Intuit ProConnect Tax Online is cloud-based professional tax software. It integrates with QuickBooks and includes a client portal so that clients can input their tax data online. ProConnect has a pay-per-return pricing structure.
$70.78
per return 1-9 returns
Xero
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Xero is an online accounting software product for small businesses and personal finance. Its features beyond general ledger and double-bookkeeping include quotable invoicing, bank reconciliation, purchase order and expense management, and tax management. Third party apps can extend its features further.
$13
per month
Pricing
Proconnect Tax Online
Xero
Editions & Modules
200-299 returns
$35.98
per return
100-199 returns
$43.17
per return
50-99 returns
$55.17
per return
10-49 returns
$62.98
per return
1-9 returns
$70.78
per return
+300 Returns
Custom Pricing
Early
$13
per month
Growing
$37
per month
Established
$70
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Proconnect Tax Online
Xero
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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Prices in table are in USD and just apply to the US - other markets & prices are listed below:
Canada - Starter $18 CAD/month, Standard $45 CAD/month, Premium 5 $58 CAD/month
UK - Starter £14/month, Standard £28/month, Premium £36/month
AU - Starter $29 AUD/month, Standard $59 AUD/month, Premium 5 $76 AUD/month
NZ - Starter $31 NZD/month, Standard $66 NZD/month, Premium $84 NZD/month
PTO is a solid product for a small/growing tax firm with a finite number of tax returns to prepare. If there is a high volume of tax returns that need to be prepared, a more robust desktop software may be better suited. Desktop product may provide more integration options to …
QuickBooks and Xero have many of the same functions and both will provide a business with the information a basic accounting software would. Xero provides better custom reporting options, and using cash coding it is more efficient for me to reconcile large volumes of …
Intuit has coined the term "Firm of the Future" and its products live up to that moniker. If you run a practice that is cloud based, paperless and makes use of cutting edge tools such as e-signatures, client portals, etc., then this product will be a good fit for you. If you are slow to change and want to use the traditional desktop computing environment and frequently print client draft returns for review, use wet signatures, etc. then this might not be the product for you. If you are already using some of Intuit's products and plan to implement more business clients into QuickBooks Online, I would say this product is a "must have".
If they are using foreign exchange I always use Xero. If I need reporting to be customized we always use Xero. If the client is already working in a software and it is working for them we will leave them in the software they are in.
Their method of moving between screens was very logical and intuitive which is not a "given" attribute among software packages.
Finding transactions was relatively easy with just common sense.
The use of this software was generally well received in that the accountants did not discredit the software as cheap, poorly organized, or timely to learn. No one at Corporate had a vendetta against using Xero.
It does a good job of allowing the users to drill down to the final detail of an account balance - which is fundamental to the accounting department's needs.
I would like to have the ability to sign up a holding company and all its trading entities under one subscription, in order to have amalgamated and separate accounting records and reports for each trading entity.
This is pertaining to my own Xero business clients: I would like to have a full featured, customizable practice client support /ticketing and task manager system, with reminders that can be sent to my clients and my team for various tasks due.
I would like Xero to have a cheaper option for their packages that include invoicing and related documents, as in my country we have options with an opposition accounting firm that offers a subscription where clients can create up to 2000 invoices per year for free.
In addition to the matters covered in this review, my reason for renewing this product is that Xero's functionality and the constant updates that the company provides, makes the software even more business friendly. The software therefore builds a brand loyalty among customers.
Xero has all the features that you need, basically. From chart of accounts, reconciling books, to making annual financial reports. What I'm currently looking for Xero right now is to provide more broader integration with the other apps so we can use it for customer-facing experience also. All in all, everything works well!
We have been actively using and 100% Xero based for our ecommerce accounting practice for over 4 years. There has on been one real outage for more than 5 minutes. Xero was open and transparent about the outage, what they were doing to resolve the issue, and provided 15 minute updates. Showing how they care about their customers and partners. Plus, showing that their customers care too, were understanding, and went surfing or in our case took a nap. Couldn't run our business without Xero as a partner.
Pages generally load quickly, but it's a fairly common occurrence to have pages taking a bit longer than I'd like to load (as in, 4+ seconds). Occasionally I have to refresh a page to get it to work. Bank feed and integrations tend to be slow in general, but that could easily be due to API latency on the side of the other parties. Most of the time, though, the bank feeds refresh before I login so it's not a huge problem. Not necessarily good performance compared to a local app like QuickBooks desktop, but definitely good performance for a cloud application. Room for growth? yes.
The support is, excellent and Intuit overall provides good support. Their customer service representatives are friendly and always assist with issues when needed. There are multiple ways to contact the support team. I have not sued them though very much for technical tax issues and primarily the customer service team when needed.
Always respond and keep issues open until you are satisfied with the result. Generally good responses, in the past, I had some support responses that were really basic and really annoying. They type where "have your tried restarting your computer" style of answers. Well, of course, I went through all the basics before contacting them. Duh, but I suppose not everyone does. Otherwise, it would be a 10. The last year has shown a marked improvement in the support responses however.
All of Xero's training is online and available for anyone (business owner or accountants) to learn and become experts in their system. There is a range of content from product training to real world webinars from their partners. Xero is beautiful accounting software and their training is the same.
If it can be done, time the implementation near a new fiscal year so you can start clean. Otherwise, you have to go back and do historical data from the beginning of the fiscal year, which can be brain draining.
I think ProConnect Tax Online is better than competitors. As I am new to my career, the only software I have used are ProConnect Tax Online, and Thomson Reuters Ultra Tax. I prefer cloud-based software, but I think Ultra Tax is easier software to learn on. It is easier to learn on because it is form based
I've used a lot of different accounting systems. Many of them so big and powerful, but a hassle to get set up. Xero is light, inexpensive, and easy to use. When I originally selected them they seemed like they were developing new features at a quick rate as well. I was invited to be part of focus sessions to make the product better. That part has slowed down significantly though.
I have yet to fully stress test the product given the size of the company where I am using it. I am sure as we scale to more customers, more vendors and more reporting requirements, I will have a better understanding of what it is capable of in terms of bandwidth and processing
Just being the administrative assistant I can't really talk on ROI - that would be for my boss to address. But since our office strives to be completely paperless efiling fits in with our paperless narrative.
Saved many hours through automatic invoices and followups
Saved many hours by allowing transactions to start via bank feeds (ie I don't have to input a transaction and mark it against what is in the bank/cc account; rather, the transaction in the account is where you input the transaction into the books.
Has the scalability my business requires, and not much more.
