I feel your pain. I wasted an hour one afternoon and an hour and a half the next morning with support agents that didn't resolve anything or accept it was beyond their ability and elevate the issue.
The first one told me "I'm not an accountant or anything" and how he'd gotten lots of good tax advice from some other poor Lacerte user he was "assisting" for "a real long time". He ultimately told me to recreate the return and if that didn't work use email support.
The second one basically gave up when she ran out of solutions. After I looked up the form instructions and screen shared with her, she decided I had misinterpreted the instruction. Mind you the field in question is the field on Oregon's Sch A where you enter federal AGI to calculate the 7.5% limitation. Lacerte is entering AGI + the new $300 charitable deduction. Nothing on any form or instruction indicates AGI should be adjusted for this calculation. When I asked her to pass me to someone who could resolve the problem or prove to me that my interpretation was wrong, she said they would tell me the same thing.
I asked a colleague if Drake software was doing the same thing and it's not. They got it right and she only paid $1,500 for the program.
I get that there are problems early in the season and the users are part of the testing process. I've found issues before and was able to talk to someone in support who would pass it onto those who could fix it. But the support agents I'm dealing with this year clearly aren't knowledgeable about tax preparation and it seems Lacerte is discouraging them from passing us onto the people who are. Whatever this new service model is, it's not working for me.
