is the sun setting on desktop-based tax preparation?
When will the sun set on CDs as the preferred method of distribution for tax preparation software? Perhaps no time soon in a market in which ExacTax, Orrtax, and Petz still market DOS versions of their tax packages. But it’s not hard to see momentum building for online operations, through both Internet-based tax preparation and email and Web-based organizers that are shoving the marketplace down the online path. The granddaddy of hosted preparation services is RIA’s GoSystem RS, now in its sixth season. During the last tax season, RIA Tax Compliance processed 20 percent more returns through GoSystem RS than in the year before, and the company expects to handle more than 1.2 million returns by the end of the year. This year, the tax preparation system will be…
