// Home / Reviews / Software / Office

Andica Self Assessment Professional review

Verdict

Well laid out and generally easy to use, but unlike TaxCalc it can't compare year-on-year figures or import data from other applications.

Review Date: 12 Jan 2009

Reviewed By: Tom Gorham

Price when reviewed: (£15 inc VAT) for single user; five users, £14 (£17 inc VAT)

Overall Rating

Andica isn't a well-known name in the world of self-assessment, but despite its bargain-basement price, this is a polished offering.

Andica's single-user software contains the main SA100 form plus all supplementary pages, including those not covered by the Inland Revenue's own online software submission tool. If you're entering returns for other members of your family, the five-user version - for a couple of pounds extra - is good value.

The neat layout, complete with handy progress indicator, compares favourably to both ProTax and TaxCalc, and feels much less cramped. Like its rivals, Andica offers 128-bit encryption between the host PC and the Inland Revenue site. When filling in the return, though, Andica's approach grates in a couple of areas. First, mandatory fields aren't clearly flagged, so you're only warned that you need to fill them in when you attempt to move to the next page. We'd also like a more obvious method by which to add supplementary pages.

Other than this, Andica is a decent piece of software. While more experienced users may miss the level of import options offered in ProTax or TaxCalc's ability to compare like-with-like entries over previous years, Andica is ideal for first-time filers.

Author: Tom Gorham

Subscribe to PC Pro magazine. We'll give you 3 issues for £1 plus a free gift - click here

From around the web

Comments

User comments

avoid hell? avoid ANDICA

I purchased this software as i missed the deadline, it is clearly not designed for small businesses and the woman i poke to on the phone was rude to say the least,she wasnt interested in hearing what the problem was or helping me,in fact when i asked her to listen to the problem i was experiencing before 'referring me to the user guide' (which I had already read) she refused and hung up.
The idea of the software is good, but the delivery from this company and the lack of professionalism in dealing with customers is shocking, I only hope more dissatisfied customers come forward, I am disgusted with the product and level of service, perhaps training in customer care should be the next step...

By hogey25 on 29 Dec 2011

ANDICA Hell?

hogey25 must have been very unlucky or maybe you need to consider your approach on the phone. I have been using this software for about 4-5 years without any significant issues. Where I e-mailed with any issues I received prompt responses and when I talked to them on the phone they were very helpful. My use is for a personal taxpayer not a business. I adopted I am hopeless can you help me stance and they did. I will be buying again as soon as the 2011/12 version is available.

By fatlarry on 22 Mar 2012

Leave a comment

You need to Login or Register to comment.