Professional Editions – Online and Local Network Options
Enterprise Editions files can be shared on a network, either your own local server or online to TaxAct’s secure servers.
During the TaxAct Professional Edition setup process, you’ll be prompted to set up your practice. At this point, you need to choose whether to save shared files on your local network, or on TaxAct’s secure servers.
NOTE: Whether storing data online or locally, all users of the software are required to sign in with their TaxAct username and password upon software startup to authenticate the account. Each user will need to sign in again after either 30 minutes of inactivity, or after 24 hours (whichever is sooner).
To set up your network settings:
Online Network Option
If you choose the Online Network option in the TaxAct Setup Wizard, you have the ability to share and access files without the need for a local network. This is recommended if your practice has multiple preparers or if you want access to returns from multiple locations.
To use this option, each user must download and install the program software to his or her workstation. Each preparer then creates a secure online account with a unique username and password. This option is helpful for those practices with multiple preparers in various locations, or for those practices without a dedicated local area network already in place.
Local Network Option
If you choose the Local Network option in the TaxAct Setup Wizard, you need to have an existing local network already in place.
If you choose “Locally on my computer,” your client returns will be saved to a location of your choice on a local drive or server. If you wish to share this data with multiple computers, this folder should be in a shared network location.
Typically, a local network centers around a server in your office which stores shared files. Users access those files from their individual workstations, but do not have copies of the files on their computers. This setup allows for easy backups and eliminates the problem of having several versions of each return in use. The program needs to be downloaded and installed on each user’s computer.
When you set up TaxAct Enterprise Edition to be used over your local network, you will be prompted to choose two distinct places to store files, each with a different purpose:
Each time you install the program on a preparer’s computer, you will need to designate the same network location for the Client Data folder. The TaxAct program will need rights and permissions to all locations where client data is stored.
Network Support
Have questions about how to set up a local network? Refer to the Microsoft and TaxAct Support resources below: