Convey Compliance Systems, Inc. — 1099Convey Software

From the Oct. 2008 Review of
W-2/1099 Compliance Programs

Convey Compliance offers the 1099Convey Software, a wage and information reporting
system designed for use by accounting professionals or as an in-house corporate
solution. The program offers compliance capabilities for all federal and state
reporting requirements, with customizable report options and the ability to
import from several file types. 1099Convey is offered in the following four
versions: Essential, Essential+, Advantage and Ultimate. The primary differentiator
in these versions is the number of transactions and users supported. All include
the ability to prepare all form 1099s, along with 1098, W-2, W-2G, 941, 5498
and W-9. The Advantage and Ultimate versions add support for B-Notices, while
Ultimate also includes form 1042-S. The base, single-user Essential program,
which supports up to 3,000 transactions per year, costs $495.

Convey also offers several compliance service bureau functions, most notably
through its Taxport Solution. Through this solutions, the vendor automatically
manages all forms compliance and transmittals, including Puerto Rican and Canadian
obligations, and produces and mails all payee statements.

Usability/Navigation – 4 Stars
The primary interface for 1099Convey is actually more of a resizable toolbar
that provides only a few key icons for accessing the tax forms library, reporting
output, and payer and recipient lists, along with a handful of pull-down menus.
A third and final row on the toolbar offers links to forms that have been previously
used in the system.

The program’s payer and recipient centers open within a new, customizable
window that splits the screen to display a list of either payers or recipients
that can be presented by TIN, short name, full name or account, with entity
detail information to the right. The lists also offer basic search functions.
The information screens also provide navigation options for scrolling between
prior and subsequent entities, record duplication and notes features, and access
to printing and Help options. Recipients are not grouped or sortable by employer/payer,
nor are existing forms viewable or accessible from these lists.

Instead, forms are created from the forms library, which opens a data-entry
screen that resembles the form selected and automatically performs calculations
to W-2 withholdings as necessary. A form preview option is also available from
this screen, offering a non-editable view of the actual form that can be printed,
saved as a PDF or e-mailed from within 1099Convey. Data-entry screens include
smart features such as selection lists for EIN and TIN/SSN, which automatically
populates data for these areas, as well as ZIP Code recognition that fills in
city and state. Within the form entry screen, the system also displays a list
of all forms of the same type, with search functions similar to the recipient
and payer lists. Also notable, 1099Convey interfaces with the IRS’ TIN
matching program to help reduce B-Notices.

Reporting & Import/Export Capabilities – 4.5 Stars
The 1099Convey system can print forms and reports to plain or pre-printed paper
and offers the ability to save reports as PDF or Excel files. It can also import
data from Excel, ODBC and ASCII formats and has its own utility for e-mailing
returns and reports. A service bureau option is available for outsourcing filing
and printing and mailing of recipient copies. Reports include batch lists, payer
and recipient lists, summaries, and transmittal reports.

Support for Paperless Transmission – 4.5 Stars
1099Convey offers electronic filing with the IRS and SSA via each agency’s
online system, with a step-by-step guided process to aid users. State reports
can be piggybacked onto federal filings.

Help/Training – 4 Stars
1099Convey includes a traditional index-based Help utility, along with links
to a guided tour of the program and FAQs hosted on the Convey support website.
Technical support is included with the system, while the company also offers
a variety of online training options. Convey also produces a quarterly newsletter
for its customers, highlighting regulatory changes, program updates and other
issues related to year-end compliance.

2008 Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars