What Is The Difference Between Lacerte and ProSeries?

Lacerte and ProSeries by Intuit are some of the most preferred tax software. According to the latest reports by the Journal of Accountancy, the overall market share of ProSeries and Lacerte is 10.5% and 14.8%, respectively.

However, choosing which is suitable for your tax firm can be confusing. Both software caters to different users while offering robust features to file more tax returns quickly and accurately.

According to the Journal of Accountancy, Lacerte is more favorable for individuals and small tax firms. On the other hand, ProSeries has become more popular among mid to large businesses.

Intuit has developed both Lacerte tax and ProSeries tax software to address your taxation needs. These solutions have comprehensive features that have emerged as a boon for tax preparers. Using tax software has reduced paper consumption and saved time for tax professionals.

In this blog, we will compare Lacerte vs. Proseries so that you can choose the right tax filing solution for your tax firm. We will compare them based on features, different form supports, ability to handle complex taxation requirements, and other criteria.

Understanding Lacerte Tax Software by Intuit

Lacerte offers comprehensive tax preparation and filing solutions for tax professionals. It is best for its robust features, advanced tax calculations, 1000+ forms support, and seamless e-filing options.

Moreover, Lacerte tax software caters to a wide range of tax filing scenarios, making it suitable for tax firms dealing with large businesses and high-net-worth individuals.

Key Features

• Specifications: Lacerte provides a vast library of 5,700+ forms catering to diverse client needs. Incorporating 25,000+ error-detection diagnostics boosts efficiency by integrating 32 time-saving features.
• Advanced Tax Calculations: Lacerte excels in handling intricate tax calculations, making it suitable for complex tax scenarios.
• Extensive Forms Support: The software supports a vast array of tax forms, accommodating diverse client needs.
• E-filing Capabilities: Lacerte streamlines the e-filing process, allowing tax professionals to submit returns electronically for added convenience.
• Client Data Management: Lacerte offers robust client data management tools, facilitating efficient organization and retrieval of essential information.

Check out other notable features of Lacerte.

System Requirements for Lacerte

To get optimal performance while working on taxes, your system should meet these minimum requirements:

If your system doesn’t meet these requirements, then you might encounter several issues, such as data loss, downtime, increased cost per return, and, most importantly, hampering your team’s productivity.

You can consider Lacerte hosting solutions to bypass these limitations. With Lacerte hosting, you get remote access, bank-level security, business continuity, real-time collaboration, and other benefits.

ProSeries Tax Software Overview

ProSeries is another leading tax preparation software well known for its user-friendly interface and flexibility. Thus, it can be ideal for practitioners handling a varied client base.

It offers comprehensive tax features and ease of use, making it suitable for small and large tax firms.

Key Features

• Specifications: Simplify data input through a forms-based interface. It provides over 27 integrated time-saving tools. Utilize 1,000+ diagnostics to enhance accuracy and ensure correct returns on the first attempt.
• Comprehensive Tax Support: The software covers various tax scenarios, offering comprehensive support for various tax forms and situations.
• Client Collaboration Tools: ProSeries facilitates collaboration between tax professionals and clients, streamlining tax preparation.
• Flexibility: ProSeries is recognized for its flexibility, making it suitable for small and large tax practices with diverse client needs.

System Requirements for ProSeries

You must meet these minimum system requirements:

• Should have over 1000 client files
• Prepare large and complex returns

Failing to meet these minimum system requirements may result in several issues, such as downtime, slow performance, data loss, and many others.

To avoid these hurdles, you can opt for ProSeries hosting services. By partnering with a 3rd party cloud hosting provider, you can install ProSeries on fast and dedicated servers for maximum performance. The best part is that you can seamlessly scale your resources with zero downtime.

The best part is that you get several other benefits after migrating ProSeries to the cloud, such as remote access anywhere, anytime, enterprise-grade security, and many others.

Lacerte vs ProSeries: A Comprehensive Comparison

Let’s delve deeper into comparing ProSeries vs Lacerte across various factors:

Tax Firm Size

ProSeries and Lacerte are both desktop-based tax software. However, both cater to different audiences.

While Lacerte is more favorable for early stage and small tax firms, ProSeries offers advanced taxation capabilities for mid to large-scale businesses.

See the table below for a more detailed comparison.

Source: Journal of Accountancy

Notably, Lacerte is particularly popular among firms with 2 to 5 users (20.00%) and 6 to 20 users (17.60%).

ProSeries, on the other hand, has a higher percentage of usage in the 1-user category (19.80%) and declines as the firm size increases.

User Ratings

The survey asked tax professionals and firms to rate various tax software on critical factors, using a rating scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest rating.

• Ease of use
• Onboarding process
• Performance during the tax season
• Ability to handle data within returns
• Integrate with third-party accounting and other software
• Data import capabilities
• And lastly, would you recommend the tax software to others

Source: Journal of Accountancy

From the data above, Lacerte and ProSeries fare very well against each other in terms of these factors:

• Update/Installation process
• Easy to use
• Ability to handle updates during tax season
• Capability to handle data within tax returns
• Process of E-filing
• Software’s conversion package
• Data importing features
• Recommending the software to other users

The only differentiating factor is that 87.1% of ProSeries users would recommend it to others, which is 2.8% more than Lacerte.

Training and Support

Source: Journal of Accountancy

Whether you choose Lacerte, ProSeries, or any other tax software for your firm, you might need technical support sooner or later.

Getting the proper support at the right time can be critical for your business. From the above data, we can compare the type and quality of technical support you get from Intuit for Lacerte and ProSeries.

You can also use the above data to compare technical support mediums and the quality of other tax preparation software.

The above data shows Lacerte users needed more technical support than ProSeries. However, users also gave more satisfactory ratings for the technical support they received from Lacerte than ProSeries.

If you choose a tax software hosting provider either for Lacerte or ProSeries, ensure that they provide round-the-clock tech support.

You can also refer to these questions to ask the cloud hosting solution provider before partnering.

ProSeries vs Lacerte: Comparative Analysis

Here is a detailed insight into both applications:

Complexity and Specialization:

• Lacerte: Suited for complex tax scenarios and businesses with intricate financial structures.
• ProSeries: Strikes a balance between comprehensive features and accessibility, making it suitable for many clients.

User Interface and Learning Curve:

• Lacerte: It may have a steeper learning curve due to its advanced features.
• ProSeries: Known for its user-friendly interface, offering a smoother learning experience.

Pricing:

• Lacerte: Generally priced at a premium due to its advanced capabilities.
• ProSeries: Offers competitive pricing with flexibility to cater to both small and large tax practices.

Similarities Between Lacerte and ProSeries

In addition to these differences, being Intuit’s products, both Lacerte and ProSeries have some similarities:

• Tax software applications have data input assistance that includes on-screen help, line-sensitive help, and more.
• K-1 data is automatically transferred to individual returns.
• The missing client data feature helps to track down missing fields and data in the form.
• Approvals and agreements can be collected digitally through E-Signature by DocuSign.
• Tax Analysis and planning tools offer tax advice and customizable plans to serve clients better.
• Both applications integrate with Intuit Link, a client portal solution for sharing files securely over the Internet.
• Accounting data can be imported easily from QuickBooks into the tax application for filing returns.

You can host Lacerte and ProSeries software on the cloud servers of a third-party hosting provider for added functionality, such as remote access, multi-user collaboration, scalability of resources, regular backups, and more.

Which One to Choose – Lacerte or ProSeries?

Now that you have a clear understanding of Lacerte and ProSeries. Let’s see which solution is the right one for your tax firm.

If you are a small tax firm, ProSeries can work well, as it offers an easy-to-use interface and robust features to file taxes efficiently in simple scenarios. On the other hand, Lacerte offers advanced taxation capabilities where multi-state and complex returns are involved.

The best approach is to compare overall features, supported tax forms, third-party add-on support, and minimum system requirements against your business requirements.

Also, check out online reviews on trusted software platforms like SoftwareSuggest, Gartner, G2, etc., to get an overview of what other tax professionals think about Lacerte and ProSeries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wrapping Up!

Both Lacerte and ProSeries have helped ease tax filing tasks for tax preparers. It is crucial to analyze the choices to make an informed decision. One can go through the points mentioned above to find a perfect fit for their requirements.

Still confused between Lacerte and ProSeries? Contact our Solutions Consultant at +1-(855) 879-5481 to know more.