The Intuit ProConnect Group has updated ProSeries and Lacerte for tax year 2018. In a year fraught with tax law changes, updates for ease and efficiency will be welcome by tax professionals. According to Intuit, the changes are focused on efficiency, productivity and performance.

Both ProSeries and Lacerte will be up-to-date with IRS-approved tax reform changes, Intuit says. ProSeries will include new IRS forms, worksheets and calculations for the new qualified business income deduction to help minimize clients’ taxes, a simpler 1040 worksheet so that the majority of entries will be familiar year over year, and in-product client impact tools such as client analyzer queries for business returns. Lacerte will have a new 1040 optimization to handle the new postcard-sized return, a client-ready Tax Reform Impact Summary and new tax reform related diagnostics to stay on top of potential tax reform changes.

Users of the software can now visit Intuit’s recently updated Tax Reform Resource Center for tax reform news and tools, which includes the QBI Entity Selection Calculator and in-depth tax reform webinars, for help with the updates.

ProSeries tax year 2018 updates include:

• New viewing options for Forms in Use: In ProSeries Professional, tax professionals can now customize their view for easier navigation in complex returns, with the option to collapse subforms, such as K-1 worksheets, asset worksheets and source documents like 1099 or W-2. The active form will appear in white highlight within the forms bar to help quickly navigate when reviewing returns.

• Federal business returns added for client queries: Tax pros can now run 18 new client analyzer queries across four types of federal business returns: 1120 Federal Corp, 1120 Federal S Corp, Partnership 1065, and Estates and Trusts. Plus, the option to export reports to Excel.

• Optimized resolution: For high-resolution monitors, text size, buttons and other elements will now automatically adjust to the screen for a clearer view.

• Customer service: There will be an enhanced self-help system including help articles and FAQs, peer community answers, and tips.

Overall, there are 89-plus new forms and 27-plus new e-file capabilities in ProSeries. ProSeries Professional was made available for download on Nov. 15 and ProSeries Basic will be available on Dec. 6.

Lacerte tax year 2018 updates include:

• Quarterly payment estimates in one step: Supports e-filing for four quarterly estimated payments in one transmission step for key states, with an upgraded estimated payment wizard.

• Client log access controls: Gives firm administrators the ability to decide which staff members have access rights to clear client logs, aimed at helping avoid unauthorized use of Lacerte software.

• Unlimited cities in one return: Users can file a single return with an unlimited number of cities for these four states: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

• Security: Includes an additional level of data encryption to help further protect data and in-product security tips.

• Customer Service: More staff on-hand to take calls, as well as a new “Hold My Spot” feature so callers don’t have to wait on hold.

In addition to these, Lacerte has added partner and oil gas data management, partner search acceleration to save time on complex partnership returns, and link enhancements to track each client’s recent activity and update information on their behalf. Lacerte 2018 is now equipped with 107-plus new forms and 59-plus new e-file capabilities to handle complex scenarios and is available for download.

Visit Personalized Training Portal for to find training modules with content, videos and webinars about these features and more tax professional software. For more information about Lacerte and ProSeries visit proconnect.intuit.com.