At Drake, we’re always working to make tax preparation easier, faster, and more connected for tax professionals. Here’s how.
As we build toward Tax Year 2026, we’re delivering meaningful improvements that make Drake products easier to access, simpler to use, and better connected.
These include integrations with Drake Tax Desktop, Drake HUB®, and Drake Workflow® that provide a unified sign-in experience; simplifying access, reducing login friction, and strengthening security and account management. We’re also introducing an AI-powered chatbot in Drake Tax Desktop that delivers conversational, context-aware assistance directly within the application, enabling users to find answers faster and resolve questions more efficiently.
Every improvement is guided by customer feedback and focused on helping firms save time, reduce manual work, and gain better visibility into their operations. As those needs evolve, so will the tools that support them: delivering greater efficiency, smarter insights, and AI-powered solutions.
Expanding Drake Tax Online®
We know that more firms are looking for flexibility in how and where they work, and we’re continuing to expand Drake Tax Online to support that transition.
This year, you’ll see additional tax packages become available online, including support for business tax packages for 1120, 1065, 1041, 990, and 709 and consolidated tax returns. As these capabilities become available, we’ll continue to provide updates and access throughout the season, including making them available in the 2025 product as they are released.
K-1 Export Capabilities
To help firms work more efficiently across related returns, we’re also introducing K-1 Export capabilities that automatically transfer Schedule K-1 information from business returns to recipient returns, reducing manual data entry, improving accuracy, and helping preparers complete returns faster.
Filing Status Analysis
We’re also introducing Filing Status Analysis, a new tool that allows preparers to compare filing status options, including tax liability, standard deductions, credits, deductions, refund or balance due amounts, and overall tax savings, helping them make more informed decisions for eligible taxpayers.
Drake PayTM Payment Requests
In addition, Drake Pay now supports Payment Requests, allowing firms to send invoices and collect payments directly from clients through a streamlined workflow. This helps firms move from completed work to payment collection faster while providing a more convenient payment experience for clients.
Continued Improvements to Drake Workflow
Workflow visibility remains one of the biggest opportunities for many firms, which is why we’re continuing to invest heavily in Drake Workflow.
Recent improvements have focused on synchronization reliability, helping ensure client and staff information stays accurate and up-to-date between Drake Tax® and Workflow.
Upcoming enhancements that help you work more efficiently include:
- List View: sort, filter, and review returns in a traditional table format
- Bulk Actions: update statuses, assign preparers, and set due dates for multiple clients at once
- Customize statuses and columns
- Real-time notifications delivered through push, email, and SMS
- Faster visibility into return status changes, document uploads, payment activity, and e-file events
- Improved sync monitoring with visibility into synchronization health
Whether you’re a solo practitioner or part of a larger office, Workflow is designed to help keep your team organized and informed.
Not using Workflow today? A free 14-day trial is available so you can see how it fits into your firm’s process.
Our goal is simple: one connected Drake ecosystem that helps firms work more efficiently and confidently.
We’re delivering a more connected Drake experience by continuing to strengthen the connection between Drake Tax Desktop and Drake Hub. This makes it easier to access your tools and keep client and staff information synchronized across products.
Future enhancements will simplify login experiences, improve data consistency, and make it easier to move between Drake products without duplicate work or disconnected workflows.
We’re also modernizing the Drake Pay experience with a redesigned enrollment process and an updated Drake Pay Manager interface that makes it easier to manage payments, reporting, and account activity.
Investing in Solving Real Problems
The goal is straightforward: help firms spend less time entering information and more time serving clients.
One of the most requested areas of innovation from customers has been reducing manual data entry and simplifying the tax preparation process. We’re actively developing solutions, powered by AI built for tax professionals to address these evolving needs and help firms work more efficiently.
A major area of focus is intelligent document extraction and ingestion. This technology is being built to analyze uploaded tax documents, extract relevant tax data, and help move that information directly into the preparation workflow across Drake products.
Planned capabilities include:
- Extracting structured data from uploaded tax source documents, such as W-2s, 1099s, and K-1s
- Leveraging prior-year 1040 information to support preparation workflows
- Supporting Drake Tax Desktop, Drake Tax Online, TAP, and Drake Portals®
- Allowing firms to upload documents directly within Drake products or use documents already stored in Drake Portals
- Providing review and validation workflows before information is imported
- Supporting bulk review and submission processes for higher-volume firms
- Administrative dashboards that provide visibility into extraction activity and processing status
Rather than creating separate extraction solutions for each product, we’re building a shared platform that can support a consistent experience across the Drake ecosystem while allowing each product to tailor the review and import process to its own workflow.
Many customers have asked for native Drake-powered document automation, and we’re excited to bring that vision to life.
We’re planning a beta program for interested firms and will be inviting customers to participate, provide feedback, and help shape the future of AI-powered tax document processing at Drake.
Interested in joining the beta group? Sign up.
Looking Ahead: Helping Tax Professionals Work Smarter
Whether it’s expanding online preparation capabilities, improving workflow visibility, simplifying payments, creating a more connected Drake experience, or investing in AI-powered automation, we’re focused on delivering practical solutions that help your firm save time and better serve clients.
Thank you for being part of the Drake community.
We’ll continue sharing updates as these enhancements become available throughout the year, and we’re excited about what’s ahead as we build toward Tax Year 2026.
Also, be sure to keep an eye out for webinars on these and other exciting topics launching throughout the summer and fall. Visit our webinar page to see what’s coming up.
