ATX/Kleinrock – Total Kleinrock Office/TaxExpert

The generic Help utility offers adequate
table-of-contents-style assistance
with searching and program functions.
ATX and Kleinrock include technical
assistance with purchase, as well
as access to online support and
ATX’s online user community,
ATXers.com.

CONTENT – 5 Stars

Total Kleinrock Office includes
Federal TaxExpert, which provides
codes and regulations with more
than 25 volumes of expert analysis
and 100,000 cases and rulings. Also
included are the All States TaxExpert,
the Employment TaxExpert, Total
Tax Guide, 1040 Quick Answers, Biweekly
Federal Tax Bulletins and several
handbooks, all of which provide
additional primary source material
as well as analysis. Specific libraries
include Internal Revenue Code, committee
reports, treasury regulations, proposed
regulations, TD preambles, tax court
actions, IRS publications (TIPS),
IRS rulings and procedures, IRS
announcements and notices, the IRS
Penalties Handbook, tax treaties,
settlement guidelines, market segment
papers, Kleinrock’s analysis,
and additional miscellaneous documents.
The system includes tax-related
statutes and regulations for all
states plus D.C., as well as all
state forms, instructions, publications
and administrative materials. ATX’s
ZillionForms includes more than
10,000 printable tax forms.

INTEGRATION – 4.5 Stars
Kleinrock’s TaxExpert research
integrates with ATX’s programs
and is offered in several bundles
with its preparation programs, including
Total Tax Office Plus. This integration
enables users working in the tax
preparation program to have immediate
access to line-specific primary
research or analysis from Kleinrock’s
Total Tax Guide and TaxExpert. The
program allows saving entire documents
to plain text files (*.TXT) and
enables copying and pasting of content
into other Windows-based programs.

CUSTOMIZATION – 3 Stars

TaxExpert automatically saves searches
into the search history, which allows
users to easily re-perform previous
queries, and also allows searched
documents to be bookmarked for later
viewing. Previously viewed documents
are also saved in the Document Trail
list. The CD-based system does not
provide a method to automatically
perform recurring searches or enable
user-defined defaults to narrow
content to specific tax areas or
subjects. TaxExpert offers little
additional customization capabilities.

UPDATES – 3.5 Stars
Since the system is accompanied
by an online component, a method
of updating the program via the
company’s web site would be
expected. Unfortunately, this is
not available. Users relying on
the CD-based version must rely on
the periodic CD updates, which must
be placed in the CD-ROM drive for
access to research libraries (unless
using the networked version). Depending
upon the subscription, these updates
are either quarterly or monthly.
Utilizing the online function, which
is included in the CD subscription,
users can access changes and analysis
that have taken place since the
last update.

RELATIVE VALUE – 4.5 Stars

TaxExpert offers a comprehensive
research program that includes a
very strong selection of libraries
with primary documents for federal
and state taxation issues, as well
as well-respected expert analysis
of federal issues. The inclusion
of ATX’s ZillionForms and
W-2/1099 preparation, in addition
to integration with ATXs
preparation programs and the inclusion
of additional features for a moderate
price, make this program an attractive
option to smaller and mid-sized
firms handling diverse clients,
especially those firms using ATX
tax preparation software.

2005 OVERALL RATING: 4.5 Stars

The products were reviewed based
on the following criteria:

• Ease of Use. This section explores navigation features, including accessibility of primary search tools and functions. As
  well, the ability to save common
  searches or specific results,
  or copy and paste contents of
  documents, adds to ease of use.
  Higher scores in this area reflect
  a comfortable, easy-to-use interface
  that provides intuitive access
  to key functions.
• Content. This section points out the research libraries available, including federal and state sources. It also identifies what type of content is available: primary sources such as code and rulings, as well as expert analysis and insight. A higher score here is earned by products with a comprehensive array of federal resources, including the availability of state research products. Research analysis is also considered, although not all professionals will seek such guidance.
• Integration. This section observes the ability of the software to work with tax preparation or write-up programs to automatically find areas of potential relevancy within the research, as well as
  the ability to attach or link
  saved research results to appropriate
  client files. Programs receiving
  better marks in this category
  make working between tax preparation,
  write-up and the research program
  more efficient.
• Customization. This section covers the ability of the programs to organize specific areas or subscribe to only specific areas, which allows practitioners to narrow down research content to only those areas relevant to their practice. A mountain of research is available; products scoring well in this section provide good sorting and personalization methods that enable users to tailor the program to meet their needs.
• Updates. With constantly changing tax law, the currency of information can be crucial. This section looks at how often research libraries are updated and by what method: CD, online automatic. Few practitioners enjoy performing software updates. As such, this section identifies
  the frequency and ease with which
  product updates are performed,
  with automatic, schedulable and
  online update capabilities receiving
  better marks.
• Relative Value. This section offers the reviewer’s subjective opinion of the “bang for the buck.”