Handling your company’s taxes is tough. Every tax season, business owners, and account managers go through enormous pressure. They have to juggle their day-to-day operations with tax preparations which can lead to mistakes.
This is probably what generated a demand for tax filing tools in the market. Now, there are thousands of tax preparation and filing software in the market. But, finding the right tool for yourself can be challenging. You can either go straight to industry leaders, such as Drake Tax Software, or you can try your luck with other tools.
In this article, we’ll be doing a Drake tax software review. The information here is based on Drake tax software reviews from managers, business owners, and other users.
What is Drake Tax Software?
Drake Tax Software as the name suggests is a tax management software built for small and medium-scale firms. It’s owned by Drake Software, and it’s helping businesses of all kinds handle their taxes more smoothly.
Drake Tax includes a PPR (Pay-Per-Return) package for businesses that have less than 85 returns annually. The cost of the PPR package is about $345 for 10 returns. When you go through the bundle plan, you’ll have to pay $29.99 per return. If you consume all 85 returns, you can get an unlimited plan.
Drake keeps track of all the PPR returns when you build them. This allows for error prevention. Moreover, the platform has a requirement for SSL verification to open a new return.
Features of Drake Software
- Research Tool
This is probably one of the best features of the Drake Tax Software. You can stay up to date on all the recent tax updates. Users can customize the updates based on relevancy. You can include the websites that you prefer, and you can highlight keywords. You’ll be able to find the research tool on the toolbar.
- Drake Scheduler
The scheduler takes a little burden off the employee’s shoulders. It allows you to schedule appointments, and build custom schedules for yourself and other people who prepare taxes. This makes it easy for you to build multiple appointments for a range of clients.
- Drake Documents
Tax preparation requires a lot of paper document management. But Drake software eases the process by offering a secure store where you can store documents that are important.
Moreover, you get some bells and whistles such as custom document management, integrated email, and data storage.
- Drake Tax Planner
The tax planner is a great feature for anyone using Drake Tax Software. It allows users to plan out the taxes of their clients for the current seasons. It saves time during tax preparation as it streamlines data entry. Drake Tax Planner has some incredible benefits, including
- It helps you understand tax implications related to the disposition of capital assets.
- Makes it easy to update the tax planning sheets of clients, including marital status, dependents, and income change.
- You can compare filing and separate joint to choose suitable filing status.
- Data Backup
A major part of preparing taxes is managing data. You need to make sure there is a backup of your data. This can come in handy when your device malfunctions or something causes your device to shut down in an emergency.
The data backup tool can help you protect days worth of hard work. Moreover, the data restore functionality specifies the exact location of the data you want to restore. You can choose to use manual backup or automatic backup.
Alternatives of Drake Tax Software
- TurboTax
TurboTax is owned by Intuit.Inc. Intuit is more famously known for its beast of accounting software named QuickBooks. If you want a DIY solution for tax preparation, then TurboTax is a great option.
You don’t have to put the effort into understanding complex accounting terms. If you want to do an activity, all you have to do is enter the keyword and you’re sorted.
Usually, you require a laptop or a desktop to fill out the tax form, but TurboTax allows you to do it with a smartphone. All you have to do is click a photo of the W2 form, and it will fill out all the necessary information.
Features of TurboTax:
- 100% accuracy guarantee
- Audit guidance from trained experts
- Audit representation at an additional cost
- Import W2 by clicking a photo
- Discount for military veterans
- Refer a friend and get a $25 gift card
- Vertex
Vertex is another Drake tax software alternative. It’s owned by Vertex Inc. If you don’t know it, then Vertex Inc is an indirect provider of tax software. The company tries to offer reliable tax technology to help businesses.
It can help in multiple ways, it can help in carrying out transactions, staying compliant, and scaling as per their preference.
Features of Vertex:
- Accurate rate calculation
- E-signature PDF returns
- Filing and remitting tax returns
- Managing exemptions
- Xero Tax
Xero Tax is online accounting software with built-in tax filing functionalities. The company’s origins are in Australia, and now it’s expanded to the UK market as well. While Xero is designed specifically for accountants, it works seamlessly with other tools.
Features of Xero:
- Helps in managing personal and corporate taxes smoothly
- Data sharing between books, tax returns, and accounts.
- File and submit taxes online
Pros and Cons of Using Drake Software
| Pros of Drake Tax Software | Cons of Drake Tax Software |
| Affordable software compared to its competitors. | It can be tough to learn and master the tool. |
| Responsive customer service | Limited integrations with third-party tools |
| Easy to use | Cloud access needs hosting |
| Offers practice tax preparation and tax management. | No mobile application |
| Shortcut keys for automating data entry. |
Conclusion – Drake Tax Software Reviews
A tax preparer has to go through tons of problems. Software like Drake Tax help in simplifying the process, eliminating the risk of errors. The endless range of features reduces the workload on the shoulders of your employees.
| Overall Rating |
|
|
SUMMARY
|
4.5
|