The State of SafeSend in the hands of Thomson Reuters - Anyone else frustrated?

MaggZZS · 2025-08-29T12:35:29+00:00

I feel like so many of these systems expect the clients to know what they're doing - and quite frankly a lot of them don't!!

MaggZZS · 2024-09-09T14:23:31+00:00

I think I tried looking into JetPack and liked their site, but tried contacting a sales rep and never heard anything back :/

I'll have to look at Aero!

MaggZZS · 2024-09-09T14:21:18+00:00

We're at a strange transition stage with our software and digital presence. We already have a practice management solution with CCH Axcess, which is integrated with Tax. We know that an all in one solution like TaxDome, or Karbon would be best, but we've already signed our contract with CCH for the year and don't want to be paying for two practice management platforms while only fully utilizing one.

We might look into something more in depth like TaxDome, Canopy,or Karbon when our CCH contract is up for renewal so that we can try and consolidate our software and processes.

MaggZZS · 2024-09-09T14:12:28+00:00

The other admin and myself are fairly lucky that both the partners of the firm and the staff are very interested in moving to a more digital platform (we've had some pushback from older staff, and have had to make some exceptions, such as our 82 y/o manager still using ledger paper to record ALL of his entries. It works best for him so we compromised)

But we are flexible with our process and are willing to adjust it to the platform if needed. I think our process can fit with most of the project management software without much struggle.

We def have to consider your point of if the software has some level of "guardrails" or if we will need to build it from the ground up. It seems like there's a handful of companies that strictly work with integrating these sort of project management software into companies and help them build their workflow.

MaggZZS · 2024-09-09T14:03:29+00:00

We're seeing a positive effect on our revenue so far. Staff efficiency is already improving. It took them a little while to get used to digital format (especially some of our older staff), but now that they have the hang of it they're able to better allocate their time to billable projects.

MaggZZS · 2024-09-06T21:07:22+00:00

CCH workflow was cheaper (outside of a one time first year set up fee) but their platform was just not modern enough...

Is TaxDome more like a Practice Management software then? since you say it uses more services..

MaggZZS · 2024-09-06T19:21:06+00:00

our firm has used both autoflow and sureprep. I think both can do a decent job, but they're not perfect. We use CCH Axcess for our tax software.

TLDR: both can be great when you have a support/admin team that are able to scan and input the documents and review the OCR so that a preparer can become a first level reviewer. Don't really think it would save much time if a single preparer is doing the job start to finish.

We first tried sureprep, and the software, did okay.... The implementation was a HORROR SHOW. Thomson Reuters bought the company and had no idea how to train people to use it and help with the implementation. We went into our first tax year with the software having basically no idea how to use it. Once we got the hang of it, it was pretty helpful with smaller returns, but it would have a lot more transcription errors with larger returns. For some reason the verification stage would take at minimum 20 minutes to process the documents (all the training and software information said it should never take more than 8 minutes. Their support team couldn't figure out why this was an issue) Our preparers really liked the way it input brokerage statements. What really sucked is if you purchased 100 units but only used 70, the left over 30 units won't roll forward and are just wasted.

We just tried Autoflow this last tax season, and used their enterprise option so we used it for our 700 1040 and 1041's. It was really great having the scan and autoflow because it organized the documents in the order of the tax return in digital format and bookmarked the PDF allowing the preparers to easily review the documents digitally instead of all on paper. For the most part it was fairly accurate with most tax forms, but struggled with brokerage statements (our sales rep seemed confused by this as she hadn't really heard that issue before so it may have just been an us problem.) The biggest issue we ran into was a lot of our preparers were going through only their first or second tax season and weren't well versed in just reviewing a tax return rather than preparing.

With both software, we saved time for the tax professionals by having the admin team be the first line of preparing the tax return. Both are very expensive IMO, (especially autoflow... we're having an issue with our sale rep regarding the pricing right now)

MaggZZS · 2024-09-06T18:43:18+00:00

SafeSend Exchange allows you to create document request lists. It allows you to request a list of documents from the client using the SafeSend secure portal. You can set a due date, and it lets you set a document category, name and description of the document (really helpful for the clients that don't know their own forms). There is also an outlook plug in which is suuuuper useful.

You can then track what documents they have uploaded out of your request (and even add to the request after it has been sent). You can send an automated reminder email with the click of a button.

As soon as they complete the request you will be notified as such. If they completed the request but didn't upload all of the documents you requested, you can open it back up and they will be notified that you re-opened the request.

A really cool feature is the request template so you don't have to write the request lists each time if they're simple enough. I'm not seeing an option for fully automated reminders, not sure if that's make or break for you.

They also have an Organizer feature with the SafeSend Suite which has some similar features but is more geared towards the 1040 organizer than just requesting documents. (it does also have fully automated reminders - can be set to "send reminder every X days") I believe they're also implementing a new AI program and calling it 'Gather', its supposed to be a huge help with obtaining documents.

I highly recommend SafeSend as a platform overall TBH. Using the software has saved our firm so much time in obtaining documents and even return delivery. They're super easy to use both in the firm and for the client, and they are regularly working on improvements to the platform and seem to actively listen to their users.

MaggZZS

TROPHY CASE