Last week Thomson Creative Solutions quietly released UltraTax 1040 Portals as part the Web Services family. The Portals allow firms to provide their 1040 clients with a private, secure portal to complete their tax organizers and access an electronic copy of their completed tax returns. Clients access their UltraTax 1040 Portal directly from the accountant’s website. The concept has been around for several years and this recent announcement is more marketing than technology. The new packaging recognizes that, for most firms, the idea of paying a recurring monthly fee on a per-client basis just to provide secure 24 by 7 availablility of a PDF of a tax return simply isn't palatable. The early-adopter crowd in the CSI camp was very excited about portals in general --- but the "every client" cost (and related management issues) had most of them slowing down. Always well-tuned to customer thought-leaders, CSI quickly stripped down the full portal to a "tax return only model", combined it with their previously released Web Organizer, and began taking orders on an "all-you-can-eat for $1,000" basis.
“UltraTax 1040 Portals were developed in response to firms that understand the value of private portals for their clients, but did not want the administrative work and expense of setting up a full portal system for once-a-year 1040 clients,” said Jon Baron, Executive Vice President, Professional Accounting Markets,Thomson Tax & Accounting, and President and CEO of Creative Solutions. Baron goes on to say (wisely, I might add) "... advanced online service also continues to strengthen the accountant-client relationship and positions the firm as a technology leader.”
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Note to the wise --- if you're an UltraTax user this is a service you most certainly want to look at. Great way to move your clients into your future paperless office!
