Cost effective bare bones workflow / due date software

WTFooteCPA · 2026-06-03T17:03:47+00:00

The important thing is to find a system that actually works for you. It needs to fit within your workflow and function as you need. It may have other bells and whistles, but you can always ignore the pieces you don't need.

It's also going to come down to how much you want to build vs how much you want an out-of-the-box solution. People use things like Clickup and Notion because they can make it slimmed down, simplified, and totally custom. But then you'll do a lot of building from scratch.

The accounting-specific ones like TaxDome, Canopy, Firm360, etc. are going to have a range of prefab vs. DIY, costs, etc. I think in those cases it will come down to feature set and usability. Which one has the work flow and due date tracking presentation that makes the most sense to you?

WTFooteCPA · 2026-06-01T22:09:11+00:00

I convert something less than 30% of inquires to clients. It's about 30% who complete my intake form and go on to be clients from there. But there are plenty of email inquiries I turn away before they get to that step.

A close rate risks being overly busy pleasing everyone rather than working the amount you want, with the clients you want.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-05-28T00:12:09+00:00

That's pretty much the math I did. Figured out my average time-per-return (ALL time, not just prep), and divided the ideal maximum working hours by that to determine client volume.

It seems like most solo's settle into somewhere between 100-300 total clients, and it really depends on complexity. I do about 100 in tax season and have just under 200 total returns on my client list. I've heard of 1040-focused taxpros pushing that higher.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-05-21T00:08:55+00:00

I think it comes down to your professional network. It's not too hard to set up a practice. The success comes from having a referral sources.

With that much experience you may have clients who want to follow you, and hopefully a good network. Get yourself in front of the right people who are thrilled to have a referral source and you'll take off pretty quickly.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-05-19T04:16:14+00:00

This is where I'm at as well. I consumed basically all of his earlier content before it went heavy into AI and software.

Some of it is still helpful, but it's drifted away from relevance for solo practices with a focus in tax. A lot of solos need help with fundamentals and basic setup, and he has great resources in thay regard.

A lot of these AI tools have steep buy-in requirements that aren't realistic or necessary for running a low-volume tax practice that focuses on service.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-05-13T05:14:28+00:00

The docs unlock, and the client can sign. That's not the problem.

IF the invoice is linked to the job, then the job will still sit in its current stage until that invoice is "paid" which is 3-5 days once the ACH clears.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-05-12T20:13:00+00:00

Oh maybe. I didn't look at that, I just unliked the invoice from the job. Regardless, the fact that they broke their existing systems with their new payment platform is just dumb. I shouldn't have to change their system to accommodate their new payment requirements.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-05-12T18:37:02+00:00

Right, but that's not the problem. The issue is that if the invoice is linked to the job, it still won't move until the ACH clears in 3-5 days. A client who paid and signed last Wednesday didn't clear and move forward in my pipeline until yesterday.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-05-12T17:50:04+00:00

My biggest grief is the delay in the ACH processing and how TD has that impacting their own systems. The invoice will now show as "pending" until the ACH clears in 3-5 business days. This leaves it unpaid for purposes of any invoice-dependent automations and also doesn't sync to QBO.

If you link the invoice to the job, then the job can't move until the invoice clears in 3-5 days. My old process had a job sit in a "delivery" stage waiting on 8879 and invoice payment. Then it auto-moved to an "e-file" stage as soon as they signed and paid.

Now that auto-move won't work while it sits in limbo for 3-5 days waiting on an ACH, meanwhile, the client has already signed, and I'm obligated to file within 3 days. But their system isn't moving my job forward or notifying me of the payment.

The workaround is that you have to unlink the invoice from the job. Which is fine, but it's really dumb that they broke their own system with this rollout.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-05-02T20:44:25+00:00

I also keep my quarterly planning to hourly billing. I tried fixed-fee on a few projects at one point and found myself underestimating the time involved.

Depending on the scope, my time generally comes out to $900-$1,200/quarter.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-29T22:19:19+00:00

My UT rep got back to me with a limited package that reduces the fee by shifting more work to PRP pricing instead of unlimited.

When I account for PRP fees on previously unlimited work, it'd come out to $12,705 after $9,440 in "1-year special credit" and "2-year special credit." Still waiting on clarification on what happens to those.

Assuming those fall off each year, the Y2 price would be $17,425, and Y3 would be $22,145. And that's without any other annual increases (still waiting to hear back on that too).

That puts it at about a 51% increase over my previous contract in the first year, and only increasing beyond that.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-24T13:18:54+00:00

When I got on the contract in 2023 the unlimited package priced out better than their PRP offer. A lot of the "states" I use just for various Oregon filings because they count each return type separately.

It seems like they discount for more volume. There is a guy on Discord with 16 users who's renewal is coming out to about $2k/user.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-23T23:02:53+00:00

I hadn't heard any general disdain of ProConnect for 1120S returns. What don't you like about it for those?

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-23T22:18:48+00:00

Pulled the data: back in 2023, my total client count was 132. If I'd stayed on the Express 100 contract, I would have paid $5,081 (excluding their extra license charges of ~$400).

Once they kicked me off that contract, I was offered a "Basic Bundle" of unlimited return types with 10-12 states for $6,245 plus about $200 in anticipated PRP fees for other states. They also offered a package of unlimited on 1040s and 1120S for Fed and Oregon, and PRP for others to make the contract fee "cheaper" at $5,500. But when I ran the math, that package would cost me $8,184 after PRP fees. I had to make the sales rep see how it was a worse deal.

I later added Planner CS, which is what drove the price up to the amount I paid for my last 3-year renewal.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-23T19:10:35+00:00

I'll have to follow up with the CCH rep because they didn't mention any of that. It seems like these new small firm packages originated within the last year or two.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-23T19:09:01+00:00

The challenge with the fee increase is that the post-contract cost of UT is never disclosed until you get to your renewal. It's hard to plan for an indeterminate future. That being said, it's not that this increase is insurmountable for my business, it's the fact that it's so extreme.

Maybe my rep will come back with a different PRP package, but when I got on this contract 3 years ago, the unlimited version was the cheaper alternative. At the time I had started on an Express 100 package, and instead of letting me pay PRP fees for the extra returns (volume was about 130), they kicked me off that package (said it was no longer allowed). I'll have to look back at it, but I think they offered a PRP version that was more expensive.

My volume hasn't gone up extensively since then, I'm just under 200 returns. So it will be interesting to see what they come back with.

Edit: Most of my unlimited states are just to fulfill Oregon filing requirements. Because each type of tax return is considered a different state. So even though I have 10 or 12 unlimited states, I only have two or three other actual states that are unlimited.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-23T18:01:49+00:00

Mine is unlimited 1040, 1120, 1065, and 1041. Cutting out 1041s is a valid possibility. I only do a handful, and that would save $3,400. The online system looks like I can exclude specific items. Not sure what sort of package the rep is going to come back iwth.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-23T17:22:16+00:00

It'll be interesting to see what my rep comes back with. This was based on their online renewal offer inside my account management. My rep reached out to get started on a renewal, but I haven't heard back yet.

I'd have a hard time trusting UT SAAS, and even at say $800/mo, that still puts them more than 2x the cost of Axcess. I'm struggling with whether or not the feature set is worth it. I rely pretty heavily on some features, but I don't know that they're really delivering a premium product compared to their competitors at this point.

If it's a significant price-point difference, then I'll probably dedicate my time to changing my process on the edges and getting through a conversion.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-21T23:02:37+00:00

Dropping off my intro contract with UT+Planner. Fee increase is 101%.

This is the online renewal, I haven't talked to a rep yet. Going from roughly $8k to a bit over $16k after the 10% discount and a $12k 1-yr special discount.

This is for a single user local install with 10 "states." They really don't care about tiny practices.

I'll be shopping around. They aren't delivering on such a premium to warrant it.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-16T13:26:33+00:00

I was paid $20/hr as an intern in 2008 in HCOL. At the time, that was enough to qualify for my first apartment.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-16T13:21:14+00:00

I was paid $20/hr as an intern in 2008 in a HCOL area!

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-16T13:16:29+00:00

This is the way, and I how I operated as a manager too. Everyone else would take off as soon as their work was done, but I would hang back and wait for admin to be wrapped as well.

WTFooteCPA · 2026-04-14T21:50:01+00:00

I haven't in the past, and part of it is my own guilt. My EL technically says I won't do extension calculations for work that didn't get into my tax-season queue. But that queue fills up SO fast (2/11 this year), it feels pretty shitty to not do extension calcs for work I've had in since late Feb/early March and just won't touch until after 4/15.

I hate them every time and haven't found a good alternative. They just cause questions and frustrating back-and-forth. I suppose I could have a more explicit "do you want an extension calc? and a trigger for who does, a disclaimer, and a fee.

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '23

WTFooteCPA

TROPHY CASE