Drake Tax vs. TurboTax: Key Differences for Your Business

Choosing between Drake Tax and TurboTax is just the first decision. The next, more strategic one, is deciding where to run your chosen software to unlock its full potential for your modern business. In today’s remote and flexible work environment, cloud hosting has become the critical enabler.

Businesses​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ that are at the crossroads of tax preparation outsourcing services or in-house look at Drake Tax vs TurboTax software as the determining criterion. However, acquiring the software alone is no longer the solution. How you use your tax software is what gives you the real competitive advantage. The argument that pitted one tax software package against the other has evolved into a more profound question: Should your desktop be a prison or your cloud be your flight?

When you move your tax software, whether it’s the tough call professional Drake or the nice-to-see user TurboTax, to a secure, managed cloud environment, you will have addressed all the basic problems of accessibility, collaboration, and IT management, to distil your tax workflow from a seasonal chore into a streamlined, year-round advantage.

Where each one of the two tax software excels and at the same time delineates how Sagenext’s tax software hosting platform turns any one of your chosen solutions into a powerful tool that will make your business more versatile and ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌productive.

Drake​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Tax – A Powerhouse Solution for Tax Professionals

Drake Tax is created to be a full-featured suite for professional tax preparers, accountants, and firms that handle tax returns for numerous clients.

• Target Audience & Scale: It is largely a volume-driven product. The perfect fit for CPAs or tax practices that deal with client returns numbering from dozens up to hundreds on a yearly basis.
• Workflow & Complexity: Allows pretty much all federal and state forms for complex tax situations. Its user interface and features are very much in line with professional workflows, e.g., client management, detailed diagnostics, etc.
• Pricing Model: In most cases, it is a professional pricing approach, i.e., a Pay-Per-Return (PPR) type package for small volumes, which can be upgraded to an unlimited version for large volume filers.

TurboTax: Your Step-by-Step Tax Assistant & Small Business Partner

As a household brand, TurboTax from Intuit is the undisputed champion in the consumer and small business DIY market segment by focusing on a guided, user-friendly experience.

• Target Audience: The business owner, the self-employed guy, and the sole proprietor who, with a hint of expert guidance, decide to prepare their own taxes are the ones who get the best of it.
• Workflow & Ease of Use: Known for its highly intuitive, interview-style interface, which basically holds the user’s hand throughout the process of preparing a tax return.
• Pricing Model: Has a product tiering tree – Basic, Deluxe, Premier, and Self-Employed – with a very straightforward upgrading initiative based on the complexity of taxes. Just a heads up: The TurboTax Free Edition basically serves only simple, personal tax return (Form 1040) filers with no business or 1099 ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌income.

The table below summarizes these key distinctions:

Why Cloud Hosting is the Modern Solution for Tax Software

If you run resource-hungry desktop applications such as Drake Tax directly on a local computer or office server, you basically create a bottleneck situation. This is because you are bound to one device only, and you cannot work very smoothly with someone else. Moreover, you also have to take care of all security, updates, and backups.

Hosting your tax applications through software as a service helps to overcome these problems because your software is installed on safe, well-performing remote servers. You connect to it through the internet, just like you stream a film or use webmail.

This is not a change of software, but a radical change in how you access and use it.

The Major Advantages of Hosting with Sagenext

Transitioning to a managed cloud platform like Sagenext can completely change the tax preparation scenario from one that is very location-centric to one that is flexible and efficient. The main reasons as to how it is possible are as follows:

Work from Anywhere, Anytime: You can get into your entire Drake Tax or TurboTax desktop set-up through any device, like a laptop, tablet or even your home computer. This facility is of immense value when you want to do your work remotely, during client on-site meetings, or simply when you are out of the conventional work hours.

Easy Team Collaboration: Various team members and even outsourced professionals can securely use client files and software at the same time though located in different places. So, one never needs to handle different versions of the same file, and review cycles get accelerated.

Enterprise Security & Compliance: Sagenext’s hardware is constructed from the ground up to be in line with the tight data security rules set by the IRS and other government bodies.

Getting rid of IT problems and hidden costs: Sagenext oversees all server upkeep, software updating, and technical help. You enjoy freedom from the unpredictability of IT expenses and have ample time to concentrate on your main business–serving the clients. Besides, the subscription model also allows converting an expensive capital expenditure (servers) into a predictable operational cost.

Guaranteed High Performance & Uptime: Sagenext uses high-performance cloud resources, ensuring your software runs smoothly, especially during peak tax season when processing large files.

How Sagenext Hosting Improves Your Specific Software

Users of Drake Tax Software:

If your firm also uses accounting software such as QuickBooks or Sage 50, then Sagenext is a great Drake hosting option.

They have plans laid out in a way that offers combined hosting, which can save you a considerable amount in costs.

For instance, hosting Drake Tax for two or more users comes with free hosting of QuickBooks Desktop or Sage 50.

Having all these in one secure platform not only saves more time but also optimizes the use of software when tax data and accounting records need to be interfaced.

For TurboTax Business Users:

While TurboTax is usually cloud-accessible, a firm that works with several preparers or multiple locations and uses this software can ask for a central hosted desktop environment.

Sagenext is capable of hosting the desktop version so as to make it possible for everyone to work on a similar, securely configured setup with all client data stored in one protected location.

This is a perfect match for the small practices that rely on the professional or business editions of TurboTax and, at the same time, want to keep a tight rein on data access and security.

Initiation & Pricing

Starting at $59 per month and with transparent tiered plans based on your needs, Sagenext is the right choice.

The price varies with the number of people who will be accessing the system, the storage amount that is needed, and the apps that you want to host.

• Starter: $59/month – Best suited for a solo practitioner, with 6GB storage.
• Popular Plans: $80 – $180/month – Designed for small teams (2-5 users) with more storage and additional applications.
• Scalable Plans: Adding users, storage (generally ~$1/GB/month), or applications such as Microsoft 365 can be done easily as your firm expands.

To put it simply, Sagenext provides a 7-day free trial, which makes it possible for you to try your tax software’s performance and feel in the cloud without any risk.

Without any doubt, this is the best way to see the advantages firsthand before you ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌decide.

Frequently​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Asked Questions

How much does TurboTax cost?

TurboTax offers different pricing levels. Its free edition is limited to very simple personal tax returns. If you have a business to report (Schedule C, partnerships, corporations), the paid versions would start from around $120 and can go up to over $400, depending on the complexity and if you also add a live expert or full-service preparation.

How much does Drake Tax software cost?

Drake is employing professional pricing models. One common choice is a Pay-Per-Return (PPR) package, for instance, $345 for the first 10 returns, with extra filings being charged separately at a per-return rate. Typically, after a certain number of returns (e.g., 85), you become eligible for a license that allows an unlimited number of returns. For exact annual licensing quotes, you will have to get in touch with Drake Software directly.

Is TurboTax good for an LLC?

Indeed, TurboTax offers specific products for LLCs. It assists single-member LLCs (Sole Proprietors) in preparing Schedule C and multi-member LLCs (Partnerships) in completing Form 1065. Its back-and-forth interview method is essentially a business owner’s guide when they have to deal with such filings.

Why choose Sagenext for tax software hosting?

Sagenext provides reliable, secure, and valuable services altogether. The major advantages are their concentration on tax and accounting software, inclusive hosting packages which help cut down on spending (e.g., free QuickBooks hosting if you use Drake), compliance with IRS security standards, and a promise of 24/7 live support with a 5-minute target response time by a real person.

Making a choice between Drake Tax and TurboTax means deciding on your tool. Selecting Sagenext as your host for that tool means choosing a modern, efficient, and secure workflow. Nowadays, cloud hosting isn’t an IT luxury anymore but a strategic business essential in times when flexibility and security are of the utmost ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌importance.