Drake Tax Software

I Passed my RTRP Test (PTIN)

2012-03-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it took about 2 months instead of 2 hours, but I finally got my notice that I PASSED my RTRP test (the test associated with PTINs).

I wish I could tell you want I made, but they don't disclose that. All the letter tells me is what the passing range is: at least 350 out of 500 (so basically, if you make better than 70%, you pass).

I thought the result would feel better than it does. I wanted to know if I made an "A" or a "B". I am not satisfied with just a "Pass".

If you want to know your exact score, you have to FAIL. Then they will disclose to you what your score was. That doesn't seem quite right to me.

Anyway, I promised to tell everyone the results of my test, and this is the best I can do. Now, if I just pass the background check, I get to keep my PTIN. I'll let you know the result of that too.

--- Phil

Updated Tax Refund Chart

2012-02-18T05:32:00.000-08:00

Here is another funding chart update (from info provided by our banking partners). If you notice there was another DIP in the funding of returns. The first one was on returns filed between Jan 18th and Jan 22nd. That one has pretty much been cleared up now. The most recent one was caused by the MeF backlog at IRS, and occurred for returns filed between Feb 2nd and Feb 4th. That one has NOT been cleared up yet.

Here is the chart showing that data.

--- Phil

IRS and Mississippi issue delay updates

2012-02-15T11:26:00.001-08:00

The Internal Revenue Service and the Mississippi DOR have both issued updates on their processing delays. I am copying their messages here:

First from Mississippi:
The MS DOR would like to make you aware of issues we are currently experiencing with processing state income tax returns.

Compared to prior years, DOR software is running very slowly on the State of Mississippi's servers. Data coming into our tax system is being received and processed; but, at an extremely slower rate. This has created a backlog of refunds to be issued. Efforts to correct this problem have improved productivity somewhat, but have not alleviated the problem. We are continuing to look for solutions and options.

Additionally, like many other states, we have incorporated additional edits when processing returns. There has been a significant increase in our receipt of fraudulent returns, so many refunds are delayed so that we can review and confirm the accuracy of the refund.

To date we have received more than 300,000 returns and have issued 120,000 refunds. We apologize for any inconvenience that this has created for you. We share your frustration with the delay.

And from the IRS:

Update: We are aware that some taxpayers who have filed electronically and received an acknowledgement from the IRS are concerned when they visit "Where's My Refund" and are told that we have no information regarding their return. This is a temporary situation, and we expect to resolve the matter in a few days. At that time, taxpayers will be able to get an expected refund date when they visit "Where's My Refund."

If a taxpayer received an acknowledgment message that their e-filed tax return has been received, they can be assured that the IRS has the tax return even though "Where's My Refund" does not reflect that. Taxpayers should not call the IRS unless specifically directed by "Where's My Refund," as there is no new information to give them.

We expect the vast majority of tax refunds to continue to be issued within the historical range of 10 to 21 days. The IRS is taking steps to update information so that Where's My Refund has current information. The IRS apologizes for any inconvenience and will provide updated information as soon as possible.

------------------------------------------------

Phil Drake

IRS Efiling Needs Help

2012-02-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

All Transmitters, including Drake, have been asked by the IRS to switch from MeF to Legacy. They identified some issues on their end that have been delaying processing and refunds. I am attaching their "Talking Points" and a copy of what they say will be a Quick Alert here:

Talking Points from IRS

Some taxpayers who filed electronically and received an acknowledgement from the IRS are concerned when they visit "Where’s My Refund" and are told that IRS has no information regarding their tax return. The IRS informed us on February 10 that this is a temporary situation and should be resolved in several days. At that time, you will be able to get an expected refund date when you visit "Where's My Refund."

This is an IRS issue and impacts returns regardless of who sends them in to the IRS. This is not a Drake issue.

If you have received an acknowledgement of your tax return from the IRS, then the IRS assures us they have received your return and are processing it.

Information on the status of your refund will be updated in "Where’s My Refund" once your return processes. This is a temporary situation, and we expect to resolve the matter in a few days.

IRS expects the vast majority of tax refunds to continue to be issued within the historical range of 10 to 21 days.

Text of IRS Quick Alert:

We asked for your help to fully test and run high volumes of tax returns through Modernized e-File (MeF) in 2012.

Thank you for your cooperation. We have successfully taken in more volume through MeF this year than all year in 2011. MeF is working properly, but we have discovered some issues with linkages to downstream processing systems that have primarily affected returns filed between February 6 and 10, 2012. Those issues, we believe, have been resolved.

However, as a temporary measure to ensure future processing runs smoothly, and to provide adequate time to complete processing of the affected returns, we have temporarily lifted all restrictions on the Legacy system. We encourage you to use Legacy until further notice.

Be assured all systems used for processing returns are operational and are accepting returns. CADE2 and MeF are operating correctly.

Again, we encourage you to use the Legacy e-file system until further notice. We will continue to provide updates through Quick Alerts and other partner channels. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

END OF MESSAGE FROM IRS

Bank Funding Chart

2012-02-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

This chart is from data provided by our banking partners. The horizontal axis is the DATE OF ACCEPTANCE of the return. The vertical axis is the PERCENT FUNDED by date.

The funding cycle seems to be several days longer than we would have expected, but it is getting better. We would not expect the funding for Feb 1st and later just yet. And as you can see, we don't have funding for much after Feb 1st YET.
The funding from Jan 11th is not improving. I think that may be due to a high level of fraud trapping (or fraud attempts) in the early days.

We don't know about funding for all IRS returns, but we suspect that it would not be too different than the data reported to us by our banking partners.

It is also apparent from this chart that the funding timetable shortened substantially after Jan 26th ( ---- the IRS told us that it would).

--- Phil Drake

Tax Preparers Arrested for Armed Robbery

2012-02-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

Okay, you have to watch this video from KMOV TV in St. Louis. The Tax Preparers were arrested and charged with attempted armed robbery.

According to the report, they allegedly used a gun to force taxpayers to give them money out of their tax refund checks.

Here is the link: http://www.kmov.com/news/just-posted/Tax-preparers-arrested-after-attempting-to-rob-woman-of-refund-check-139050579.html

I thought I had heard it all, but this takes the cake.

--- Phil Drake

No Mo Money

2012-02-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

"Mo Money" (a tax preparation chain) has shut down all of its offices in Norfolk. I don't know the specifics of this situation, but there is a news video at this link that you can watch:

http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-mm-closed-norfolk-locations,0,5904365.story

Here is my advice to ALL Tax Preparers:
      1. Do good accurate work.
      2. Charge a fair price for your service.
      3. Do what you say you will do -- when you say you will do it.
      4. Don't promise what you cannot deliver.
      5. If you mess up, then 'fess up --- and fix it.

Failure to do any of these gives all Tax Preparers a bad name.

--- Phil Drake.

Update on Tax Refunds

2012-02-04T06:24:00.000-08:00

I thought I would give you an update on what IRS funding is looking like today. This is as of Saturday morning Feb 4th. And it will change on a daily basis. But the data will help you see a picture of what is happening with refunds.

This chart is based on funding data that we have received from our partner banks.

Ack Date	% Funded by EOD 2/2	% Funded by EOD 2/3	Change	Avg Days Til Funding Received
1/10/2020	89.26	89.26	0.00	18
1/11/2020	52.63	52.63	0.00	16
1/12/2020	88.46	88.46	0.00	17
1/13/2020	93.29	93.33	0.04	13
1/14/2020	96.23	96.23	0.00	12
1/16/2020	95.04	95.07	0.03	11
1/17/2020	94.25	94.33	0.08	12
1/18/2020	83.90	86.37	2.47	13
1/19/2020	54.47	71.34	16.87	13
1/20/2020	54.73	75.60	20.87	12
1/21/2020	41.67	66.46	24.79	12
1/22/2020	32.94	61.75	28.81	12
1/23/2020	73.05	79.14	6.09	8
1/24/2020	61.64	63.75	2.11	8
1/25/2020	55.21	57.88	2.67	8
1/26/2020	59.71	62.55	2.84	7
1/27/2020	30.19	51.66	21.47	7
1/28/2020	22.32	53.20	30.88	7
1/29/2020	21.47	48.19	26.72	6
1/30/2020	0.84	20.77	19.93	7
1/31/2020	0.00	3.61	3.61	7

I am encouraged by the one day change. I believe that the IRS and FMS is beginning to get things working the way they had intended for them to work.

-- Phil Drake

Tax Refunds and State Acks Delayed

2012-02-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

Wow. This is a strange year for Electronic Filing of Tax Returns.

Increased fraud filters that the IRS put in place and other issues have caused lots of tax refunds to be delayed at least a week. And then they are not arriving on the day of the week that we would typically expect them. On top of that, we are seeing wild fluctuations from one day to the next in deposits that we would expect to see from Cade2 returns.

All of that has made it interesting for us and for our Tax Preparers out there using our software.

We should alert Drake customers to the fact that some states are having problems retrieving their state transmissions from the IRS. This is causing problems for taxpayers because it delays the tax return getting to the state. That delays the state refund as well.

If you call the state about a particular return, many times all they can tell you is that they have NOT received it (even if it is in transit). Until they pick the file up from IRS, they do not even know about the return.

Some states appear to be working fine. I won't mention any names, but a few states are well over 90% up to date with their Acknowledgements.

However some states are only between 50% and 60% caught up. And until they are able to solve their issues of retrieving the returns from the IRS, those numbers are not going to improve.

Here at Drake Software, we post the State Acknowledgements shortly after we get them.

We do the same thing with the Bank Acknowledgements. Some banks have told us that they will NOT post any IRS deposits today. (I told you it was an odd year).

We will keep you posted.

--- Phil

Tax Refunds Delayed

2012-01-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

In an IRS Industry call at 2pm this afternoon, the IRS indicated that some of their new "upfront fraud filters" had held up more returns that then had anticipated.

For the ones that were held up, the refunds would be delayed a week. This should only impact tax returns transmitted through January 24th. Returns transmitted to the IRS on January 25th or after should go through under the normal refund cycle.

I would take this to mean that they have relaxed some of their "fraud filters" beginning on that date.

The IRS is going to issue a "Quick Alert" this afternoon and when they do, I will let you know about that as well through our TWITTER account http://twitter.com/DrakeSoftware.

If your customers want to check on their refund, then they can check on this Where's My Refund link.

For those of you using Drake Tax Software, we include a tool in the software that will take you directly to that website and put in the right information. Simply go to EF> Search EF Database, enter the SSN of the taxpayer and click "GO". Then Click "Where is my refund" on that first tab.

This delay is impacting all transmitters including taxpayers who are preparing their own tax returns and Efiling them. So for our customers who have a 1040.com Preparer website for efiling, your customers that file there before Jan 25th COULD be delayed as well.

MeF issues on Tuesday Morning

2012-01-24T07:50:00.000-08:00

The IRS has posted on their MeF status page that they are having "ETIN Retrieval Errors" and "Read Timed Out Errors" in MeF.

What this means is that transmitters are having trouble transmitting and picking up acks.

ACK turn-around time has gone from minutes to almost an hour.

IRS is working the issue as a high priority. ACKs may be delayed.

--- Phil Drake

IRS Efile over the weekend

2012-01-23T07:28:00.000-08:00

Good Monday Morning,

Last week we got used to 5 minute turnarounds on MeF Efiling. However, this weekend, the IRS was mostly offline --- again trying to tweak their system so that Acks would be faster.

From Friday night until Sunday morning, ACKs were virtually non-existent. Then when ACKs started coming through on Sunday, we were getting the Acknowledgements from Sunday transmissions, but not from Saturday's transmissions.

Getting ACKs out of order was confusing to some of our EROs, but that was beyond our control.

The IRS did not post all of our Acknowledgements from Saturday until late afternoon on Sunday.

Since that time, they have remained caught up, and their turn-around time is again around 5 minutes for ACKs. That is great if it keeps up. Let's hope it does.

On a side note - two great NFL games yesterday. Both of them were nail-biters right to the end. They were fun, but it makes my blood pressure go up to watch them.

MeF EFiling Status Page

2012-01-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

After a couple of days where the IRS MeF (Modernized Electronic Filing) process was turning around ACKs in under 30 minutes (sometimes within 5 minutes - really - it was 5 minute turnaround), they started slowing down last night and got about 8 hours behind (and that was with almost no volume in the middle of the night).

This morning, they are still over 4 hours behind.

But the real point of this post is to let you know about a good webpage that the IRS puts up about the MeF status. You should bookmark this page. It explains a little bit about why they are slow this weekend (and why you can expect them to be a little slower all weekend long).

http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=168537,00.html

Currently, (as of Noon on Saturday), the IRS page says the following:

Production System: Operational

The Modernized e-File system is still undergoing performance monitoring and enhancements, so we apologize in advance for any intermittent error messages and delays in retrieving acknowledgements. As we continue to tune the system throughout the Saturday (1/21/12) and Sunday (1/22/12) weekend, you may continue to experience delays retrieving acknowledgements. Please continue to monitor this page for system updates.

IRS MeF Efiling is caught up

2012-01-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

Overnight, last night, the IRS MeF system caught up with transmissions.   That is the first time since the IRS went live earlier this week that they have been caught up.   But part of the reason that they caught up is that there were very few transmissions after midnight last night.

Right now, they are posting Acknowledgements within 30 minutes of the transmission times (usually sooner).   As transmissions get busier throughout the day, we will see if the MeF system can keep up. I am hopeful, but I wouldn't say that I am "optimistic" just yet.

The IRS is requiring all large transmitters to use the MeF system. So, we do not get to "choose" MeF or Legacy.   However, we still have Legacy in our back pocket and stand ready to switch over if the MeF system breaks (and if we get permission).

As just a point of information, this is the last year that Legacy transmissions will even be a "backup plan". MeF is all there will be next year.

We will keep you posted.
---Phil

IRS Efiling is Back in Business

2012-01-18T10:25:00.000-08:00

At 12:37 today, we got word from the IRS, that their MeF Efiling system was back on line.

We are currently transmitting the returns that we accumulated since they went down yesterday evening. We have also picked up and processed for customers all of the acks that were left "hanging" when they went down yesterday.

The MeF system has not been back up long enough for me to give you an opinion on the ACK turn-a-round speed, but they ( IRS ) are hopeful that it will be better than the start date.

We will also post this information on our FORUM for our customers. So you can either follow the Blog, or follow Twitter, or check on the Drake Software Forum for updates.

We will try to used every method available to us to keep you informed and up to date.

--- Phil Drake

mef shut down

2012-01-18T06:16:00.000-08:00

The answer to Phil's question from yesterday's blog? Well, the jury's still out, but early signs do not indicate a gain in speed. In fact, if you measured from "drain times" in the old system, the old system actually produces acks faster.

But the bigger issue right now is that IRS asked all transmitters to stop transmitting yesterday (1/17/2012 ... the first official day of e-file) at approximately 4:30 pm. They were bringing the mef system down at 6:00 pm to do what they referred to as "tuning". They stated at that time that they hoped to be back up by "business hours" today (1/18/2012). Well, 17 hours later, they still have not given us the green light to resume transmitting. Many returns that were transmitted yesterday have not been acknowledged and the backlog of returns in queue is growing rapidly.

We will transmit as soon as we get the green light, but we expect that it will take more hours than today holds to get all of the acknowledgments for "pending" returns.

The "legacy" system is operational, but IRS will not give us permission to revert to using that for any kind of significant volume.

Not a good start for the final year of phase-in for the mef system. By the way, I'm intentionally NOT capitalizing "mef", even in the subject line. Just doesn't seem appropriate. :-)

Is Efiling with MeF Faster?

2012-01-16T11:55:00.000-08:00

Electronic filing of tax returns offically goes "live" tomorrow (1/17/2012).

MeF (Modernized EFiling) is the new standard that is required of most transmitters.   The MeF has been years in development, and is supposed to speed up processing and getting Acknowledgements from the IRS. But will it do so.

In the old "legacy" system, the IRS processed returns in BATCH (typically within 12 hours of when they were transmitted to the IRS).   The processing for MeF is supposed to be immediate. And it is when the volume is LOW.

But when the transmission volume is HIGH, the processing on the IRS side has not been able to keep up with the load testing that has been going on the last few days.

I suspect that acknowledgements will still be availble within 12 to 48 hours (as it was with "legacy"). And I also suspect that it will be just a few minutes when the volume is very low. But on peak days, you should not expect a turn-around time of minutes. You should expect a turn-around time of hours. As long as you you and your customers know what to expect, I think that MeF will work fine.   I just don't want you to be caught unawares.

Here are Drake Software, we can transmit and receive well over one million tax returns per day without adding equipment. Even with our Tax Preparers who have an on-line tax filing presence at 1040.com, we can handle a lot more than we will receive.

Tomorrow, when we go live, it  will give us a glimpse into what PEAK will look like. I expect the PEAK transmission days to be the first week in February.

I will keep all of our customers posted on the status of E-filing at both this blog site and our twitter site.   Hang on, it is going to be an interesting ride.

E-Filing starts up

2012-01-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

This week, the IRS is running limited testing of their E-filing system.   During this week, transmitters like Drake Tax Software can send a very few returns. We began the testing on Tuesday the 10th, and it runs through Friday the 13th.

Then next week, on January 17th at 10:00AM (local time at each service center), the IRS hubs go live with Electronic filing for 2011 tax returns.

The IRS anticipates that the first acks will be released around 11:00am (local time at each service center). HOWEVER, you should be prepared for it to take longer than that on the first day, because the IRS is going to have a lot of volume for their MeF (Modernized E-Filing) on that first day.

You might want to sign up for our TWITTER account, because I will TWEET as soon as we have acks to post next Tuesday. http://twitter.com/DrakeSoftware (@DrakeSoftware)

For those preparers who have signed up with Drake Software for an on-line filing website at 1040.com, we expect the acks to be available to the taxpayers on the same schedule. If you are a Drake Software preparer and have not signed up for a 1040.com web site, but would like to, then go to the Support site, login and look under "My Account > 1040.com Affiliation".    It will give you an opportunity to earn from the increasing on-line tax return market.

I might note that even though the number of taxpayers who are E-filing themselves is increasing, the number of taxpayers who go to Tax Preparers is remaining pretty constant.

Many Happy Returns!!!

Phil Drake

My PTIN Test Adventure

2012-01-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

I took my PTIN test today. For those that don't know, a PTIN is a Preparer's Tax Identification Number.

I am 60 years old, and until today, it has been 35 years since I took a test. ( The last one was when I took my Enrolled Agent exam.) I am sure this was the first time I have ever had to take a test on a computer. So let me describe my adventure to you. After preparing tax returns for the last 36 years, one would hope that I knew what I was doing without the test. Anyway, I digress.

First, I can’t tell you anything about what is on the test. They made me pinkie-swear that I wouldn’t tell anyone including my therapist about the contents of the test.

I had to sign up and pay for the test a couple of weeks ahead of time. Then I had to travel about 70 miles to the closest place (Asheville NC) to take the test. The folks there were nice enough, but boy, were they thorough.

I had to prove who I was. I didn’t mind showing a picture I.D., but the DNA test was a bit much (just kidding). And I thought they were going to do a strip search. Not really; but I did have to empty my pockets (no wallet, no watch, no paper, no keys, no pens, no nothing). And I even got wand-ed with a metal detector (really). And I was VIDEO TAPED while I took the test.

Once I got to the computer terminal, I did spend some time going through the tutorial so that I knew how to operate inside their test software (this tutorial is available on-line if you have a PTIN). For the test, I took all the time that the computer gave me. I finished early, but I kept reviewing as many of my answers as I could until the time ran out. ( I dislike making bad grades even more than I dislike taking tests – and I didn’t want to have to take this one again – especially since I had to pay to take it).

When I got done, I retrieved all the stuff that I had dumped out of my pockets, and then found out that I would get my grade within 60 days. Seriously? 60 days? This is a computerized test. Surely it already knows how many I missed.

Then I drove the 70 miles back to my office. Total time spent getting there, taking the test and getting home was a little over 6 hours.

And don’t worry, when I get my score, I WILL POST IT HERE. No matter how good or bad it is, I am going to let you know how I did.

Until then……. Many Happy Returns.

Keep following us at http://www.drakesoftware.com/ or follow this blog. And I urge our clients to follow my blog so that we can keep them up to date on E-filing issues as they occur.

Phone Issues Resolved

2012-01-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

Our phone carrier resolved our issues at 11:40am this morning (Praise the Lord). Those clients that had some trouble getting through should now be able to get to our support team 828-524-8020 without any issues.

We appreciate your patience.

You can also check our home page and our support pages.

www.DrakeSoftware.com - the home page

Support.DrakeSoftware.com - the support site

If you haven't joined our Drake Software Forum, I invite clients to do that as well (once you log in to support site, then you can do so). We have lots of great clients on the Forum that help each other. We consider our clients one of our greatest assets.

Thanks.
Phil

Busy Signals to Support

2012-01-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

To: All Drake Tax Software customers
From: Phil Drake
Date: Jan 4th, 2012

Over the past two days some of our customers in certain areas have experienced busy signals when attempting to call Drake Support. Our carrier has identified an issue and we are optimistic that it will be corrected by tomorrow (Jan 5th). In the meantime, if this occurs for you, then you may find the Drake Knowledgebase at Support.Drakesoftware.Com helpful or you may decide to send us an E-mail and we will respond as quickly as possible.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and look forward to serving you this tax season.

Drake 2011 Tax Software Ready to Download

2012-01-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

To: All Drake Tax Software Customers

We are shipping our 2011 Tax Software on January 3rd. But it is downloadable to current customers right now (Jan 2nd).

We will begin accepting LIVE electronic returns today, and the IRS will begin accepting them on Tuesday, January 17th. The first IRS Acknowledgements will be available on Tuesday, January 17th as well.

California will begin accepting LIVE returns on Tuesday, January 3rd.

To download the program, login to https://support.drakesoftware.com using your EFIN and password. Then select the Download Center option from the Resources menu. On the Download Center page, click the link titled 'Drake Software 2011 Release Date - January 1, 2012'. Follow the instructions provided on that page to download and install the program.

The Downloadable version will install the federal program. To install state programs you must first install this release (January 1, 2012), then download and install the state programs.

States can be installed from the Tools -> Install State Programs menu option within Drake Software. Click the 'Install state(s) from the Internet' button to see the list of available states.

If you have not already purchased, then click here: Drake Tax Software for 2011 and you can renew or purchase on-line, or call our sales line.

Many Happy Returns,

Phil Drake

Get Your PTIN now

2011-12-21T13:48:00.000-08:00

The IRS has announced that their PTIN system will be down for maintenance from December 26th until January 9th. So if you do not have a PTIN yet, and you need one, then you should get it RIGHT NOW, or you will have to wait until January 9th to get it. If you are going to sign 1040 returns this tax season and you are going to do it for a fee, then you need a PTIN.

If you are an EA or a CPA, you will not be subject to the PTIN testing in 2012. Otherwise, if you preparing tax returns for a fee, then you will also need to pass the PTIN test in 2012. Personally, I have scheduled my PTIN test for January 6th. I will let you know whether or not I pass.

I hope you will keep following us at Drake Software, because we will be producing training to help Registered Tax Preparers get ready for the test.

On a side note: IRS is starting their live E-file date on Tuesday, January 19th. Stay tuned. This tax season should be a wild ride.

PS: Have a Wonderful Christmas
God Bless,
Phil Drake

The End of the RAL

2011-12-09T07:40:00.000-08:00

We may be seeing the last of the Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) as we know them.

In an 8-K filing this morning, Republic Bank, which was the "Last Man Standing" in the RAL market, announced that the bank and the FDIC had settled their suit. Some of the key points of the settlement are:

RALs will cease by April 30^th, 2012 – and Republic will not offer them after that.
Republic Bank will pay a $900,000 civil penalty (reduced from $2 million).
Republic Bank will institute an ERO oversight plan.
Republic Bank can continue to do RACs in the future.
Republic Bank will drop their suit against the FDIC.

Some of the points of the Republic's ERO oversight are:

Annually audit 10% of EROs for compliance (laws, processes, procedures, disclosure, physical and electronic security).
Audits will consist of onsite visits, document reviews, nystery shops of tax prep offices, and tax product customer surveys.
Advertising approval process for Bank to approve all Tax Preparer advertisements PRIOR to publications.
Monitoring of EROs for income tax return quality.
Monitoring of EROs for adherence to acceptable tax prep fees.
(and other requirements).

Drake Tax Software will continue to support Republic Bank and its RAL efforts this tax season.

Here is Republic's 8-K filing in PDF format if you would like to review it.

Block blocked from acquiring TaxAct by Federal Judge

2011-11-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, A U.S. District Judge ruled that H&R Block Inc. could not purchase TaxAct (2SS Holdings Inc.) . Block and TaxAct are the number 2 and number 3 sellers of on-line tax preparation, and the court ruled that if the transaction went through, then it would reduce competition in this market.

The Justice Department had alleged that the deal would lead to higher prices for consumers.

Now the question is: what will TaxAct (2SS Holdings) do? Will they try to find another buyer? They won't be able to sell to Intuit (who is the number 1 seller of on-line tax preparation). So can they sell to #4? Or are they relegated to having to run the business themselves.

Only time will tell.

Of course, if some others in the on-line market start catching up to the big three, then all this could change down the road. At 1040.com ( http://www.1040.com/ ), we are using the tax engine behind Drake Software to provide e-Filing sites for all of our Professional Tax Preparers. And we even have options so that Tax Preparers can white-label the Drake Software Tax engine.

So let's all get together and break into this market. The e-Filing website is included free for Tax Preparers that use our full package. http://drakesoftware.com/site/Products/PricingPurchasing.aspx