u/Grumpy-EA

Not sure how many of you are in California, but for those of you that are, you should be aware that SB 122 has been signed by the governor.

It extends sales tax to intangibles like business software, even if they are not delivered on physical media.

Depending on your County and City, you'll now pay 9.5 - 10.5 percent sales tax on your tax software, quickbooks, tax research, website services, zoom, and any other non-custom software that you buy, whether on physical media, downloaded, or SaaS.

It's effective as of January 1, 2027.

It sucks, but that's how California closed their budget gap.

I'm a small solo tax practitioner (about 150 1040/1041 clients, $200k) who will probably retire in 2-3 years. My exit strategy is still uncertain, but probably will be a client sale.

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I use SurePrep and Lacerte. I started using TaxCaddy when I started with SurePrep 5 years ago, getting rid of Intuit Link to gather client docs and securely message them.

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Thomson Reuters bought SurePrep and TaxCaddy, and has wrecked TaxCaddy. Awful offshore "support," removed key features, lost 3 days of client uploads last March, and keeps asking my divorced clients and widows to have their spouses sign.

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I deliver returns through Lacerte and bill from QuickBooks, so I don't need much on the Deliver side. Of course, Lacerte just replaced DocuSign with their own solution, so I don't know how that will go.

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But I can't find any good alternatives. T-R also bought SafeSend as their "Strategic" product for Gather and Deliver, but it's 2x the price and lacks any messaging.

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I've looked at Soroban for a couple of years, but now they require at least 300 seats or they won't talk to you.

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Stanford Tax lacks messaging; you need to use emails.

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I haven't scheduled Truss for an update meeting yet, but I think they also have a minimum that's more than my client base.

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TaxDome feels like a lot to learn if my payback period is only a few years.

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I'm still pissed at Canopy for promising free transcripts forever 8-9 years ago and reneging on that. But I suppose there are new people there now.

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Am I missing any possibilities? Any recommendations?

I've had 2 clients contact me this weekend regarding Q2 estimated payments withdrawn on Friday, June 12. Both were scheduled in Lacerte for June 15th. One is worried that his deposit may not clear until tomorrow, and the payment will not be honored.

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Has anyone else seen this early direct debit for this quarter's payment?