PDF Version of Organizer

[CPATerri]

My clients are requesting FILLABLE organizers.  Can you make this happen so we can stop with the paper organizers?   The e-organizer is not something most of my clients can work with so a fillable PDF would be great. 

[smartcpa]

Robert

My first question is - if your firm has this technology, why doesn't Lacerte have this built into their software? (rhetorical I guess)

Second, I use Kofax PDF Professional.  Will your application work with this PDF software?

Finally, thank you for providing a missing piece to the puzzle that is Intuit.  At least someone is listening to the user community!

[DatabaseRobert]

Because I hunted down somebody who is a wizard with Adobe PDFs, and he beat the organizers into submission for me.

Backstory:
  We started emailing out PDFs--fundamentally duplicating the IRS' behavior "turn tax preparers into their data entry folks", and instead "shifting our printing costs to clients if they want to print the organizer"--in January of 2011 from the TY2010 software.
  Naturally, many clients asked, "why can't we just type into it?"
  I explained that the multi-billion-dollar company Intuit did not make that possible with the PDF organizers that they generated.
  Fast forward to when, in calendar 2018, I was given a reference to David's company (that is his site to which I posted the link) and he collaborated with me to take source pages that have fields on them, recognize the text of the page-header at the top (year, fed/state, page to use) and lay the relevant fields out onto them.
  So for the 2018, 2019, 2020, and now 2021 tax years, we have had fillable PDFs to send to clients.

If you--or any user here--would like a sample copy of our 2020 blank organizer, please feel free to write me at "[email address removed] ".
  (Paradox is the database program that I did many years of manipulation of Lacerte information via, and so hence also my handle here: DatabaseRobert.
  Yes, I can consult about ODBC connections/direct manipulation of Lacerte data tables & detail files, if anyone is interested in that, either.)

The 2021 is still getting the intro pages re-written, so not yet ready for prime time.  We typically send them all out in mid-January, after Congress is (largely) finished re-writing tax law.

And no-one should feel too badly about me flacking an advert here, either: I have sent (blank) sample copies of our finished product to "all of the programmers' email addresses that I have for Lacerte/Intuit" on a regular basis, so there's a good dozen of them that know that it *can* be done.

I will say in their defense that it is not an easy task.
  They start with fields on the page (where they put the prior year information).
  Then they turn all of the pages into "no fields".
  There may or may not be field code numbers (because when we generate Organizers, we can choose not to show them).
  Then there need to be fields laid on for the client to use.  How about that "grid of columns" on page 11/12 Int/Div, or page17/22 asset sales?  Or--true client of ours--the guy with 40+ rental properties, so "page18/1  #1", "page18/2 #1", "page18/1 #2", "page18/2 #2", ... "page18/47 #1", "page18/47 #2"...

.

Unfortunately, no: Adobe Acrobat full version (I think "DC", with no numbering any more, is the most up-to-date).  He works only with that base program, not any of the third-party software that also deal with PDFs.
  Since a single-user license is about a hundred bucks even if you do NO price shopping, we did not feel that it was anything too onerous for an accounting firm.
  And only one license for Adobe is needed: there is the ability to set up an "Action" in Adobe, point to some number of files/an entire folder, and say "process them all."  For handy reference, we include the file needed to do that in the ZIP with the pages of fields.
  Between 11:36am and 6:07pm one day this past January, my machine churned its way through 566 (of our 2,554 total) INDividual Organizers  All told I was done with all of them between January 26th through the 30th.  (Later than usual this year, because the front pages were--still!--being re-written.)

Robert

[DatabaseRobert]

""page18/47 #1", "page18/47 #2""

I just realized that I switched the reference here: this should be "page18/1 #47" and "page18/2 #47".  (Each rental has two pages.)

Derp.

[RDYCPA]

I'm very interested. Q - How does this work if one customizes the questions? And, can the proformaed information be adjusted? More specifically - update address (ok) or PY information (not ok).

[DatabaseRobert]

Unfortunately, ALL of the questionnaire pages have the same title bar at the top of the sheet, so there is no way for this utility to recognize "this is page1 of questions" or "this is page 6 of questions".  What we do here is generate the questionnaire as an original PDF out of Lacerte, keep it as a completely separate document that we then lay all of the fields out appropriately, and then put it together with the window envelope slip sheet, cover & engagement letters, and the rest of "all that stuff up front" before the actual tax data.
  The same command also assigns our master-password (the same for ALL files, so that any staffer can open any file that we generate without having to know any client info) as well as the user-password (they have "open", "fill-in", and "print" privileges, so they can admire it on screen or admire it on paper, but make no other changes to the document).
  That stand-alone utility is "PDFtk" (PDF ToolKit), a free command-line tool that I use for a TON of things.
[removed] 

I realize, though, that not everyone is as comfortable as I am with things like that, so there is a "skip <some # of> pages" setting in the JavaScript, in order to "hop over" all of the leading pages.  Since the slip sheets, cover & engagement letters, and so on, typically do not even HAVE any fields to complete...  if you use five sheets, tell the utility to "skip the first 5 sheets" of all organizers.
  That should all be described in text when you download.

.

The data generated by Lacerte--all of the prior year information--sits on the page.  It is left-aligned, and printed in black.  (See on your own organizers.)
  Our fields are all RIGHT-aligned, and in blue.

Any of the pre-printed information CANNOT be changed, nor would you want it to be (as you correctly supposed).
  If there is NO change to the information, client does nothing.
  If there is a change (new phone, new email, different street address, added child, whatever) they just type in the relevant field.
  Even if the length of pre-print (coming from the left) overlaps with a very long new input (coming from the right), the black/blue different will make it obvious.  Also, the preparer can just click on the field to copy the value as typed by the client.

.

And it looks like this board redacts out email addresses if you post, so no-one saw my direct contact offer the other day.
  If you prefer to reach out to me, I am at "ParadoxForLacerte" (Paradox is the database program that I used to thrash Lacerte's data into obedience).
  The domain is "at Yahoo.com".



Robert

[rwcpa]

Also, please integrate the pdf fillable organizer with Intuit Link; my clients like Intuit Link but think it is a substitute for the organizer and try to input info under the Q & A section, and there is no prior year #s to refer to. So in intuit link shere it asks for the Sch C info, why not link to the organizer?

[CPATerri]

So Lacerte, you didn’t implement this, boo.  Here’s another suggestion since we are still stuck with paper organizers. How about removing clients birthdates from printing like you do with socials, that way when it gets lost in the mail the bad guys don’t have their birthdates. 

[sjrcpa]

@CPATerri This has been requested for years. I hope you didn't really think that user suggestions get implemented, did you?

This "new" Lacerte Tax Idea Exchange is just feel good window dressing so they can act like they listen.

[Sickofthissoftware]

Couldn't agree more.  The E-organizer is terrible.   Please make the PDF a fillable form BUT PLEASE STILL MAKE IT CUSTOMIZABLE.   There are many questions I add to your questionnaire along with a signature line.   I even re-word questions because I've had to many clients misunderstand the questions.  

[Coralee]

Yes this is what we need!