What's New in ProSeries 2017

ProSeries Professional is available for download on November 16, 2017 and
ProSeries Basic is available for download on December 7, 2017

Making ProSeries 2017 better than ever

Thank you for trusting ProSeries to support your business. You entrust us to serve you and help you better serve your clients – and we sincerely appreciate the opportunity. Your feedback is driving us forward, and our team has been focusing on the priorities that matter the most to you.

We continue to lead the charge in security by working with the IRS and other industry players to make improvements to combat tax fraud and protect client data. We’ve also focused on quality and stability, with thousands of engineering hours dedicated to adding robust improvements to our systems and databases — all to ensure that your software runs better than ever. Plus, we’ve added several new features we think you’ll be excited about.

Let’s have a great year together!

My Account changes you'll love

You asked for a better way to manage your account and products, and now you can look forward to an enhanced My Account experience. Over the past year, the dashboard, training portal and online renewal experience have been redesigned. Now, you have new and improved account management, billing payments, Pay-Per-Return (PPR) and other functions.

The new streamlined experience will help you easily find the tasks you need most. These are a few of the highlights:

• Manage users: Firm administrators can now manage their contacts, plus, control roles and permissions from a single location.
• Payment methods: Now, you can easily manage all of the credit cards and bank accounts you use for payments.

Enjoy these new enhancements that are designed to make your work easier. Look for the updates when you log in to your account.

Learn more

Free ProSeries training

Now, you can earn CPE credits with free, live training.

Attend live and prerecorded webinars or visit your online personalized training portal for bite-size training modules with content that’s recommended just for you. 

More than 30,000 people signed up for webinars this past summer, and more sessions are planned through February. Sign up and see what you’ve been missing: free training that helps you stay a step ahead.  

Security enhancements in ProSeries 2017

There are two new security enhancements in this release:

• Optional masking of personally identifiable information (PII) - New for January 2018: In ProSeries 2017, you can once again mask personally identifiable information (PII) on printed returns. This feature is turned off by default and can be easily turned on at the time of printing.
  
  ProSeries now offers control for masking in General Options including:
  
  • On-screen masking of PII can be turned on or off
  • Masking of PII in HomeBase can be turned on or off
  
  Learn more about Optional Masking of Personally Identifiable Information
• Tax Year 2017 state requirements for transferring driver’s license numbers and state tax IDs on W-2s: For Tax Year 2017, state requirements for transferring data such as driver's license numbers and state tax withholding IDs on W2s year-over-year have been updated. Great news - most states will now allow you to transfer this data year-over-year with an additional verification step. Only Alabama, Iowa, and New York will not allow the transfer of this data from 2016 into 2017 tax returns. Learn more

ProSeries 2017 enhancements

• Locking returns: New in ProSeries 2017 is the ability to lock returns — the most frequently requested feature. This feature allows you to lock returns from being changed once filed. Learn more
• PDF Auto-Attach expanded to 1040 returns: A simple auto-attach form capability for e-file compliance is now available for 1040 returns. Simply right-click and receive a request to attach the PDF that’s associated with the line. For PDFs that aren’t line-specific, the existing features to attach the PDF are still available. Learn more
• Timed benchmark testing: We now use automated performance testing for hundreds of workflows to help ensure that each product change results in the same or faster speed.
• Export HomeBase information to Excel — new for ProSeries Basic: Easily export information from your 1040, e-file or TPG bank product HomeBase views to Excel, where you can create custom mailing lists and reports. Note: ProSeries Professional users already have this capability. Learn more
• "Where Do I Enter" feature expanded to state form sets: Not sure where to enter a piece of data? Use the “Where Do I Enter” feature to easily search with keywords that describe what you’re looking for and find applicable forms and fields to enter the data. This tool is ideal when you’re completing a state return that you don’t prepare often. Learn more
• Improved real-user testing: Starting with this release, ProSeries has twice as many people testing before each release to help ensure an optimal user experience across different workflows. By using automated testing routines, we can quickly test thousands of scenarios to uncover and fix any hidden problems that could be missed by manual testing. Our automated process evaluates hundreds of workflows to help ensure each product change results in the same or faster speed.
• Upgraded databases, tax platform and underlying code: We’ve begun a multiyear journey to help strengthen security, streamline workflows, facilitate integrations and make it easier to launch new innovations.

Customer service (CARE) improvements

Based on your feedback, we’re doubling down on making your experience better by testing new call routing and staffing models to help provide faster answers and better accuracy.

Beginning the week of January 15, 2018, we will offer extended support hours for tax season including Saturday and select Sunday support. Hours of operation and support options are designed to fit your needs throughout season. Learn more

Change for 38 States: Only Final Forms Can Be Printed in ProSeries

To comply with State Agencies, we’ve changed the print options for draft forms in ProSeries 2017. Specifically, the print option is turned off for draft/non-final forms, so only final and approved forms are printable. Now, 38 states require that all tax software providers in the industry, both professional and consumer, limit preparers from being able to file printed versions of non-final forms. Learn more

View the status and expected final release dates of all forms for Federal and State Agencies at any time. Learn more

New forms and e-filing types expected in later releases

In the coming tax year, 5 new business e-filing types and 68 new forms for individual and business returns will be available. These are some of the new forms and e-filing types:

• Electronic filing for North Dakota corporation, S corporation and partnership; South Carolina partnership; and Virginia fiduciary returns
• Alabama individual returns — print and e-file for:
  • Schedule ATC, Apprenticeship Tax Credit
  • Schedule IRC, Irrigation/Reservoir System Credit
  • Schedule SBA, Small Business and Agribusiness Jobs Credit
  • Schedule ARA, Alabama Renewal Act Credit
  • Schedule DEC, Career Technical Dual Enrollment Credit
• Minnesota individual returns — print and e-file for:
  • Schedule M1HOME, First-Time Homebuyer Savings Account
  • Schedule M1RCR, Credit for Taxes Paid to Wisconsin
  • Schedule M1529, Education Savings Account Contribution Credit or Subtraction
  • Schedule M1CMD, Credit for Attaining Master's Degree in Teacher's Licensure Field
  • Schedule M1SLC, Student Loan Credit
• New York individual returns — print and e-file for:
  • STAR Credit Advance Payment Reconciliation
  • Allocation of Refund
  • Farm Workforce Retention Credit (IT647) (print)
• Wisconsin individual, corporation, S corporation and partnership
  • Schedule EC, Enterprise Zone Jobs Credit
  • Schedule ED, Wisconsin Economic Development Tax Credit
  • Schedule DC, Wisconsin Development Zones Credits
  • Schedule HR, Wisconsin Historic Rehabilitation Credits
  • Schedule JT, Wisconsin Jobs Tax Credit
  • Schedule VC, Wisconsin Venture Capital Credits

See the full list of new forms