th Apr 2013 12:01

BTC @ Ken

Ken, I switched from Taxcalc to BTC a couple of years back and love it. It has a nicer feel to it all round and I think (though it could be my imagination) that I'm completing returns faster (particularly CT but SA too). I wouldn't even contemplate switching now unless they whacked the price right up.

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By occca
06th Apr 2013 12:16

Flash Gordon

Can you update individual clients in BTC?

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By ShirleyM
06th Apr 2013 12:20

@occca

TaxCalc have told me that the software has the ability to import/export tax data for individual clients. I will try it out when I get my trial version.

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By occca
06th Apr 2013 12:26

Thank you

Thanks ShirleyM will have a look at the demo then

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By kevinread
06th Apr 2013 13:05
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By occca
06th Apr 2013 13:12

Spoken to support

and looked at the demo.  They have put my mind at rest that the new version will work as we need it to.  Will be sticking with Taxcalc for this year at least

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
06th Apr 2013 14:28

Right, following my big grump last night when what was previously a half hour task too over 2 hours and still didnt work I have had another bash this morning.

First issue was networking the database with my assistants machine.

Mucked about for ages and then noticed TaxCalc to their credit are open today. 

Spoke to a very nice lady who explained in a patient manner I needed another version (groan) which I have now downloaded. There are TWO versions a "network" and "standalone" version.  If you want more than two machines to access the data, you want the network version.

So I have now got that loaded, and to be fair this didnt take long to install. 

While that was happening I discussed the new software and some key points:

1. You can save the data to a file as before rather than a database. This option is when you are  installing. This means the current style cloud backups we run will work. They dont recommend you do this - I imagine there may be issues with the data being used by more than one user at once. 

2. The SQL database will have an auto-backups option in due course. Its currently manual. They know this is an issue.  

3. Once you get passed the crappy interface, good old Tax Calc is still there.

4. Having looked at it the relationships between clients might be useful, so you can relate say a limited company and the two director returns. (Presumably keying savings on addresses etc? not sure yet)

5. No "old style" standalone version available. 

6. The database system looks to be as if it may avoid the issue you used to have with a "long" and "short" period in the same year in terms of finding the thing if the company name was the same (I used to rename, and then get two lots rolled over into the following year)

Still annoyed with it, given they seem to have 'solved' lots of problems I have never had and invented some new ones along  the way, but to be fair the new systems and reports might be useful and tax calc support was excellent as it normally is.

Still wish they left it well alone however!

 

 

 

 

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By dwaccounting
06th Apr 2013 18:57

VT

I'm another fan of VT - I just love the simplicity of the product and the ease with which you can add additional worksheets to store your own working papers within the Excel file. As a sole practitioner it is nice to have a simple product that iI can understand and don't need technical support to maintain.

 

And in response to an earlier comment, although VT is not directly linked to tax package it has a simple two step link which allows you to export data from VT accounts package via clipboard to following tax packages and a couple of other tax packages:

BTC Software - SA Solution

Drummohr Technology - Tax Assistant

Legatio - Ftax

TaxCalc - except TaxCalc Lite

Forbes Computer Systems - ProTax

Objective Tax/Keytime

QMS - SA2000

PTP Software - TaxReturn

 So thank you VT.

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By barrowbakers
07th Apr 2013 16:43

Tax Calc

Like most was a rather surprised by what appeared to be an unusual - to me - and complicated interface BUT after deciding to do a few Tax Returns yesterday (Saturday) encountered no real problems with nearly 20 albeit simpler ones completed.

My initial emails of Friday were answered by email on Saturday and by a very clued up person by the name of Steve on Sunday (!) afternoon - all satisfactorily.

I think we all have to give it time but I do remember when i first used Iris for Accounts production I was also mesmerised!

I have been assured that regular updates in response to queries will be made with the possibility of a regular help factsheet.

Been with Tax Calc since 2004/2005 and always received excellent service.

 

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By Whinger
07th Apr 2013 23:26

Costs
Just wondering this new "client manager" says free, "worth £120" or whatever. I wonder, it'll be free this year, so everyone moves to use it, then next year they'll charge for it. So will tax calc then not work without it? So an instant increase in price of 120£ or whatever next year?

And has anyone tried the "value added system" ? Quite like the idea of the automated mail merge informing clients on tax liability etc..

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By dwaccounting
08th Apr 2013 07:51

I have used value added system, it has a two page questionnaire to send out to clients based on a page of generic questions plus a brief note of items declared on previous year aka employers name; list of dividends and bank interest which I use. The mail merge allows you to tag the amount of tax due from the return into a letter. I don't use the mail merge as I mainly correspond with my clients by e-mail but if you use standard letters it may be useful.

 

Does anyone know how the hub licence will work in future - from initial appearances it looks as though the only way to access your stored tax returns is via the hub and if you don't renew your licence you will no longer be able to access previous years tax returns - is this the case? 

 

Main gripe is the layer of added complexity to accessing the legacy product - the new hub seems to take longer and longer to start up each time I login, which as I don't need these new features is really annoying, in fact it is even more annoying as they have done away with the original dashboard which used to list clients name and status, which I used to use a lot especially in January when I wanted to see at a glance which clients I still needed to "file online to HMRC"!

 

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By ksquire
08th Apr 2013 10:31

taxcalc dashboard

yes  - not happy either about losing the dashboard feature , it was a really useful prompt. 

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By Alex John
08th Apr 2013 12:24

New TaxCalc

Thank you for all your comments and feedback on the latest TaxCalc release. We appreciate knowing your thoughts as this helps us decide where to take the software in the future. We really want to create software you enjoy using, that assists you in producing accurate documents for submission in a timely manner.

Due to the number of comments, I will have to post a few times to address differing concerns.

We appreciate that the new look and feel may come as a surprise to some of you who were perhaps expecting a similar piece of software to 2012. On the other hand, anyone who has used TaxCalc Accounts Productionwill be familiar with the concept of a central place to store clients. One advantage is that the software can now handle multiple tax years, so in the future we will no longer issue a brand new program but simply an update to the already installed application. All your client data and tax returns will be in one place.

TaxCalc does indeed now use an SQL database to store all your client data and tax returns, and when installing TaxCalc this will be set up in the background. You do not need to install any extra software and do not need a separate server. It will work on a simple Windows computer.

We can even now offer a network version, meaning you can have two or more computers running TaxCalc and accessing the same client data and tax returns, without the need to search for files. It avoids duplication of returns, keeps everything up to date and, with the other tools introduced, can help with day-to-day client management.

As has been mentioned, you are able to export tax returns via the Properties box or through the file menu. This allows you to save an individual file external to TaxCalc. We're taking feedback on this and if we can improve upon the process, we most certainly will.

A backup procedure has been built into TaxCalc, allowing you to take a copy of all your client data and tax returns in one go. A reminder can be set so you do not forget to do the backup on a regular basis and we are investigating the implementation of an automated backup system to take this one step further.

TaxCalc should now be faster to access than TaxCalc 2012, so if your system does seem particularly slow, please get in touch with our Support team.

Kind Regards

Alex John

TaxCalc Product Manager

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By Alex John
08th Apr 2013 12:48

New TaxCalc - Part 2

Moving onto certain features mentioned above…

All your clients and their 2012 tax returns are imported into the new software and can be viewed (and even filed if necessary) without opening TaxCalc 2012. This also populates the Client Hub with their static data, for example, names and addresses. This means you can use this data with our new Practice Management features – such as within the Mail Merge facility and when completing other HMRC forms for those clients – all without re-entering their basic details.

To move forward and create a 2013 tax return, open Tax Return Production and select the relevant client, then opt for New Return. You will automatically be offered to import from 2012. This is done on a client by client basis, allowing you to start the client’s tax return when you are ready – the status is correctly allocated as Not Started until you create the 2013 tax return. This also means that you only start 2013 tax returns for active clients (and not just everyone on your Client Hub).

At present you must log in to use TaxCalc. This was included for security – to ensure that should someone gain access to your computer, they would not be able to gain access to your client data without challenge. Based on feedback, we are exploring an option to turn this security feature off.

Along with the new central place to store clients, each client now also requires a unique client code. This is an alphanumeric code and can be in your chosen format.This is useful for searching clients and matching clients to their physical files. The automatic client codes created on import can be altered if you would prefer an alternative format. Again, we are investigating a process to simplify this for those who would not regularly need to use client codes.

You may have been familiar with the previous TaxCalc home screen, where you could view the current status of all your clients. While not apparent now, this is something we are currently building into the software via Report Manager. This will generate a customisable report (or multiple reports) capable of displaying multiple clients tax return statuses. We are also designing a way to view this information quickly from the Client Hub.

Kind Regards

Alex John

TaxCalc Product Manager

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By Alex John
08th Apr 2013 13:11

New TaxCalc - Part 3, the Final

At TaxCalc we remain committed to offering cost effective software, whatever the size of your practice – hence our recent introduction of the TaxCalc Pro Micro Practice product, which is perfect for start-ups or those winding down. We have alsokept the price for the Unlimited Pro products the same since 2009. Now we have a central place to store client details, we will be able to add other optional and cost effective modules that can draw from the same database – therefore, please let us know what else you would like to see in TaxCalc!

The new Practice Management features of Mail Merge, Tasks & Reminders and Reporting have been included in the Hub for free… and we will keep those features free in the future and will not charge for them. Provided you continue to keep the data in your Client Hub up to date, you can continue to use those features – even if your licence for TaxCalc expires. In future years, if you do let your TaxCalc licence lapse you will of course still be able to view and print your client tax returns as necessary.

Since TaxCalc Accounts Production was released 18 months ago we have continued to enhance it (along with the Client Hub), adding a large number of features based on user feedback. This is by no means the end – we aim to continue implementing suggested improvements. Features such as custom fields in the Client Hub are certainly worth investigating.

We aim to release updates to TaxCalc introducing optional logins, more information about your clients tax returns at your fingertips, along with other features over the coming weeks and we will continue to monitor feedback we receive to shape the future of TaxCalc for further updates over the next few months and into the future. So, please let us know of any ideas you have! Our Support team are available as always or alternatively you can address any concerns directly with me via PM and I'll be happy to get in contact.

Kind Regards

Alex John

TaxCalc Product Manager

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By Whinger
09th Apr 2013 11:13

.
Downloaded the trial last night. It's ok. Not mad about the look (I really liked the old one - really quick and easy to search and list), but it's alright. Tried a mailmerge to see how it would prepare the information request to send to clients coz that feature looks great. Didn't work - said would save to desktop but didn't. Hey ho. Probably me done something wrong.

My trial did import every return from 2012. I opened and did one for this year and it seemed to bring all the data ok so saved time re-keying. Didn't try to file as I guess you can't file with a trial version.

Once you're past the front end it's basically the same taxcalc in there, all be it in different colours.

I'm using on a MAC Pro laptop running parallels and windows XP. Seems to work fine. I was worried as some software requires a newer Windows version but I like XP as it's stable and simple. Tax calc is the only software I use on windows now.

Starting it up and getting it running is no slower than 2012.

I don't really understand the question on set up "Do you want to store the data in the database (recommended) or not". I don't mind really. Why is that an issue? However I used to keep the files in a dropbox folder for offsite backup, so perhaps I need to understand more about the database question.

As for the hub, if you're using the taxcalc accounts production products then I can see it, but it's way too expensive when you think how good VT is.

There you go. There's my four-penneth.

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By anurbhai
09th Apr 2013 11:34

TaxCalc

Found a big annoying bug, basically when you click on a client from the Client Hub and go on the option to create a new return for that client, it opens up a screen to send a return for a completely different client which is annoying. To divert this problem I just go straight to the Tax Return Option on the home screen but a bit annoying when it is a brand new client...

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By Kate@taxcalc
09th Apr 2013 11:52

@anurbhai

Hi Anurbhal

 

The set of circumstances that you describe isn't something that we've seen before. The Client Hub has been in the market for about 18 months now and before we launched this year's software, we put it through a very intensive testing and quality control programme.

We will look into this with immediate effect. I would appreciate if you could private message me with contact details, so we can obtain more information about what you're seeing.

Kind regards

Kate Ebdon-Poole

Marketing

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By ksquire
09th Apr 2013 13:11

year end questionaires

i ran these and the client surname did not pull through , not sure what i did wrong . have reported  it to support.

 

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By BigBadWolf
10th Apr 2013 01:09

not working

Just downloaded it ....and when I click on tax returns .. it tells me I have not purchased the product ... when I clearly have!

 

Not a good start

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By Kate@taxcalc
10th Apr 2013 09:17

 TaxCalc

 

@BigBadWolf

Good morning,

I am sorry to hear you have been having difficulties accessing the program, please PM me your contact details and I will get this sorted for you at once.

Best wishes

Kate Ebdon-Poole

TaxCalc

Marketing

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Replying to stepurhan:
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By BigBadWolf
12th Apr 2013 10:01

@Kate

<a href="mailto:Kate@taxcalc">Kate@taxcalc</a> wrote:

 

@BigBadWolf

Good morning,

I am sorry to hear you have been having difficulties accessing the program, please PM me your contact details and I will get this sorted for you at once.

Best wishes

Kate Ebdon-Poole

TaxCalc

Marketing

 

Hi Kate, The problem seems to have sorted itself out overnight,

 

Thanks

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
10th Apr 2013 09:26

.

Now done our first batch of returns.

Good things:  1. It is certainly quicker than before once you are into the program proper there is no delay at all between screens

2. Tax calc is looking cripser and cleaner in terms of colours and layout and the reason we are battling with the interface has not been ruined. Phew!

 

Bugs:

1. I get 3 comma's in box 12  TR6, "nominees address" despite trying our best to remove this field. 

2. it is reporting this auto-generated client code in box 18 TR7 to HMRC.  We don't use client codes and really dont want HMRC to start quoting things we don't use on paperwork. This should be optional as a global setting.  UTR is unique after all....lets not go creating new codes for the sake of it, especially in public. For a company it can be the company registration number which will cover both tax calc and the accounts production if you for some reason want to use it. 

3. If you log out by simply closing the software you are still logged in and this blocks the same user logging back in - even on the same machine.  This means if you dont log out formally you then have to log in as an administrator and log the person out!!!!  Given we go in and out of this software a number of times in a day this is a grade 1 PIA and goodness knows what happens if you do this with the admin, I imagine a call to support....

 

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By Kate@taxcalc
10th Apr 2013 09:49

@ireallyshouldknow

Good morning,

I have informed the development team of the issues you have raised which we will look into with immediate effect. 

I would appreciate if you could private message me with contact details via AccountingWeb or by email to [email protected] and we will get in touch straight away.

To the community at large we are planning an update to be released within the few working days. If anybody would like to bring anything else to our attention please do feel free to contact me directly using [email protected].

Kind regards

Kate Ebdon-Poole

Marketing

TaxCalc

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Replying to HamishMackrell:
RedFive
By RedFive
10th Apr 2013 11:25

 

 

Good to see immediate feedback from the TaxCalc crew and re-inforces my opinion that they value their customers.

My thoughts are that some new buck has joined the team (from Sage? ha ha ;-)) and decided that sales of Accounts Production are too low so lets combine the interface, re-name Calc to 'Tax Return Production' (a name which nobody uses in the real world), then our users will keep getting subliminal  messages about how much easier it would be to just buy that instead of VT.......

I can live with that, it's the way of the corporate world (which I have never regretted leaving), and in it if you are not changing something then you are deemed to be surplus to requirements, but they need to smooth out the user access, which it sounds like they are doing - eg turn 'log in' access off, and thankfully haven't touched the one great thing about Taxcalc being the 'simplestep' input process.

I still wake up in cold sweats at night having nightmares that Moneysoft and VT have done the same thing and go all 'user friendly'!!!!!

Oh and to the user that mentioned dropbox, I too panicked at the SQL structure, as had all my individual tax calc folders neatly filed and backed up via dropbox, but if you manually force Tax Calc 2013 to backup, it places one albeit large MB file in a place of your choosing, and hence will then be backed up into the cloud automatically for me via dropbox. Each back-up creates a new file, a bit like Sage (!!!!) so it's worth deleting a few old ones once you get going. All I would like to see is this automated on closing exactly as happens with Moneysoft and VT+, and to replace the previous backed-up folder.

Cheers,

Ken

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By Lutondata
10th Apr 2013 12:06

Gloomy

I am an absolute fan of VT, taxcalc and moneysoft.

I can see where taxcalc are going with this.  One client entry and thats it.  Good idea.  But the accounts production is not as user friendly as VT, nor as easy to review.  After all, just look at a trial balance in VT and things are easy to spot.  

The "Practice management is in its infancy and is not a patch on Act! or Glide Software to keep track of things going on.  But I am sure in time they will get up to speed

My main gripe is the gloomy interface.  Its utterly depressing!  The 2011 was a very pleasant font, the 2012 toned down.  But now its like working on a submarine!  Why on earth have they gone to battleship grey?  If I had not already purchased the new year I might have looked around though in fairness to Taxcalc I have not experienced such amazing customer service from anyone else.  So I think it may be a matter of being patient and settling things in.  

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By anurbhai
11th Apr 2013 13:36

I got a call from someone at Taxcalc the same day I posted that comment, set up the network version of TaxCalc which also doesn't have the bug I mentioned before. Absolutely love the new client hub. I've been wanting to make a database just like this but would have taken me weeks. Taxcalc did it automatically for me using last years returns. Fantastic! After speaking to the guy from TaxCalc he did assure me that there will be many more improvements but they just had to rush and post this first edition in time for the new tax year. I think in a few months the software will be fantastic.

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By Whinger
12th Apr 2013 11:46

mail merge

Got the mail merge working for "Client Questionaire" to a degree. It does a generic list of stuff required. But it says it will list the relevant figures from last time, but doesn't.

Also, I thought it would kind of make a letter out of it not just a generic list. Ah well.

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By Alex John
12th Apr 2013 12:25

Dear Whinger,

Please PM me your contact details and I can give you a call to go through Mail Merge and the Client Questionnaire and hopefully find a way to get the documents you require from TaxCalc.

It would be great to discuss your requirements and if there is anything we cannot yet achieve we can consider it for a future release.

Kind Regards

Alex John

TaxCalc Product Manager

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By anonymous82
16th Apr 2013 16:47

accessing data between computers

Hi

 

I have always been with taxcalc but have a massive issue. I create a new client file on my work computer and then when I get home and log into my laptop I can't access the file, Taxcalc will open when I double click the file but it wants to create a new client in the hub and have me re select the file I just clicked on in order to link it.

 

When I navigate to the folder on my computer with the tcs file it says no file found.

 

I am stuck as when I go back to my work desktop I can see the file again, no idea why this is happening but all I want is the standalone tax piece with the ability to open files from any machine.

 

Please help ASAP

 

thanks

 

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By Alex John
16th Apr 2013 18:06

Accessing data between computers

Hi anonymous82,

As mentioned in my other posts, please contact me by sending me a PM and I will give you a call to discuss the various options. I am sure that we can find a suitable solution to work in the way you require.

Kind Regards

Alex John

TaxCalc

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By BigBadWolf
17th Apr 2013 08:41

@ Alex

Alex John_TaxCalc wrote:

Hi anonymous82,

As mentioned in my other posts, please contact me by sending me a PM and I will give you a call to discuss the various options. I am sure that we can find a suitable solution to work in the way you require.

Kind Regards

Alex John

TaxCalc

 

It would be useful if you could share the various options here - as this issue affect a lot of us.

 

 

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Chris M
By mr. mischief
16th Apr 2013 18:39

Baffled by these changes.  It was the simplicity of Taxcalc and the ability to see all returns in one screen - very useful every January because HMRC are so useless they don't do reports where you see which ones are no submitted yet - I really liked.

I'd frankly be amazed if this stuff has been trialled properly with high volume users before being specified, it looks like it was done on the back of a fag packet to me and rushed out.  This has the look to me of a "wrong jungle" project which got behind and was then rushed through.

I've paid for it - there was no warning whatsoever that all these changes were coming or I would seriously have considered going elsewhere.  At the very least an "old style" option should have been available, at this stage I would have paid about 50% less for the new style stuff.

I'll give it a year - after all the tax return production and submission stuff is unchanged.  I've done 20 so far and it's still costing me about 10% extra time compared to last year which is pretty [***] poor really.

if things are much the same this time next year I'll bite the bullet and ditch it.

Thanks (3)
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By anonymous82
16th Apr 2013 18:47

PM

Hi 

 

I have sent you a PM to call me tomorrow please Alex John.

 

I need a solution to this ASAP as otherwise I would look at getting a refund and switching to a simpler solution.

 

Thanks

 

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Replying to lionofludesch:
RedFive
By RedFive
16th Apr 2013 20:26

As per my comments earlier the only way I can see for you to do this is as follows:

On your main PC manually do a backup via TaxCalc settings in the 'hub'. Sync this to the cloud using something like Dropbox, or just stick on a USB stick.

Open TaxCalc on you laptop then find the backup via usb or dropbox etc. Restore file from 'hub'.

This is same process as when running Sage 50 which I do all the time, but have to say is a huge backward step for TaxCalc. All used to sync brilliantly when saved to individual files via Dropbox.

As per other comments above I also miss the home screen glance at what returns I had submitted and what were outstanding. I understand this will be available as a report in the future, but again that sounds like a Sage solution. Just a home screen glance please!

Thanks (1)
Chris M
By mr. mischief
16th Apr 2013 21:03

I detest Sage

So any steps made by Taxcalc in the "let's be like Sage" direction will be a red card issue for me. 

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Replying to rachypachy167:
RedFive
By RedFive
16th Apr 2013 22:19

Agreed

mr. mischief wrote:

So any steps made by Taxcalc in the "let's be like Sage" direction will be a red card issue for me. 

Agreed, see my comments earlier about my view on the Sage-ification of TaxCalc - and on the other thread about this.

Thanks (2)
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By Ken Howard
16th Apr 2013 21:20

Why, oh why can't they let us have the old system

Once you've waded through the database, you finally get to what's effectively the old taxcalc that we know and love.  So why oh why don't they just accept what their users clearly want and let us have the old version directly without having the suffer the database wrapper.  It's madness that they're forcing us to use a database we just don't want.  I'd have thought it would be relatively easy to disentangle the taxcalc and give users the option of whether they want it old style or new style.  Seriously, this could be the beginning of the end for taxcalc.

Thanks (7)
Replying to D V Fields:
RedFive
By RedFive
16th Apr 2013 22:20

Yes please

Ken Howard wrote:

Once you've waded through the database, you finally get to what's effectively the old taxcalc that we know and love.  So why oh why don't they just accept what their users clearly want and let us have the old version directly without having the suffer the database wrapper.  It's madness that they're forcing us to use a database we just don't want.  I'd have thought it would be relatively easy to disentangle the taxcalc and give users the option of whether they want it old style or new style.  Seriously, this could be the beginning of the end for taxcalc.

+1

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By occca
17th Apr 2013 08:12

This year

I am going to give this a go for the current tax year, but if it takes longer, and we are forced to go through the database every time I will certainly be looking into new solutions for next year.

Another that wished there had been some warning on this rather than just finding out from AW

Pretty poor show all round, and whilst I'm all up for improvements, it was the simplicity of Taxcalc that drew us towards it in the first place

 

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Chris M
By mr. mischief
17th Apr 2013 16:49

Very good call

I've just had a very good call from Sam at Taxcalc.  Two main points:

1.  The changes arose from firms on networks and other customer issues, so whilst for some of us appear a step back for other firms should be a step forward.

2.  They are putting in screens for "see which returns are submitted" and working on the other issues we are raising.

Overall whilst up front communication could have been better, I am confident Taxcalc are working hard to sort out the early issues, and believe they will be successful in this.

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By Lutondata
17th Apr 2013 17:24

Database

I just hope after all this upset the database practice management is up to the mark.  If it can tell us which jobs are with who, which clients should be reminded accounts/annual returns are due etc.  then it will be a major step forward.  Lets have some template emails built into the system as well?  If it can replace Act! which isn't really designed for accountants then FANTASTIC! 

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