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Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity (2)

I previously wrote about Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity. This Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity letter, to Florida Governor Crist, is four pages with narrow margins. The total Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity package. to our Department of Revenue, was about 50 pages. So if you want to help appeal, repeal or litigate the Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity, or have a Tax Cut CPA, to really fight these and other outrageous taxes for you, please let me know.

MICHAEL BLOCK CPA

14 E Oakland Park Blvd

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334

 

 (954) 566-7540, FAX 566-7541

October 26, 2009

The Honorable Governor

    Mr. Charlie Crist

PL-05, The Capitol

Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Re: Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity

    2,600% tax increases, unconstitutional penalties and interest.

I wrote to you about Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity on April 9 (attached A).

Many years ago, in only six weeks, you created a lifetime supporter by turning a Senate Committee 13-2 vote (for a useless container tax) into a 14-1 rejection. You may not recall our Trojan horse, but you courteously accepted petitions and closely listened to long arguments from supporters and me. That tax made small stores, with local suppliers, not competitive with large ones (due to paperwork and suppliers claiming unverifiable out-of-state recycling). The approach that got you a #1 Cato Institute rating also should make you recoil from 2,600% tax increases.

 

James Evers (Evers), Department of Revenue (DOR), Director, General Tax Administration, sent me a good response on June 2 (attached B), but could solve nothing. Other good employees helped. My Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity blog article (http://ow.ly/vgNc) appeared on September 6. A web search then had around 7,000 links to these words. Yahoo now has 278,000 such links, with my posts first (except for a malware site).

The key Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity relates to outrageous penalties, hiding as 2,600% tax increases. In almost 50 years in public accounting, with occasional clients in most states, there was only one way to calculate unemployment tax rates. Add a base rate to an experience rate for each employer. Experience rates reflect unemployment tax collected on an employer account, versus unemployment benefits paid on it. Recent combined Florida rates have been 0.2% to 5.4%. Low rates are important during hard economic times. Responsible employers get them by keeping employees, so unemployment benefits are low. The new insanity damages the best employers, by raising all rates to 5.4%. It has little or no effect on the worst employees, who hire and fire indiscriminately, as rates are already at or close to 5.4%.

Here is how DOR hides these 2,600% tax increases. Near the end of each year, employers get standard notices advising them of their new combined Unemployment rate for the next year. Few employers question accountants about this. For example, we often say there is no use arguing this mechanical computation, when the only change can be to the already final unemployment benefits.

Now, however, it takes one unpaid bill, or one unresolved missing return notice, on one unknown date, to change experience rates. All rates affected become 5.4% for a full year. For the many employers, who otherwise had 0.2% rates, the 5.4% rate is a 2,600% increase. It applies to the first $7,000 or wages, so the tax goes from $14 to $378 per employee.

DOR balance due or missing return notices seem wrong or waived more than 90% of the time. Any litigation will ask the court to take judicial notice of prior extraordinary DOR incompetence. We had to file SEVEN sets of duplicate returns (for around SEVEN clients) for one 2007 quarter alone. Most originals and duplicates went certified mail (return receipt, combined). I also personally gave a set with an experienced Coral Springs DOR agent. Nothing helped. The agent said she was leaving soon due to terrible Unemployment system problems. A letter to the Governor and a call from a senior Tallahassee DOR supervisor let us fax a set. He agreed to accept all returns as timely filed, waiving all penalties and interest and refunding penalty payments made. Fortunately, he gave me his name and number, as two months later all clients got new penalty notices for this SAME quarter!

Multiply this disaster by what happens with DOR almost every quarter and you will know why these small payroll clients can only pay me a tiny fraction of the value of the time we spend. It is Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity for me to spend $7,000+ more unpaid time on this letter and a few related notices alone, but that is what it took. Therefore, it is patently outrageous for Florida to use its notoriously ineffective return processing system as a basis for hidden taxes and penalties of up to 2,600%.

Under the fourteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, no State shall deprive one of property without due process, or deny equal protection of law. Valid notices do not hide big penalties as 2,600% tax increases. Therefore, concealing the reason for the increase makes such notices legally invalid. There can be no defense or tolling of a statute of limitations in such cases. This also violates federal equal protection. It does not matter if it applies to those with 0.2% rates, 5.2% rates, or anything between. Increasing all rates to a 5.4% rate means one offense gives some 5.2% rate increases and others no rate increase, with many between these amounts. Zero to 2,600% tax increases are not equal protection for the same offense. It also does not matter if notices are outstanding for two days or 11 months. It only matters if they are outstanding on one date. This too is not equal protection. A federal Civil Rights Act class action suit, with an emergency temporary restraining order, should make Florida pay legal fees and costs.

 

The 2,600% increase probably violates one other federal law. The federal government partly funds Florida unemployment benefits. It is likely that that formula depends on the tax Florida charges. It is unlikely it contemplates 2,600% increases based on paperwork. This may cost Florida far more than these outrageous hidden tax / penalty increases. It may cost substantial federal funds.

DOR compounds these outrageous hidden penalty taxes with more newly enacted penalties. How can a system generating massive erroneous paperwork get better by adding more?

 

Evers mentions having local personnel process returns and payments. That will be good, as locally filed returns and payments are now in limbo for months. Final bills also rarely match local agreements. Did my prior letter help stop the ridiculous local use of automatic dialers? They left messages telling us to call, with no client name, tax period or unemployment number.  Local agents did not know the company, even if called at once. Then they add penalties and file liens, since one “calls back.” Please stop this.

 

The electronic filing and payment Evers mentions is good, but NOT for those with less than ten employees. Despite this, DOR notices improperly say DOR did not get EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) payments or E-file. Many notices also impose penalties for not filing or paying electronically on a company with nine employees. Half of all returns are still paper, so such EFT notices are insanity.

 

Evers checked E-filing status for companies on my schedule attached (updated C), but did not detail Florida E-file numbers and other changes on a schedule previously sent and now updated. We urgently need this for current returns. We also sent Minutes for all companies (D). They make me a Vice President. It is insanity for DOR employees to say one must be in the Secretary of State Sunbiz database to be an officer. Secretary of State instructions say, at https://efile.sunbiz.orgsbs_ar_instr.html “Step 10: You may list up to six (6) principals (i.e., officers, directors, managers, managing members, etc.) on our computer database… At least 1 principal must be provided (FS Sec 607).”

Evers and other DOR employees also did not change company addresses, after two years of Forms UCT6 and correspondence with only my address. This probably resulted in many missing return notices. Form DR1does not require a new DR1 to report address changes. We need not use corresponding Internal Revenue Forms 8822 to change addresses if we file returns with a new address. As a result, all DOR notices were invalid because it did not send them to this last known address. Accordingly, no notice tolled a statute of limitations on appeals, so we can still contest all assessments and notices. Likewise, DOR cannot legally file or enforce liens. DOR should promptly change all company addresses to my address.

Attached are the private details of recent pending Unemployment tax notices (attached E). I trust some good DOR employee will correct DOR records for these notices.

Governor (most respectfully and affectionately), YOUR DOR SYSTEM creates Florida Unemployment Tax Insanity. No one I spoke to even knew about the 2,600% tax increase. It shocks and outrages all who understand. A Census Bureau table tells me you can cut DOR paperwork, delays and costs, on 300,000 returns and notices a year, by letting those who only pay once per year not file quarters without payroll. You can do this without legislation or Internal Revenue approval.

Even my non-payroll clients will get copies of this letter and related material. We will do everything possible to insure many clients and non-clients consider this when voting and making political contributions. My websites, blogs and Twitter posts have around 50,000+ page views a month. Close friends have many millions more page views. Even without this readership, millions of my tax limit petitions once helped me change Florida law and our Constitution. They let me personally successfully argue a petition before the Florida Supreme Court and win election to the Port Everglades Commission (gave my salary back and never let a lobbyist buy me lunch).

This means that a Constitutional petition and lawsuit will soon add publicity if this letter, plus visits to the Senators and Representatives below, does not help.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Block

cc: James Evers, Florida Department of Revenue, Tallahassee
  Paul Stewart, Florida Department of Revenue, Coral Springs, 954-346-2822
  Sen. Chris Smith, #29, 954-267-2116
  Sen. Jeremy Ring (tax / finance committee), 954-917-1394
  Rep Perry Thurston, #93,
  Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff (tax / finance committee) 954-762-3759

 

QuickBooks-Terminal-Server

This will summarize and link QuickBooks Terminal Server (QuickBooks hosting, QB hosting) posts for a new website:

QuickBooks-Terminal-Server.com
 

 There are many reasons why QuickBooks Terminal Server (QuickBooks under Windows Terminal Server or Citrix, also known as QuickBooks hosting or QB hosting) is the fastest, easiest, SAFEST & least expensive way to host your QuickBooks program and data. Note: we are talking about QuickBooks Terminal Server hosting (QuickBooks hosting or QB hosting) all of the desktop versions of QuickBooks (not simply QuickBooks Enterprise or QuickBooks online). We also can talk about why you may want to host many or all your other programs and data, besides QuickBooks, on the QuickBooks Terminal Server (QuickBooks hosting, QB hosting). A QuickBooks Terminal Server or QuickBooks Citrix system is especially good for hosting QuickBooks with QuickBooks add-ons. 

  I often wrote about this at length, so I will link my QuickBooks Terminal Server articles (QuickBooks hosting or QB hosting):

Why QuickBooks Terminal Server - Executive Summary
(QuickBooks on Terminal Server, QuickBooks hosting or QB hosting)
http://1234567890.typepad.com/quickbooks/2008/08/why-quickbooks-terminal-server-executive-summary.html

Why QuickBooks Terminal Server?
(QuickBooks on Terminal Server, QuickBooks hosting or QB hosting)
http://1234567890.typepad.com/quickbooks/2008/08/why-quickbooks.html

The SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA: QuickBooks Terminal Server
(QuickBooks on Terminal Server, QuickBooks hosting or QB hosting)
 http://1234567890.typepad.com/quickbooks/2008/08/quickbooks-term.html

QuickBooks Terminal Server and QuickBooks Add-ons
(QuickBooks on Terminal Server, QuickBooks hosting or QB hosting)
http://1234567890.typepad.com/quickbooks/2008/09/free-download-save-30000year-custom-quickbooks-add-ons-quickbooks-2009-upgrade.html

QuickBooks Terminal Server Prices
(QuickBooks on Terminal Server, QuickBooks hosting or QB hosting)
http://1234567890.typepad.com/quickbooks/2008/09/quickbooks-hosting-prices-quickbooks-terminal-server-prices.html

If you or your QuickBooks advisor want the best QuickBooks, QuickBooks add-ons, QuickBooks Terminal Server (QuickBooks on Terminal Server, QuickBooks hosting or QB hosting) advice then please  you can subscribe to this blog (near the top right). The little information you give us will stay totally confidential and you can easily cancel at any time. If either of you want to be among those, from all over the world, who get the fastest, easiest inexpensive QuickBooks help and training, then please see my BlockTax and QuickBooks-add-ons websites. You also can see my 500 page BlockTax Quickbooks Accounting Software Wiki. It has a free (partly outdated) copy of the Small Business Accounting With QuickBooks book, which Amazon sold for $30.

Finally, you can always click on Mike Block, QuickBooks CPA to contact me direct. I not only let you call FREE, but can quickly help you cut even business phone line costs to as little as $1 a month.

 

 

Small Company, Large Company: Why QuickBooks 2009 Upgrade? #2

Whether you have a small company or a large company, you should have the same clearly positive answer to the Why QuickBooks 2009 upgrade question. The new QuickBooks 2009 upgrade is very good for a large company, including much larger companies than ever before. However, the increased ease of use, speed, cost savings and better quality records are more relatively critical for a small company.

QuickBooks is the fastest and easiest accounting program for all but very large companies. It recently had an incredible 94.2% retail share of small business accounting program sales. This is despite competition from more than 100 products, including those from Peachtree and Microsoft. At the same time, there are 50,000 registered QuickBooks ProAdvisors.

This series of reviews will emphasize many important reasons for the Why QuickBooks 2009 upgrade, not every change. The QuickBooks 2009 upgrade for Enterprise now has 25 and 30 user versions, not a 20 user limit. However, multi-user Pro and Premier users can easily get some fast Enterprise multi-user speed with a QuickBooks 2009 upgrade to the Enterprise database server manager. QuickBooks ProAdvisors like us can give you this free program (or install for you). Did you know this was true for QuickBooks 2006 – 2008?

Do you also know you how to save lots of money on the QuickBooks 2009 upgrade? The list price of 6 copies of QuickBooks Premier, Enhanced Payroll and unlimited Intuit support is about $2,950. It is readily available for about $2,300. However, we can help you get it, with top Intuit support. for less than $1,600?

Do you know there are thousands of QuickBooks add-ons, with many web connections besides those in the Intuit Connected Services program? They are the fastest and easiest way to do far more with QuickBooks. You never enter data twice, while avoiding many Excel, Word, other program and pencil errors. Some of these mainly inexpensive programs cost nothing, while others cost as much as $10,000. Do you know that we are among the 100 or so QuickBooks add-ons specialists (see our http://QuickBooks-add-ons.com/, out of 50,000 ProAdvisors? Did you also know that you can remotely or locally host QuickBooks and QuickBooks add-ons for as little as $26 a month?

If your QuickBooks advisor is not saying things like this, or if you would like QuickBooks training to get more out of QuickBooks, then please contact us. I am finishing writing at about 6 AM, after answering 2 emails on prior http:/quickbooks-blog.blocktax.com/ articles in the last hour. More posts on the Why QuickBooks 2009 upgrade will follow soon.

Please contact Mike Block, QuickBooks CPA at
http://BlockTax.com/ http://QuickBooks-add-ons.com/

QuickBooks Hosting Prices, QuickBooks Terminal Server Prices

I previously discussed Why QuickBooks Terminal Server? This gives you inexpensive QuickBooks Hosting Prices or QuickBooks Terminal Server Prices. You can get QuickBooks hosting and QuickBooks Terminal Server prices from many companies. It is surprising how much these prices vary, especially since some of the lowest prices come from a company with the best service. Here are prices we found after extensive research.

	SetUp  Monthly
ITX	$100	$58
Archer Accounting	200	55
QuickBooks-Hosting	0	45
Right Networks	0	45
Personable	94	40
QuickBooks from Home	0	39
MyRealData	20	29
BlockTax QuickBooks Hosting	18	26

These comparisons really are more complex than the above simple chart. Personable, for example, charges $65 more per month for backup. QuickBooks from Home only offers this rate for fives users, while other companies may charge less for five users than they do for the above price for one. Some companies even charge for tech support. For more information on QuickBooks Hosting and in-house / web server QuickBooks Terminal Server Prices please contact us for QuickBooks Accounting Software.

 

    If you have other QuickBooks needs or questions,
   Please contact Mike Block, QuickBooks CPA at
http://BlockTax.com/ http://QuickBooks-add-ons.com/

 

Why QuickBooks Terminal Server? Executive Summary

I explained Why QuickBooks Terminal Server before. This is an Executive Summary on Why QuickBooks Terminal Server:

• QuickBooks Terminal Server runs fast because programs and data are the server. Less time is spent on slow network transfers. The QuickBooks Knowledgebase says, except for QuickBooks Terminal Server, "QuickBooks is a multi-user program, as opposed to a "true" network program. Network programs are typically installed on a single server or workstation, and then accessed from that installation by multiple users simultaneously. In contrast, every QuickBooks user on the network must have a separate, licensed copy of QuickBooks installed on their local workstations."
• Use one fast free QuickBooks Enterprise Database Server Manager for Pro and Premier users.
• One good server increases speed for all users.
• Install programs once for all users.
• Fully customize each program once (up to 100 preferences per program).
• Backup only one system, for faster and easier backups and remote backups.
• Increase safety and security of data, possibly with co=located server, as local systems are very insecure.
• Buy fewer copies of programs used only occasionally.
• Use older inexpensive PC, Linux or Mac systems for users, saving upgrade time.
• Print on any printer.
• Minimize anti-spyware and anti-virus program cost and time (users need less space).
• Let managers, consultants and senior employees shadow user sessions to help and limit errors, for the fastest, easiest, most efficient and effective collaboration.
• Better collaborate with accountants, by synchronized files for tax and financial statements.
• Link a Linux server to run 10% - 25% faster and more reliably.
• Better support QuickBooks-add-ons, so QuickBooks automatically does much more for many more users. Never enter data twice and cut Excel, Word, other program and pencil errors. This will let us capitalize on a U.N. committee report, estimating trillions in annual savings from common forms and Electronic Data Interchange. QuickBooks has common forms, 94.2% of small business accounting software sales (retail) and EDI. Four million companies use it and 50,000 QuickBooks ProAdvisors, accountants and bookkeepers may use it for 4 million more companies. 75,000  QuickBooks add-ons developers and improvements on the new user-to-user help can let users find customers, add supply chain partners and cut costs with international markets.
• Convenience, so you access everything 24/7 from anywhere, with any basic system.
• Let inexpensive remote experts support and maintain, 24/7, with 15 second response time.
• My fast personal access to top-level Intuit help and executives, though Intuit only supports terminal server for QuickBooks Enterprise.

This Executive Summary shows there are many very good reasons Why QuickBooks Terminal Server. There are are a wide range of very inexpensive QuickBooks Hosting Costs and QuickBooks Terminal Server Costs, as further posts will show. Therefore, if you are ready for the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to improve your business please contact us.

                   Mike Block, QuickBooks CPA
http://blocktax.com http://quickbooks-add-ons.com/

 

Intuit pushes deeper into cloud, points to its track record. #2 of 5

As Intuit pushes deeper into cloud computing (Software as a Service or SaaS) its Intuit Connected Services plan is drawing increasing attention. This is #2 of of five daily articles on this important plan. It will connect many QuickBooks small business users to exciting new services and QuickBooks add-ons. QuickBooks add-ons transparently connect to QuickBooks, so users can do many things QuickBooks cannot do. Users never enter data twice and avoid many Excel, Word and pencil errors.

 Intuit already said it will open its QuickBase web database, used by half the Fortune 500, to third-party programs. As Intuit pushes deeper into cloud computing it should vastly expand choices for users and create a very valuable big SaaS business for it and its supporters. This will let small business mobile users increasingly use desktops, laptops, and handheld devices to manage more effectively.

As Intuit pushes deeper into cloud computing industry estimates also project up to 30% in annual SaaS growth. All say SaaS will grow far faster than desktop software sales. This will be very good for Intuit for many reasons. Many more QuickBooks users will connect to new services and each other. QuickBooks recently had 94.2% of small business accounting program sales at retail, around four million users and 50,000 registered ProAdvisors. There also are around 75,000 developers of QuickBooks add-on programs. These . Metcalfe's Law says the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of users of the system. The many QuickBooks users, ProAdvisors and developers, plus the exponential growth of increasing connectivity, will create very large increases in value.

This is not theoretical. Intuit CEO Brad Smith recently spoke about using this social networking with millions of TurboTax users. Intuit research shows that program users prefer answers from other program users, not Intuit, especially if answers come from those in the same industry. Such a network already connects TurboTax users with in-program links. Many TurboTax users gave answers to more than 40% of  the questions of other TurboTax users. Intuit experts found that average user answers were faster and better than average Intuit support answers. This cost Intuit almost nothing, improved service and cut costs. Further service improvements seem likely, with natural language processing supplying possible answers even before posting questions in user forums. Intuit has long been a leader in customer satisfaction, so this should further revolutionize the software industry.

The Intuit pushes deeper into cloud effort is like the very successful effort it made its #1 corporate priority in 2001. This let developers use a Software Development Kit to access QuickBooks desktop files. Mike Block, an independent Fort Lauderdale CPA and nationally known QuickBooks guru, with many years of heavy computer use, management and security experience, became a QuickBooks add-on consultant in 1998. His QuickBooks-Add-ons.com site soon had 10,000 links to these programs, with up to 75,000 hits a day. Many of the links are now dated, but Google now has more than two million comparable QuickBooks Add-ons links. The new SaaS offerings also will be very good for Intuit due to QuickBooks upgrades. Intuit has long known that QuickBooks add-ons users upgrade QuickBooks about twice as often as other users.

Block says this partly relates to why Inuit points to its track record for add-ons and points to its track record for online security. He once sold accounting software with source code. Users of the programs found that most software updates made add-ons not work. However, in the seven years that Intuit has had the SDK there has been no known case where a QuickBooks or SDK update made QuickBooks SDK add-ons stop working.

Block was personally involved in the one widely reported case of a non-SDK add-on that did not work after an update. It involved a payroll tax report program competing with an Intuit offering. Despite this, Intuit fixed the problem five days after Block wrote Brad Smith, counting the weekend before Christmas.

Safest Place for Data, QuickBooks Terminal Server, Intuit Pushes Deeper Into Cloud

I am an experienced CPA, with many years of computer management and security experience. It sad for me to see head-in-the sand prejudice concerning the online privacy and reliability of THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA: online. It is especially sad when a computer publication sensationalizes risks, without considering alternatives. Online storage is unquestionably THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA.

Personal computers are one of the least secure places for your records. Fire, flood, employee errors or malicious acts, storms, thefts, accidents, utilities, hacking and program failure (sometimes due to insecure, incompatible and less tested programs) all affect this. Such systems fail often. Their lack of adequate backups then destroy many businesses and lives, so this is not news. Your only real guarantee with local systems is a guarantee that they will fail, often at the worst possible time, destroying all the data you did not back up. Local systems also almost universally lack the virtual images that quickly reset programs, program preferences and data in THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA.

New INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES will soon integrate your QuickBooks program with many of the fastest, easiest, least expensive and most comprehensive QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS, in THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA: online. A ZDNet story about INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES (Intuit pushes deeper into cloud) warns about security and reliability, when INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS will use THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA by far.

You can run QuickBooks and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS more securely and reliably if they are online under a QUICKBOOKS TERMINAL SERVER, Citrix or Linux system. This is a simple case of your relative risk. The safety, security and reliability of your online records and programs are generally far better than the safety of local system data. Online systems often use better computers, facilities, power protection and security. 256 bit National Security Agency encryption seems to be more common among online QuickBooks hosting companies than it is for banks. We all have had online bank and credit card records for many years. The main issue is the track record of our partners. Intuit has long documented better security than most banks and credit card companies. Anti-virus, anti-spyware and backup programs are usually better online, where they also run far more often. New online programs also tend to have more secure designs and run with policies that limit or prohibit many programs that might compromise security and reliability. They are also more likely to allow operation of user programs in a connected or offline mode, with fast batch updates when they reconnect. Security professionals also test and maintain programs and systems. Offsite storage of extra backups is the rule, not the exception.

This guarantees that INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS will increasingly use the most reliable and THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA. Online systems like QUICKBOOKS TERMINAL SERVER also will increasingly replicate equipment and services to insure reliability. Duplicate drives, power supplies, computers and utilities will keep making INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES, QuickBooks and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS more reliable. THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA also will be even more reliable if you can quickly take your portable out of areas with no power or phone service, especially if your INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES, QuickBooks and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS are on a remote QUICKBOOKS TERMINAL SERVER or Citrix system.

For the ultimate in security and reliability your QuickBooks, QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS and other programs can be on a multi-location replicated or co-located QUICKBOOKS TERMINAL SERVER, Citrix or Linux system. You do not need to be be computer expert for such QUICKBOOKS TERMINAL SERVER systems, as our experts make this easy. They can host QuickBooks Terminal Server for as little as $29 per user per month, half the price some charge, with fast 24/7 support. This also can support of your local or remote QUICKBOOKS TERMINAL SERVER with many INTUIT CONNECTED SERVICES and QUICKBOOKS ADD-ONS, so it is THE SAFEST PLACE FOR DATA and the most reliable.

All this is why the news media already finds only the very rare cloud system failures to be  newsworthy. Further improvements in design and replication will soon make effective failures almost non-existent. By the way, please note that I have been using my QuickBooks insider connections since 2001 to regularly review QuickBooks Privacy and Intuit Privacy.

Why QuickBooks Terminal Server? QuickBooks on Terminal Server

QuickBooks Terminal Server Speed: Many programs, including QuickBooks, run much faster under a QuickBooks Terminal Server. Programs like QuickBooks on Terminal Server use an completely different approach than the approach taken when local programs use files on most network computers. With QuickBooks terminal server the local PC operates as a rather fast dumb terminal. This terminal runs a copy of the QuickBooks program on the server, using the data on the server. Only user keystrokes go to the server program. The only return is CHANGES to user screens, which rarely change much, and occasional prints. This can cut slow network transfer volume more than 99%. User data entry speed limits many operations, but terminal server substantially speeds up QuickBooks and many other programs, especially if you have your fastest computer, with the most memory, as a network server.

QuickBooks Terminal Server - Other Advantages: QuickBooks terminal server has big advantages besides speed. You do not have to install and CUSTOMIZE all your programs on each user computer, so a each user can use them. QuickBooks and Office are among the programs with around 100 preferences each, which can save lots of time, while increasing accuracy and security. Therefore, it is important that your best in-house person and consultant gradually make these choices for everyone. We honor program manufacturer license agreements, but often can rapidly alternate program users or use several copies of a single program at one time under terminal server. In the case of QuickBooks, you can have 10 or more Premier Accounting Edition or other users at once, where you otherwise could not have more than five. The exception involves several users of the same copy of QuickBooks trying to use the same file at one time. You also can use Macs, old PCs and low-cost reliable Linux systems to access QuickBooks on Windows terminal servers, locally or remotely. This made QuickBooks for Linux desktops a reality for us years ago.

QuickBooks Networking: The QuickBooks Support Knowledgebase says, "QuickBooks is a multi-user program, as opposed to a "true" network program. Network programs are typically installed on a single server or workstation, and then accessed from that installation by multiple users simultaneously. In contrast, every QuickBooks user on the network must have a separate, licensed copy of QuickBooks installed on their local workstations." The exception to this is QuickBooks terminal server.

QuickBooks Network Performance: Computer programs constantly run thousands of microinstructions. When local programs use data files on servers then many local microinstructions must go across networks. The detailed microinstructions that acknowledge many of these instructions, plus the data transfers for screen updates and printing, also must go back across networks. Instruction and data transfers within computer memory can be 100 times faster than these network instruction and data transfers, especially if several users use network files at one time. QuickBooks 2006 and later try to limit such transfers by running a QuickBooks Database Server Manager on the server. Local computers then send macroinstructions to the Server Manager, so it can run many microinstructions with less network delay. However, you still have many instruction transfers, data transfers and display and print transfers.

QuickBooks Network Performance - Expert Tip: This applies even to those not using QuickBooks terminal server, The QuickBooks Enterprise Database Server Manager is much faster than the version of this program supplied with Premier and Pro. It supports up to 20 users, while the other programs need only support 5 users. Therefore, experts install the Enterprise Database Manager even if all users have Premier or Pro. We can do this legally, because Intuit charges for client copies of QuickBooks, but not the related Database Manager. Please let us know if you want a copy, as each of our three QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisors have this effectively free program.

QuickBooks Terminal Server Support: Intuit has some QuickBooks Terminal Server information in its Support Knowledgebase. However, it officially only supports terminal server for QuickBooks Enterprise. I am a CPA with 48 years of heavy experience programming, using, installing, supporting and managing computers and programs. Included among my friends and local (Fort Lauderdale) computer techs is the second person on the original IBM PC project. I have gone to monthly computer club meetings for more than 30 years, including meetings of groups that specialize in supporting small business and terminal servers. However, when it comes to terminal server I want the fastest, easiest and least inexpensive QuickBooks Terminal Server experts, with 10+ years of experience supporting hundreds of QuickBooks Terminal Servers and thousands of users, for all versions of QuickBooks. They constantly monitor and maintain my server and normally respond to Skype messages in less than 15 seconds.

QuickBooks Terminal Server Printing to Local Printers: You can select local printers for your remote QuickBooks terminal server. However, they seem unreliable on some systems. We avoid this problems with free programs from Amunyi or Uniprint. They may only be free for us because our experts have the developer versions. These QuickBooks Add-ons integrate functions for more than 50 industries, including accounting, construction, manufacturing and utilities. They automate Microsoft Office entries, calculate shipping charges and sales tax, do big business Electronic Data Interchange, do high speed billing, link source documents and web stores, support multi-location warehouses, transfer and report on files and do countless other things. Some programs seem like magic, when they display locations of all company smart phone users, give them GPS directions, accept QuickBooks service orders remotely and clock time on them, so you stop entering this time and charges in QuickBooks. Some QuickBooks add-ons are free and most are very inexpensive, though some cost $10,000.

QuickBooks Terminal Server Programs:  We now use Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 as our in-house and web QuickBooks terminal server. Our experts support many versions of server software, including Microsoft Server 2008. This lets us run 40+ programs including QuickBooks 2002-2008 (mainly AE), ProSeries 2002-2007, ProSeries Basic 2004-2005, Office 2003- 2007 and much more. See QuickBooks Add-ons below for extra programs. Up to 10 local or remote users (more with added CALs) can easily use dual monitors. We will soon add a Linux server to this, as this server runs 10% - 25% faster and more reliably than the Windows server. However, the current QuickBooks Linux Enterprise server may make us use Windows Terminal Server for QuickBooks as a gateway,

QuickBooks Terminal Server and QuickBooks Add-ons: How would you like to never spend time entering data twice and never make mistakes transferring it between QuickBooks and other programs? QuickBooks is an incredibly successful mass market program. It recently had 94.2% of all small business accounting software sales at retail. There are about 4 million users. It also seems likely that the 50,000 QuickBooks ProAdvisors and other accountants and bookkeepers do the bookkeeping for this many additional small businesses. However, mass market programs can never be all things to all people.

QuickBooks Terminal Server for many QuickBooks Add-ons: There are many QuickBooks Add-ons (a term I invented and used for my QuickBooks Add-ons website). They let you save a fortune as you never enter data twice, while you increase accuracy, link documents and speed results. You can use customer and supplier data to minimize entries and run your custom small business system far more efficiently. QuickBooks add-ons have grown quickly into one of the most important business opportunities today thought they are still largely neglected. A U.N. committee spoke years ago about more than a trillion dollars in annual savings if we all used common forms and interchanged data electronically. QuickBooks has become the almost universal small business accounting software. Intuit also is moving to make this true throughout the world. QuickBooks Add-ons can can exchange data with small and big business programs. Therefore, your share of those trillions in annual savings (after inflation) will be start coming to you soon if you begin using QuickBooks add-ons.

QuickBooks Terminal Server lists of QuickBooks Add-ons: Intuit has tests, reviews and ratings on 500+ QuickBooks Add-ons at http://marketplace.intuit.com/. My somewhat dated QuickBooks add-ons site has limited data and links to more than 8,000 programs. I often use the work done in creating thus site and my long relationships with QuickBooks add-on vendors (dating from 2 years before Intuit began supporting QuickBooks add-ons) to decide on fastest, easiest and least inexpensive QuickBooks add-ons for any reason. One of the best things about QuickBooks add-ons is you can have them all quickly and inexpensively integrate with QuickBooks under QuickBooks terminal server, with or without remote hosting. My QuickBooks terminal server experts had extensive experience with QuickBooks Add-ons when I met them 3 years ago, but I pushed this area to the limit from that time on. They are now the premier company in this area.

QuickBooks Terminal Server - Stability of QuickBooks Add-ons: In 1998 I took over a beta test forum to ask what users most wanted in QuickBooks. The answers were so diverse that Intuit could never have given us everything we wanted. However, I then said that an open database version of QuickBooks would let add-on developers satisfy most of us. This made everyone very happy. I then asked how much each of us would pay for this open version and got many answers for up to $1,000. Soon after that I found that many add-on developers felt Intuit was openly hostile to their efforts. That only made me start a major campaign of emails, forum posts, web sites and personal conversations.

Two years later Intuit made QuickBooks add-ons its #1 top priority, with a free software development kit. The quality was amazing, especially considering the free price and free or low cost support. I previously supported source code accounting software. Each new release killed many of the add-ons to this software. The QuickBooks SD is entirely different. As far as I know there has never been a case where a QuickBooks update or an SD update made an SD application fail.

QuickBooks Terminal Server Bargains: You can easily spend $3,000+ on terminal server software alone. You can then spend much more on getting local experts to support it. You can instead start with a QuickBooks terminal server account for $29 per user per month. This is the lowest price in the industry and about half what a leading less-responsive company charges. My QuickBooks terminal server experts also charge comparably low prices if you want your own dedicated QuickBooks terminal server server, with a few or many users of QuickBooks, or QuickBooks plus Microsoft Office and one or many QuickBooks add-ons. I know they have the lowest prices because I have been regularly checking such computer, accounting and tax service prices for 46 years.

They will even support your in-house QuickBooks terminal server in the 24/7 way they support me. They also go much further than most competitors by helping you with the fastest, easiest and most economical accounting, tax return and filing outsourcing. They made some clients very happy by making major QuickBooks single user changes at night, though they never used them for anything else. I know they do a good job because they offer free trials, require no commitments and accept variable workloads. I also use and help train them most nights. It is truly wonderful to be able to give them important jobs, when I am too tired or busy to keep working, and to know that one or several inexpensive professionals will quickly "work all night" (my humor) to finish them.

QuickBooks Terminal Server Software Bargains: My QuickBooks terminal server experts can also tell you how to legally get  Windows Server 2008, Server 2003 Web Edition, Small Business Server, Exchange Server, Sharepoint, 5 copies of Dynamics CRM, 10 copies of Vista Business, Microsoft Office Enterprise and 10 Terminal Server Client Access License (CALs) at an incredible price. These programs come with much of the Microsoft product line, Microsoft support and quarterly updates for less than $300 a year. We can even provide pre-configured disks for instant servers.

Top-Level QuickBooks Support and Intuit Executive Access: I often can help you with top level Intuit help you cannot get elsewhere. Quoting applicable parts of the inspiring Intuit Mission and Operating Values (see my website's top left QuickBooks Wiki link), from the terrific Inside Intuit book on my desk, often helps me get better responses from top Intuit people. I got a national reputation for answering more than 7,000 mainly QuickBooks newsgroup questions before Intuit sponsored QuickBooks forums. This let me send many user problems to top QuickBooks people, if I could not quickly help them.

Close personal relationships with many Intuit executives and managers got much closer in in 1998. I was the only two-time winner of a semi-public contest for beta (pre-reals) tests. I made unannounced, but very well received, visits to Intuit at this time. Two later fights were because I felt a mistake was hurting users, which would hurt Intuit and thereby hurt its ability to help us. In both cases Intuit soon agreed. This led Intuit's CEO to write, "Keep raising hell when Intuit does something wrong" and then let me use his statement on my BlockTax website.

Brad Smith, the new CEO, has been a close friend since emailing and calling right after he got to Intuit. He paid me to help create the Accountants Feedback Center website to use my ideas. We often exchange emails. Even our Sunday responses often take less than 5 minutes. He very quickly helped many I met on the web. One wanted to use a copy of Quicken at home and in the office, contrary to the Quicken license but not the QuickBooks license. Brad wrote him a note and sent him a copy of Quicken for his honesty. A small add-on developer, not using the SDK, had a product compete with a QuickBooks offering. An update stopped it from working. 5 days after I wrote, including two days for the weekend before Christmas, Brad had a QuickBooks update out to solve this problem! He soon took over TurboTax and then returned to run the QuickBooks division, so I told him it looked like he would be the next CEO two years before he was. When he became CEO he called me.

We have a mutual admiration society. Brad wrote, "You're fantastic Mike. Absolutely Fantastic." He let me use that on my BlockTax website and gave me the original BlockTax QuickBooks Blog on the Intuit QuickBooks Community site. Now it is your turn. Do you want the fastest, easiest, least expensive and most capable QuickBooks terminal server, QuickBooks add-ons or QuickBooks accounting and support, with the fewest problems?

If so, then please contact me.