UltraTax gives me a half-hearted alternative.

On April 29, I heard from my UT sales rep with an alternative offer. When they first reached out a week earlier, I told them I was alarmed at the steep jump in my contract, and I was actively shopping for alternatives. Do you think they expressed any concern or remorse?

They reviewed my account and based on my volume, they reduced the "unlimited" tax return types and shifted more into per-return-pricing (PRP) for an overall discounted package.

Their new limited package offer was $7,578! But hang on...

I would have PRP fees for tax returns previously included in my package. I had to request the PRP rates, since those weren't disclosed in the offer email.

Accounting for PRP pricing on previously unlimited tax returns, the actual comparative cost is $12,705. Still better than $18k, now only a 51.3% increase in cost.

This is after $9,440 in discounts that phase out over two years and an annual cost increase of 6-8%. I'd be looking at about $18.6k in costs next year, and $23.7k the year after that.

Over a $15k increase in my UT costs over the next three years. For software that isn't any better.

I know that I'm a very small fish in a very big pond, so no sales rep has to care too much about my contract. But this rep didn't express any concern about me shopping around, any desire to find a solution, and only offered a meeting after repeated emails to clarify details about PRP fees and discounts.

This guy is not trying hard, and I'm starting to fill my dance card with competitors.