TaxCaddy vs. CCH Axcess Client Collaboration

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Unlike most online portals and document management systems, TaxCaddy was uniquely designed with the taxpayer’s convenience in mind. By making the taxpayer’s job easier, they’re able to provide documents and information in a more timely and accurate manner, which in turn gives your firm an earlier start on preparation.

In 2020, Wolters Kluwer released CCH Axcess™ Client Collaboration, a digital platform that seeks to address similar objectives. But let’s examine how it compares to TaxCaddy.

Along with its standard web browser interface, TaxCaddy also provides a mobile app for taxpayers and a companion app for tax professionals. The TaxCaddy app is free and available for download on Android and iOS. CCH Axcess Client Collaboration does not offer a dedicated mobile app and can only be accessed via web browser.

The TaxCaddy app’s photo-scan feature lets taxpayers snap clear, cropped images of tax documents with their smartphone camera and then upload them as PDF files with the tap of a button. CCH Axcess Client Collaboration doesn’t have the same native mobile apps, so users instead have to scan paper documents from an external device and then upload them.

The TaxCaddy app also gives users optional push notifications so clients can choose to be instantly alerted about a new message or action item. Without a native application to send those alerts, CCH Axcess Client Collaboration users are only notified when they take time to log into the web browser application.

With the free companion TaxCaddy app for tax professionals, members of your team can quickly review and respond to client requests.

With each passing tax season since its release in 2016, SurePrep has listened to feedback from both taxpayers and tax professionals and responded with a long list of enhancements. Over time, CCH Axcess Client Collaboration will release their own set of updates, but TaxCaddy’s 4 additional years of product maturity gives it a distinct advantage.

We introduced Smart Links, an optional add-on that automatically retrieves tax documents from taxpayer’s financial institutions the same day they’re issued. Once the documents are automatically retrieved, the corresponding item is automatically removed from the Document Request List. All clients are asked to do is input their credentials and Smart Links takes care of the rest. CCH Axcess Client Collaboration also has a retrieval feature, but it requires documents be manually categorized by the tax professional whereas Smart Links does not.

TaxCaddy lets users electronically sign any document and boasts a built-in KBA so IRS-approved signatures can be applied for form 8879.

Taxpayers can also invite their spouse to share access to the TaxCaddy account or the spouse can simply e-sign documents without having to log into TaxCaddy at all. With CCH Axcess Client Collaboration, the spouse must have a unique email address to sign engagement letters which can be problematic for couples that share an email address when returns must be completed on separate accounts.

SurePrep has made TaxCaddy’s user interface fully customizable to your firm’s branding. You can add your firm’s logo and color palette in the browser and on the mobile app. CCH Client Collaboration has a section to add your logo, but users will still see the CCH color palette.

In the tax professional interface, TaxCaddy gives you the ability to flag which documents you’d like to include in the binder and convert payment vouchers, questionnaires, and message threads to workpapers. These features are not available for CCH Axcess Client Collaboration, so additional attention and effort is required when assembling the workpapers.

Our solutions facilitate an end-to-end, completely digital tax return preparation process, while remaining tax software agnostic. TaxCaddy is compatible with CCH Axcess Tax, GoSystem Tax RS, Lacerte, and UltraTax CS, along with SafeSend Returns for delivery. CCH Axcess Client Collaboration, on the other hand, only integrates with CCH software.

Additionally, TaxCaddy integrates seamlessly with our other solutions. Documents gathered in TaxCaddy can be instantly routed directly to 1040SCAN and SPbinder. CCH Client Collaboration doesn’t offer similar integration with their scan and populate and workpaper solutions so additional steps are required.

And SurePrep’s integration capability doesn’t stop there. Our REST API lets users customize their integration to automate their 1040 process even further. In order to enhance the TaxCaddy experience, we’ve expanded our API so firms can integrate TaxCaddy data with their workflow software, time and billing system, and other third-party solutions. Our Developer Portal supports your developers with full documentation, specialized support, and more. No API is offered with CCH Axcess Client Collaboration.