Is the grass greener, or the is the poop just fresh?

Given UltraTax's attempt to rake me over the coals on my software renewal, I had to comparison shop. Let's talk features.

I have ProConnect and AxcessTax as my potential alternatives. Drake didn't make the cut for Oregon reasons. Anything else wasn't at the top of Jason's recommended list.

So what does UT have anyway? What features command their ridiculous premium? I came up with a short list of what I rely on (and a few I wish I had) from UT as part of my process.

There are a handful of these that are particularly critical:

The "Action Required" PDF
A dedicated PDF of 8879s, filing instructions, and payment vouchers. Prints with a click in UT. Gives clients a go-to file for the things that require action (hence the name!).

No one does it quite like UT, but fussing around with print collations in government or custom copies should get me there in the others.

Carry Forward & Pop-Up Notes
As much as I can, I make systems work for me and don't rely on my memory. Enter UT's critical pop-up note feature.

If there's something I absolutely need to be aware of about a client, and must be mindful of as I begin each project, it lives in a note that UT puts in my face every time I open that client. Things like "you overrode this during planning and need to make sure to reset it" or "expense allocations on this rental are going to change because of [reason]."

Sadly, this appears to be a unique feature of UT. ProConnect has notes, and Axcess is TBD, but they aren't in-your-face.

I would need to build new habits and an alternative system for managing my carry-forward notes. Not impossible, and there's plenty of places to put notes. But now do I make sure I see notes?

"To Do" List
Man, this one would suck to lose. UT creates a "To Do" diagnostic list of every input field that had data in the prior year and doesn't have data in the current year. It's a great way to double-check my work for completeness and missing information.

I occasionally find something critical I'm missing, but it's not super often. But it's also an ingrained part of my process that would be hard to replicate anywhere else.

Reviewing two-year comparisons is another tool I use, but that won't always help. What if AGI dropped, and now they're eligible for the student loan interest deduction, but I don't have the 1098? The two-year comp is going to show no change from PY...

Not sure how I would replace this one other than by paging through the PY WP file as part of my process. That just sounds annoying.

Flagging Input Fields
I use this in UT extensively. I flag anything that's an estimate for an extension calc, something I need to come back to, or something that's missing. UT then creates a critical diagnostic list of certain types of flags.

Thankfully, it seems like other platforms also have input field flagging, but not necessarily the diagnostic list to accompany it. This would be another process change to get comfortable with.

Editing Letter Templates
I'm not overly worried about this one, but it's worth mentioning. UT's system for editing letters and filing instructions is absolute ass, but you can do it. It seems like you can in ProConnect too. But not in Axcess.

You can edit client-specific letters in Axcess, but template changes require an add-on or higher-tier package.

Thankfully, I don't tend to mess with these anyway. My feedback is better sent in short wrap-up videos and direct messages from me. The formal language in the software is a backup.

Some of these would be hard to overcome. I've got nearly a decade of ingrained processes and expectations from working in UT, which isn't going to change easily.

Every software sucks in its own way, and we're all just efficient at navigating our particular variety. I'm worried about what I'll lose and what I risk missing as a result. But a new system is just different, not necessarily bad.