ProTax Light

It's fortunate for ProTax that good looks aren't the deciding factor when choosing tax-submission software, because if you persevere with its dated interface you'll be rewarded.

There are two ways of filling in your return: the Forms view and the Wizard view. Unlike Andica, you can flick between each view without having to close one first, and, as with TaxCalc, data entered in one mode is instantly reflected in the other. Adding supplementary pages to the main SA100 form is simple, and fields in the main return are correctly updated.

The Form view is a reproduction of the paper tax return and, although it's easy to navigate, it's more difficult to read than Ftax's PDF rendition. We were even less impressed with the incongruously unfriendly Wizard view, with fields labelled with acronyms such as "UTR" or "NINO" left unexplained.

But there are big plus points to ProTax, which lets you create up to five separate returns. For a start, it offers a good slice of import options including the ability to import TaxCalc files, but what impressed us most was its speed. Clicking the Calculation tab instantly produces a summary of tax liability to date, so it's easy to see at a glance how much you're due to pay.

Author: Tom Gorham