2011 Review of Intuit —Tax Research for Lacerte and ProSeries

Intuit - Tax Research for Lacerte & ProSeries
800-200-7599
lacerte.intuit.com/products/tax-research
proseries.intuit.com/products/tax-research 

BEST FIT:
Tax practices currently utilizing the Lacerte or ProSeries tax solutions.

STRENGTHS:

• Powered by Google Enterprise Search Engine helps to find the answer quickly
• All-inclusive pricing with no additional fees for network use or multiple users
• No separate product to load or login to
• Strong Help and support options, including assistance from the Intuit social network tools

POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS:

• Research limited to tax only, with little offering for accounting, auditing, payroll & sales tax
• Little user customization options

From the December 2011 Review of Tax & Accounting Research Systems

Intuit Tax Research for Lacerte and ProSeries is the tax research offering from Intuit and is directly integrated into the Lacerte and ProSeries tax software solutions. Intuit is currently in the process of streamlining its tax solutions, and the tax research integration is designed to save time for users of the vendor’s tax software. With over 1.5 million documents available and a flat pricing structure, the Tax Research product may be of great value to Lacerte and ProSeries users.

BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS - 4.75 Stars
Intuit Tax Research is built directly into the Lacerte and ProSeries tax solutions. The only difference between the two offerings is the respective branding and location of the research screens. For Lacerte users, the research is located on the bottom portion of the screen, while ProSeries users see the research on the right-hand side of the screen. Functionality between the two is no different than as described below.

The research screen is divided into two separate screens, with search on the left and content on the right. The content screen is contextual and changes based on the screen and fields viewed. This functionality will prove invaluable to new staff as the research is pushed to them as they prepare returns.

Intuit Tax Research is designed as an internet-based product housed within a desktop solution. Due to this, the research offering is also offered as a web-based research solution. This allows users of other tax preparation products to still benefit from the value pricing, but without the experience of the direct integration. Intuit Tax Research may be accessed through any modern browser, including those currently offered on mobile devices, with content specifically formatted for smaller screens.

CONTENT - 4.25 Stars
Intuit has partnered with BNA to provide all content for the Intuit Tax Research lineup. The search engine design was crafted by Google search. This results in a rich set of research tools and the ability to search with plain English terms, without the user leaving the tax solution. Over 1.5 million documents are available and include content from the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, Fed and State Court Cases, publications and rulings, state code, regs, and summary for all states as well as BNA analysis.

All searches appear in a separate window divided into three parts. The left part of the screen shows an index with general category listings and the number of search terms contained within each category. The middle part of the screen shows the search results in the Google search style presentation, and the right part of the screen shows search results from the Intuit online forums.

When an article is selected, the article is viewed in an embedded window, and all search results remain intact at the bottom of the article. This removes the need to navigate back and forth between search result screens and articles.

The current content offering is limited to federal and state tax research. One included resource that may prove to be useful is the client letters feature. These letters are preformatted with various tax scenarios and explanations and are ready to send directly to clients.