As a professional tax preparer, time is of the essence during tax season. To help save you time and be more efficient as a preparer, we have compiled several lesser known features of TaxAct Professional that will do just that.

  1. When switching from Forms view to Q&A, you may want to go directly to the part of the Q&A that’s relevant to where you were on the form. To do so, click the “Go to Q&A” button in the blue toolbar (looks like a magnifying glass) that is located directly above the form. taxact interview
  2. Depending on when and how you’re printing the instruction letter, will determine what’s included (whether it defaults to print or e-file). Our recommendation is to print the instruction letter as part of the e-file steps via the link at the top of this screen. To do so:
    • From this page, select Start or Review (depending if you’ve selected it previously or not) here: instruction-letter
    • You’ll then want to click the link at the top of the next page to print the client copy of the instruction letter for e-filing: 
    • Be sure to select to print a copy of the Federal Instruction Letter from the Print Center screen: You could also wait to print this instruction letter after you e-file – we addressed a bug that wasn’t setting the instruction letter type to “e-file” after the return was submitted, so that should be fixed as of version 1.08 of the 1040 federal edition.
  3. You can store your credit card information in your Preparer Master Information for future in-program use. That way you do not have to re-enter that info with each return:
    • Select Preparer > Master Information > Preparers from the program’s menu bar to open the Preparer Master Information window.
    • Click the pencil icon to the left of your name to edit your preparer information.
    • Click the Electronic Filing Info
    • Click the Enter Credit Card 
    • Enter your card information and click the ContinueEnter Credit Card Info
    • Click Finish to save your changes and close the Master Information windows.
  4. You can import your client’s stock data from a CSV file or directly from select brokerages:
    • Select File > Import > 1099 Information from the program’s menu bar to access the Stock Data Import page.
    • Click Electronic Import to directly from one of the fifteen supported brokerages, or click the CSV Import button to import from a CSV file.
    • Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the import.
    • If your brokerage is not one of the fifteen supported brokerages*, you may click the Click Here link on the Stock Data Import page to submit a request for the addition of your brokerage in future versions of the program.
    • If you need assistance with obtaining, creating, or importing a CSV file, you may click the applicable help topic link on the right side of the page.
      • *Supported brokerages: Ameriprise Financial, APEX, Betterment, Capital One Investing, Fidelity Investments, Form8949.com, GainsKeeper, Raymond James, Raymond James Bank, Robinhood, Scottrade, Tastyworks, TD Ameritrade, UBS, WiseBanyan
  5. You may be interested in seeing which preparer in your practice is accessing which form. If you go to the Tools menu then click View Activity Log, you will see a list of all your users and a high level summary of what they’ve accessed.
  6. With so many IRS forms releasing late and State Departments retroactively implementing tax law changes due to extenders and tax reform, make sure you set your software to auto-update.
    • This setting is accessible by clicking on the Tools > Options menu
    • Then, check the box for “If already connected to the internet, automatically check for updates on program startup.” Auto Update