1099 Express — 1099 Express & W-2 Express Enterprise 2009

From the October 2009 Review of W-2/1099
Compliance Systems.

The
1099 Express program was developed using an Excel interface to offer 1099 compliance,
while its sibling product W-2 Express offers the same for employer reporting.
Both systems utilize the same interface, file structure and features, but for
this review we’ve looked specifically at the 1099 system, which supports
all 24 forms in the 1099 family, along with forms 1098, 1098-C, 5498 and W-2G.
Both systems can be used by professionals managing the year-end wage and information
reporting for any number of clients with unlimited employees, and both offer
compliance for all states and federal entities including electronic filing to
the IRS and SSA.

Software licenses can be used on any number of computers in the same office
or networked. For new customers, the 1099 Express program costs $199, and the
W-2 Express system costs $149; each is discounted at $99 for renewals. The company
also offers a 1042S program and a service bureau option for 1099 and W-2 printing
and filings.

USABILITY/NAVIGATION –
Both programs open within a spreadsheet view that is similar to Excel, providing
prebuilt macros and calculations that allow for quick access to individual recipients,
adding recipients and entities, and other tasks. 1099 Express can support any
number of payers and recipients. The screen’s work area is the master
entity selection list, displaying virtually all information for all recipients
of a particular form type from the fields and boxes on that recipient’s
form. It also includes a horizontal bar across the top with icons for system
functions such as copy, paste, search, sorting and calculations. A series of
tabs offers additional sorting of this recipient list by type of form, including
various 1099s, 1098s, 5498s and W-2Gs. Pull-down menus at the top of the screen
offer more options for selecting forms, accessing Internet functions, electronic
filing features and other tasks.

New forms can be easily added using the Add menu or the F-3 key. When performing
data entry, users are presented with form replicas, allowing users to quickly
tab through form boxes or use their mouse, with options for setting federal
forms to be combined with their state counterpart. Payer data is automatically
populated using information for the selected company/client, and the program
can be set to automatically calculate fields such as FICA withholding amounts.
1099 Express also offers a merge feature that enables users to quickly find
recipients with multiple copies of the same form (which might happen for forms
1099 or W-2G if entries are made as payments during the year), and then combine
them into a single form. As an alternative to manual data entry, users can copy
and paste from Excel spreadsheets or import from QuickBooks, Peachtree and other
accounting systems, as well as from Microsoft Access, plain text and other formats.

REPORTING –
Both the 1099 and W-2 Express system offer the ability to print to laser-generated
blank stock or pre-printed forms, or to electronically file to the IRS through
the FIRE system and the SSA through its BSO filing option, with the ability
to track submitted files. Users can also send test files through these online
filing systems. In addition to compliance reporting and recipient forms generation,
the programs offer reports for summaries and client lists, along with an audit
trail report.

IMPORT/EXPORT CAPABILITIES –
1099 Express and W-2 Express can import from programs that save into CSV spreadsheet
format, which includes QuickBooks, Peachtree and most other small business accounting
systems, in addition to dBase, Lotus, Works and Quattro Pro. Because it is built
on the Excel system, users can also copy and paste from Excel, Access and text
files directly into the program, and can, conversely, copy and paste from 1099
Express or W-2 Express to those formats.

HELP/SUPPORT –
The programs include traditional Help indexes that offer how-tos and index-based
search functions. The company does not offer a specific support page on its
website, although downloads and other resources are available. Live technical
assistance is included in program pricing.

2009 Overall Rating: