Did you know that the federal government collected $1.03 trillion in revenue in the fiscal year 2023 (Source)? This includes payroll taxes, individual income taxes, excise taxes, and corporate income taxes.
As the tax season 2023 has dawned, CPAs and tax professionals have already started adapting ways to manage various tax preparation tasks. With the evolution of their ways of working over the last couple of years, being proactive has become second nature. Since tax practitioners look forward to using the best tax preparation software to work for their clients, they look at the top-rated options available, one of which is ProSystem fx tax software.
Also known as CCH ProSystem fx, it is an all-inclusive on-premise tax software offered by Wolter Kluwer Tax and Accounting. It is loved by tax firms working at different scales because it helps automate the tax process. Its robust tax audit and accounting features make it a popular software among tax professionals. If you look at the reviews and surveys, the 2019 tax software survey voted it to be the best solution for tax firms having a size of 21-100.
While ProSystem fx tax software is desktop software, it can also be hosted on a cloud server with the help of ProSystem hosting solutions. If you have only used tax software in the on-premise environment, you might want to know how the features differ in both cases.
Does ProSystem fx tax software work better in a cloud environment than in a local setup? Let’s find out.
Main Features of ProSystem fx Tax Software
- Tax Form Availability
As a tax professional, you spend a lot of time working on different tax forms and optimizing returns for maximum accuracy. Ideally, you would want all or most of these forms to be accessed easily through the selected tax software. However, that’s not always the case.
With ProSystem fx tax software, you get a plethora of tax forms available at the click of a button. It includes forms for both essential and basic tax requirements and covers tax filing for federal, state, and county taxes.
- Interview Forms and Worksheets
If you consider the convenience of filing tax returns, you will largely benefit from this feature of ProSystem fx tax software. Both worksheets and interview forms can be used to add more convenience to the process of filing tax returns. Particularly with the interview forms, you get the ability to fill in tax information in a well-defined format.
- Multiple Interactive Reports
First, tax preparation is complicated. Second, you cannot avoid but only keep a check on the possible errors in the tax returns. This is where the interactive reports available with ProSystem fx tax software can be of great help. Using these reports, you can look for mistakes or inconsistencies in the returns and make the required corrections. From Diagnostics to Overrides to Estimates, each of these types of reports displays the field in the tax return that needs correction.
You will also be able to access these reports after
- Advanced Return Diagnostics
What if there is a tool to review every crucial decision we make in life? Would you like to access it?
Particularly for tax preparation and return filing, there is a return diagnostics feature as a part of ProSystem fx tax software. Using these diagnostics, you can review and correct tax returns for any missing/incorrect entry of data. You will see a diagnostic code the first digit of which represents the type of error and required correction.
What Changes When You Switch to ProSystem Hosting?
As mentioned above, ProSystem fx tax is an on-premise software that requires local installation before you can access its features. Although it is a feature-rich application, you cannot use it when you are away from the system on which it is hosted. ProSystem fx cloud hosting can help overcome these limitations and take your licensed software to the cloud without compromising its interface or functionalities.
Now, why are more tax professionals migrating their ProSystem fx tax software to the cloud? It is because cloud computing is the next big thing in the market, serves as the lifeblood of many SaaS-based products, and adds convenience to the tax preparation process.
Let’s find out more about what makes ProSystem hosting a better alternative to its local-host setup.
Benefits of ProSystem fx Cloud Hosting
- All-Time ProSystem Access
When you choose to host ProSystem fx tax software on an on-premise IT setup, you can only access it from the office premises. This will certainly act as a restriction hampering work productivity during the mighty tax season. As a solution, switch to ProSystem hosting that will allow you and your team of tax preparers to access the software from anywhere and anytime – whether it is day or night.
The more accessible the software is, the more work you can do to beat stress during the tax season.
- Better Collaboration For Simplified Tax Preparation
If you are expecting easy sharing of tax files while limiting yourself to using local-hosted ProSystem fx tax software, you may not know the harsh truth. When the software is installed on a single system, the data can only be shared via email or through secondary storage devices. But with ProSystem fx cloud hosting, data sharing over the common cloud platform becomes easier.
You can even provide authorised data access to your clients to eliminate multi-versioning and make edits in tax files in real time.
- Reduced IT Efforts
When you host tax software in a local environment, you cannot deny the requirement of a dedicated IT team to manage the on-premise setup. This can also lead to disruption at work because of the possible downtime and financial implications.
On the other hand, hiring a ProSystem fx tax software hosting provider will provide you with round-the-clock IT support for the timely resolution of hosting-related issues. Moreover, their team will also take care of the cloud servers and software upgrades, thus saving time that you can spend on preparing taxes for your clients.
Feeling convinced about deciding to switch to cloud-hosted ProSystem fx software? There’s one more thing you should know about and that is –
What to Look for In a ProSystem Hosting Provider?
Next to knowing the benefits of ProSystem hosting, it is also important for you to compare various cloud hosting providers. It’s crucial to understand what makes one solution provider different and better than others. If you search for information around this subject, it is easy to feel lost within assumptions and myths.
As a thumb rule, check the following things before selecting any ProSystem fx cloud hosting provider:
- Look at the server specifications and add-on compatibility
- Consider the turnaround time related to hosting-related queries and the available modes of communication
- Ask about the security measures deployed to maintain server-level security
- Check the SLA-backed server uptime guarantee to ensure the maximum availability of the software
Do More with ProSystem fx Tax Software Hosting
If you are mostly worried about handling menial tasks, ProSystem fx tax software can automate them to streamline the tax preparation process for you. With worksheets, interview forms, and interactive reports, you can also ensure high accuracy of tax returns. Also, when hosted on the cloud, the software gets the next-level wings to deliver all-time availability and better security as the result. Keep in mind that the right selection of a ProSystem hosting provider can make all the difference.
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