Business returns on PCs - tax programs for personal computers - evaluation

Nation's Business, April, 1990 by Laura Lou Meadows

Throughout the CPAid programs, I could often invoke cross references that tell me where numbers in a calculated cell come from or where the program will carry my entries. For the professional who wants to turn over data entry to a data processor without a tax background, CPAid can turn on its "field entry" mode, analogous to using service-bureau forms. Then, the fingers at the keyboard match up the block numbers of a handwritten entry with the block numbers on the screen. When all the entries are in, the diagnostic feature lists a brief page of key totals. I would have preferred a more perceptive list of what things my fundamental circumstances required that I had not completed.

Most arithmetic operations within a single screen are instaneous. The few done on command were completed in 10 seconds or less in my 286 IBM-compatible computer. Of course, like all full-featured programs, the more it does, the steeper the learning curve. Even the basics are more complicated when there are many bells and whistles.

CPAid, C Corporate 1120 program, S Corporation 1120S program, and Partnership 1065 program: $500 for one program, $750 for two, and $300 for all three. Requires 512K IBM or compatible, DOS 3.0 or higher, hard disk. CPAid Inc., 1061 Fraternity Circle, Kent, Ohio 44240; (216) 678-9015. For replicas of all tax forms with laser driver, Center Piece Accounting & Tax Font Cartridge, $239.

Turbo Tax

ChipSoft's TurboTax 1120-1120S and TurboTax 1065 operate much like its excellent best-selling personal 1040 program. Most information is entered directly onto screens resembling the IRS forms. The F1 help screens will offer a phrase or a few sentences of guidance for each form or schedule. Where the screen shows a protected cell, the F7 cross reference tells you where Turbo-Tax wants the number entered. Then the screen will show you which lines on a K-1 have been computed as a special allocation so you can easily keep track.

If you try to enter data that is outside the allowable range of statutory limits on tax items, the program gives you a message that the field should not exceed a stated value.

For such things as shareholder or partner Schedule K-1 allocations, there are worksheets, some with their own menus, that operate smoothly and automatically for proportional or special allocations.

The TurboTax depreciation working-sheet is one of the most comprehensive and easy-to-use of the corporate and partnership programs. It puts a series of questions in a window, one at a time, then posts tha answers in a second window where you can tab back to make a change. TurboTax calculates the depreciation on the worksheet, carries it to the proper schedule, and with a touch of Alt-Z it shows a page with the asset's life history.

The client-billing feature works in either of two ways. You can fill in dollar amounts for each form on a list of all the forms and schedules that the program prepares and have them added up in the client letter. In the second option, a clock in the program will tote up the time spent working in this client's file, multiply it by the hourly rate you've prescribed for your services, and put the total into the client letter.