Practice management software developer Canopy announced general availability Tuesday of Tax Prep, its professional tax preparation software.
The Lehi, Utah-based company has been beta-testing the cloud-based software for months, with an eye toward releasing it this summer to give tax professionals a chance to try it out before next tax season (see
“With Tax Prep, Canopy now offers the first comprehensive platform for tax professionals that seamlessly integrates tax preparation, tax resolution and practice management software all in one — a substantial step forward for the accounting industry since no holistic solution was previously available,” said Canopy CEO Kurt Avarell in a statement. “Over the past many months of beta-testing, we have refined Tax Prep to respond to the precise needs of accounting firms across the country today. We integrated feedback from customers as well as the company’s internal accounting professionals, which make up a large percentage of our workforce.”
The rapidly growing company was forced to lay off part of its staff in March, but retained its accountants and developers to complete the new program (see
Canopy Tax Prep groups together forms and schedules into categories that allow users to answer contextually related questions, whichever federal or state forms they are working on. Users can review returns in tax form layout and they have the ability to switch between each section, search for specific forms, or scroll through the entire return. They can run diagnostics to catch errors before filing a return and share tax returns with clients for review through a client portal. The software supports electronic signatures for federal and state e-file authorization forms. It automates bank account detail collection for payments and tax refunds.
The software is currently available to file individual tax returns in 24 states. For the 2019 tax year, Canopy plans to introduce Forms 1065, 1120, 1120S and 1041 to support both individual and business tax returns in eight states.
