UltraTax CS is the Thomson Reuters tax return preparation application for accounting firms, and it is the centre of a family of practice applications known as the CS Professional Suite. The suite also includes Accounting CS and Accounting CS Payroll, Workpapers CS, Practice CS, Fixed Assets CS, Planner CS, FileCabinet CS and the NetFirm CS, NetStaff CS and NetClient CS portals.[8] The licensing model differs from the hosted legal products: the software can be installed in the firm’s own office, hosted by Thomson Reuters as Software as a Service, or run in a Virtual Office environment, and each form has its own renewal and measure.[7]
UltraTax CS pricing is not published as a list. The product page says that custom pricing is available based on the number of users, tax returns, and states and jurisdictions of operations.[10] The firm’s price-list PDF is available after sign-in, under the Renewals tab, and in the application under Utilities, CS Connect, Fee Schedule.[11]
Governing agreement
The agreement depends on when the firm first licensed UltraTax CS. A firm that first licensed the application on or after 7 June 2017 accepted the Customer Agreement; a firm that licensed it earlier accepted the CS Professional Suite License Agreement.[6] The Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting standard terms (the Onvio terms) describe software licences as including updates (bug fixes, patches, maintenance releases) but not upgrades, with additional terms that may set permitted installations, users, locations and operating environment.[12] The relationship between those terms and the older agreement should be confirmed from the firm’s own paperwork.
Licence types
UltraTax CS offers two commercial options for returns. An unlimited licence covers a return type without per-return fees, and Per-Return Pricing (PRP) is a licence option under which the firm pays a fee for each return not covered by an unlimited licence.[4] The two can be mixed: a PRP licence is needed for any return types not covered by an unlimited licence.[4] The return types the help articles list are 1040 Individual, 1120 Corporation, 1065 Partnership, 1041 Fiduciary, 990 Exempt Organization, 5500 Beneficiary Plan, 706 Estate Tax, 709 Gift Tax and 2290 Heavy Vehicle Use Tax.[5]
How PRP is metered
PRP is a metered, pay-as-you-prepare model, and the metering happens in the application.[5]
- A PRP licence is obtained from Customer Support, and a method of payment is selected.[4]
- The preparer enters a taxpayer identification number for the client, adds the state for state returns and downloads a PRP code; this must be done before the return is previewed, printed or filed.[5]
- The code is stored in the client properties, with a PRP code field on each federal and state tab, and ties the transaction to the client being paid for.[5]
- Each month Thomson Reuters charges the firm for the PRP codes downloaded, and the transactions appear in a Current Year Account Details report in My Account.[4]
- A refund for a PRP code is requested by email to Customer Support.[5]
A firm that wants a different preparer block on a return can use a PRP preparer block, which is added for the firm and the client before the code is downloaded.[5] Some CS Connect transmissions, such as electronic filing, PRP and client organizer transmissions, carry a fee marked with a dollar symbol in the CS Connect window.[11]
Choosing between PRP and unlimited
The renewal help article gives the decision rule. The Client Totals report in UltraTax CS shows how many returns have been processed in the year, and the firm should keep it on hand to determine whether a PRP or unlimited licence is best.[1] The breakeven point is the point at which it is cheaper to purchase an unlimited licence instead of paying per return; it is found by dividing the total number of transactions against the cost of the licence, or from the Breakeven report in My Account.[1]
Multiple offices
Additional licensing is required if multiple offices use UltraTax CS. There are two configurations: Branch (Multi-Office), for firms using UltraTax CS at multiple branch locations, and Office Share, for firms operating as independent businesses but sharing one installation.[3] Branch and Office Share licences must be arranged by the CS Professional Suite Sales department.[3] With a Branch licence a single CS Connect session downloads all branch licences using the main firm’s Firm ID and PIN, while an Office Share requires each member’s licence to be installed separately.[3] In both cases UltraTax CS selects the licence from the preparer assigned to the client, so each preparer must be associated with a firm.[3] For a licence inventory, a newly added or acquired office is the point at which the licence configuration should be checked.
Renewal and version rights
UltraTax CS renews automatically each year. The renewal period opens in mid November; changes made after the yearly renewal is paid can be made until November 15 of that fiscal year; the renewal can be financed through February 23 of the following year; and a product can be removed from automatic renewal online under My Account.[1] UltraTax CS licences do not have an expiration date because a new application is released every year, and on renewal the firm gets access to the current version and the previous seven versions.[2] Thomson Reuters adds UltraTax CS to all Virtual Office firms regardless of renewal status, though an unrenewed firm cannot download licences.[2] Technical support is available only if the licence is current and not within the grace period.[2]
Under the General Terms for the US, the contractual default is renewal for a year unless 30 days’ notice is given and price changes on 60 days’ notice.[13] The help-centre renewal calendar (mid November) and the contractual notice periods are separate dates, so both should be recorded.
Other applications in the suite
Other CS applications have their own renewal calendars: Accounting CS and Workpapers CS renew by March 1 with a 60-day grace period, Practice CS by October 1 with a 45-day grace period, and Fixed Assets CS, FileCabinet CS and ToolBox CS by November 1 with a 45-day grace period.[2] Accounting CS has a standard licence, under which some features continue after expiry but updates and technical support need renewal, and renewable licences for payroll features such as Accounting CS Payroll Compliance, which stop working after the 60-day grace period.[7] The licence information screen shows seats, the number of concurrent users allowed, and units: for Accounting CS Payroll each unit is a client with live payroll enabled, and for Workpapers CS each unit is a staff member in a security group with Workpapers CS permissions.[7] A licence expired for more than 90 days but less than four years needs reinstatement, and one expired for four years or more must be repurchased.[7]
Trial licences can be installed on a local machine, network or terminal server, with a limit of 24 users on a networked installation; Accounting CS trials allow up to 5 clients and watermark reports.[7]
SaaS for CS Professional Suite
Thomson Reuters also hosts the suite as SaaS. The price list sets a standard start-up package at $1,850 covering setup and configuration and a transition programme, and prices SaaS by profile of use per month.[8]
| Profile | Monthly price | Applications in the profile matrix |
|---|---|---|
| Full Service | $761 | UltraTax CS, Accounting CS, Accounting CS Payroll, Workpapers CS, Fixed Assets CS, Planner CS, Practice CS, FileCabinet CS, Microsoft Office with Exchange |
| Tax | $651 | UltraTax CS, Workpapers CS, Fixed Assets CS, Planner CS, Practice CS, FileCabinet CS, Microsoft Office with Exchange |
| Accounting | $501 | Accounting CS, Accounting CS Payroll, Workpapers CS, Fixed Assets CS, Practice CS, FileCabinet CS, Microsoft Office with Exchange |
| Admin | $368 | Practice CS, FileCabinet CS, Microsoft Office with Exchange |
The minimum is $761 per firm per month for any combination of activated profiles, and a multiple user discount of 8%, 18%, 25% or 35% applies to the total monthly fee for 2 to 4, 5 to 8, 9 to 12 and 13 or more profiles.[8] The price list works an example: one Full Service and one Tax profile is $761 plus $651 less 8%, or $1,299.04.[8] The UltraTax CS row notes that it includes PRP and ELF fees.[8]
Additional charges apply outside the profiles. Source Document Processing is $11 per client per year or $2,380 for an unlimited licence; eSignature carries a $1 per-document fee, or $5 for knowledge-based authentication on Form 8878/8879; web organizers are included with NetClient CS, and otherwise $1 posting and $3 retrieval fees apply per client for the 1040 organizer.[8] NetFirm CS space is allocated in aggregate, at 4 GB per NetStaff CS portal with SaaS access, 500 MB per portal without and 500 MB per NetClient CS portal, and storage above the allocation is $9 per GB per month.[8] The price list carries no effective date, so current prices must be confirmed with Thomson Reuters.
Support scope
Support assists with CS Professional Suite applications in supported environments. It does not include tax preparation advice or validation of tax or payroll compliance, and it does not cover hardware configuration, user and workstation setup, network administration, third-party software or unsupported environments.[9] For Virtual Office CS and SaaS, a separate support department handles opening applications, slow applications, Microsoft Exchange and Remote Desktop.[9]
Practical points
- Keep the Client Totals report each season and compare PRP spend with the cost of unlimited licences before the mid-November renewal opens.
- Record which offices use which Firm ID and PIN; branch and office-share licences are tied to the firm assigned to the preparer.
- Track seat and unit counts for Accounting CS and Workpapers CS from the Help, About screen.
- For SaaS, record the profile held by each person and compare the total with the minimum and the discount band.
Out of scope
This article does not cover pricing for the current tax year, which Thomson Reuters supplies by quote or in a sign-in fee schedule, the Canadian and other non-US versions of UltraTax, or ONESOURCE and Checkpoint, which are in ONESOURCE and Tax & Accounting product terms.