Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Intuit Lacerte
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Intuit Lacerte is an Income Tax Compliance system, providing forms, tax planning support, as well as document management and document storage.
$400
Vertex
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Vertex combines tax research with technology to improve tax accuracy and consistency on sales and purchase transactions. The automation aims to support high volume and complex transactions at speed and scale to streamline internal processes and improve audit performance. Integrations to ERP, e-commerce, procurement, and other billing systems enables a single tax engine to seamlessly support a growing business. In addition to tax determination, Vertex provides tools and services to automate and…N/A
Pricing
Intuit LacerteVertex
Editions & Modules
Lacerte REP (Fast Path Only)
$400
Lacerte 200 - Federal 1040
Contact for pricing
Lacerte Unlimited Modules
Contact for pricing
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Intuit LacerteVertex
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Intuit LacerteVertex
Considered Both Products
Intuit Lacerte
Chose Intuit Lacerte
I’ve heard other tax preparers talk about their software and their likes and dislikes. When I offer to show them Intuit Lacerte most are blown away by what it does. One preparer used ProConnrct online tax (also by Intuit), and she loves how easy Intuit Lacerteis to use. She …
Chose Intuit Lacerte
We have been using Proseries along with Lacerte. As I said, Lacerte is much easier and faster when compared with Proseries.
Chose Intuit Lacerte
Lacerte is easier to use and gives you everything you need in one place.
Vertex
Chose Vertex
In my opinion, there is no comparison of Vertex customer service oriented approach to clients vs. Avalara. I think Vertex by far outshines Avalara 10 to 1.
In my experience, communication with Vertex is much more streamlined and handled efficiently than with Avalara.
In my …
Chose Vertex
Avalara is pricy in overall usage terms.
Chose Vertex
Vertex seemingly has more capabilities than Avalara, but Avalara's user interface is more intuitive and easier to use for business users.
Chose Vertex
I haven't evaluated anything else or any other products like Vertex. I have only seen some of the Comparisons between Avalara and Vertex. I don't remember much in terms of differences.
Chose Vertex
I personally find Avalara to be more straightforward and user friendly. I personally find Vertex to be more powerful and customizable.
Chose Vertex
I find Avalara to be more user friendly but not as robust as Vertex.
Chose Vertex
Vertex is more flexible and by using Vertex you need fewer people to maintain tax calculations. In addition, Tax rate update is maintained by Vertex, so you do not need to track and support tax rate update.
Chose Vertex
Nothing to add. When we subscribed to Vertex, they were considered the major player for tax calculation.
Chose Vertex
The functionality and feature set is similar. However, I prefer Vertex's UI over ONESOURCE. I have found Vertex to have certain taxability categories that ONESOURCE did not have historically.
Chose Vertex
In comparison specifically with Avalara, Vertex is better in every way. It is much more customizable and allows us to change the way our tax software is set up for our business needs. Avalara is much more constricted, and is using the SST system which can allow for simplified …
Chose Vertex
Vertex Indirect Tax Compliance package is worth getting. It has every form possible that needs to be filed monthly, quarterly, semi, or annually. It creates the uploadable file for state tax portal websites. So many other features.
Chose Vertex
For Sales tax many years ago I had used a product called Alternadev. It probably doesn't even exist anymore. It was created in someones kitchen and there wasn't much support. Other than that for sales tax I have only used Vertex.
I have used Onesource but that was for property …
Chose Vertex
Vertex is more flexible and better solution for US sales tax
Chose Vertex
Other options were:
- SAP native functions
- Meridian VAT add-ons
Chose Vertex
Vertex real time tax rate & tax determination updates is second to none. The quality of and accuracy in report generation is simple & easily understood.
Chose Vertex
The decision was made prior to my arrival at the organization but I believe that we've committed time and resources to the product and would not easily change our platform. We appreciate the efforts to educate users and create a happy and productive customer experience.
Features
Intuit LacerteVertex
Type of tax
Comparison of Type of tax features of Product A and Product B
Intuit Lacerte
8.5
Ratings
8% above category average
Vertex
8.1
Ratings
3% above category average
Sales and Use Taxes8.00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Cross-border Taxes8.00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
VAT / GST Taxes8.00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Energy and Fuel Taxes10.00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Tax Reporting & Compliance
Comparison of Tax Reporting & Compliance features of Product A and Product B
Intuit Lacerte
9.7
Ratings
21% above category average
Vertex
7.9
Ratings
1% above category average
Geolocation for Tax Assessment9.90 Ratings8.80 Ratings
3rd-Party Software Integrations7.90 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Tax Data Reporting10.00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Compliance Administration Management10.00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Tax Exemption Processing10.00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Tax Document Management10.00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Complex Tax Scenario Management10.00 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Intuit LacerteVertex
Small Businesses
TaxJar
TaxJar
Score 8.6 out of 10
TaxJar
TaxJar
Score 8.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
LOVAT
LOVAT
Score 10.0 out of 10
LOVAT
LOVAT
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
ADP SmartCompliance
ADP SmartCompliance
Score 8.6 out of 10
ADP SmartCompliance
ADP SmartCompliance
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Intuit LacerteVertex
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.7
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.4
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Intuit LacerteVertex
Likelihood to Recommend
Lacerte helps to serve a great variety of clients and businesses, it has over 5,700 forms. It also supports multi-state, K-1s, and more. It suits for power users with high business inflow. Its useful for a CPA who is processing a high value firm or individual with zero errors. The error diagnostic feature covers more than 25k error checks. This is less applicable to CPA's whose are managing regular individual 1040 routines.
Read full review
It is easy to use, and the user interface is very interactive. A beginner can also work with ease and have no difficulty accessing Vertex. It is straightforward to understand how Vertex works. The tax calculation mechanism is good and accurate.
Read full review
Pros
  • Continually updates when bugs are found or tax law change
  • Live customer suppprt
  • Listen s to customer to improve product
  • E-signature to get signed forms from remote customers
  • Organizers for customer to complete on paper or electronic
  • Tax appointment scheduling within the program and recurring for future appointments
  • Client invoices by form
  • Trial balance from accounting software to save time on business data entry
Read full review
  • The content is very detailed and helps companies make the correct indirect tax decisions.
  • The interfaces that O Series has with the major ERPs as well as the smaller ones gives it an advantage in the marketplace.
  • The user interface is very intuitive and easy to use.
Read full review
Cons
  • The updates from IRS to Lacerte need to be improved, so far so good.
  • Reporting needs to be improved. Feature like sorting categories. scorp/ind/non-profit
  • Tax summaries can be improved - like the differentiation between rental income & expenses. I trust this feature would be a great help.
Read full review
  • Critical changes! I feel they should be more aware of changes in the states. Sometimes we get these changes from them after we file our returns! I feel they should be up on any changes that are important for returns.
  • Support is a big issue. Vertex used to be excellent with their support. When I called with a question I felt I was speaking to a professional who knows the product inside and out. Now when I call I get someone who says "That's a realy good question I will have to look into that" Then days go by before I get an answer. Sometimes I don't get an answer at all. This was not the case in prior years.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
We are satisfied with the overall performance of Vertex. The software has provided my company with many efficiencies. We have shorted our audits and found that many audits are happy that we are using Vertex to calculate our taxes. We no longer need to worry about updating our rates each month since Vertex sends us a file to upload
Read full review
Usability
No answers on this topic
Great program, but a lot of features are still manual. It's difficult to set recurring monthly reports in a time frame of "Previous Month" and we have to kick them off. We have to manually delete reports, there isn't an option to choose multiple at once. Data that is transferred into Vertex returns is quirky as well, taking multiple steps to update lines of data.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
I have always felt VERTEX support was available when needed, and I have felt comfortable calling in some heavy hitters when needed
Read full review
Performance
No answers on this topic
Our Vertex performance is good, although we are now experiencing Error 502 when adding additional data points to our transaction tester single tests. At Exchange, I was told to reach out to support....that most likely the On Demand system needed some additional CPU resource added. I have a currently open ticket, that has not yet been fixed on this matter
Read full review
Support Rating
Lacerte customer service has been great. They are very knowledgeable about the product and can help resolve problems quickly.
Read full review
I cannot speak from personal experience, but our IT staff has found contacting Vertex support staff to be challenging. One coworker has gone through several support tickets because he was an unrecognized contact. He has also expressed frustration that communication with support staff is conducted solely by email, drawing out issues over an extended length of time that could be more easily resolved by a brief phone call.
Read full review
In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
By training I'm referring to our engagement with Vertex Consulting's professional services group. Each person on the engagement had prior leasing industry tax experience and most if not all used O Series before joining Vertex. Consultants with industry specific tax experience provide so much more than just "training". They are able to engage in deep tax technical discussions with actual experience while in private practice. This coupled with having visibility to how numerous other leasing peers approach similar tax issues is a huge plus on top of the standard training.
Read full review
Online Training
No answers on this topic
Vertex has offered multiple webinars for the products we have purchased that are informative and helpful. I've also attended a few of the Vertex annual conferences where I was able to strength my knowledge of Vertex. I also found that their online library and videos can be helpful in resolving issues and answering questions.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
The implementation is challenging, make no mistake but will provide much value over time. Make sure you have full support of IT and your major stakeholders in your company. I found that while many people claimed to understand tax was important, they had no idea how deep tax in entrenched throughout the lease life cycle.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
I’ve heard other tax preparers talk about their software and their likes and dislikes. When I offer to show them Intuit Lacerte most are blown away by what it does. One preparer used ProConnrct online tax (also by Intuit), and she loves how easy Intuit Lacerteis to use. She said having live support (not chat) to actually be able to show issues and work through them was great. Both programs use the same calculations, but the extras (trial balance, organizers with prior year data, invoicing, scheduling, filters, etc) are what makes Intuit Lacerte the best!
Read full review
Vertex is more flexible and by using Vertex you need fewer people to maintain tax calculations. In addition, Tax rate update is maintained by Vertex, so you do not need to track and support tax rate update.
Read full review
Scalability
No answers on this topic
There needs to be a time-consuming setup both in the Enterprise Resource Platform and in Vertex and the related tools as well but once this is all established, Vertex is very proficient at calculating Sales and Use Tax in the USA and in Canada with GST/HST, as well as several of the provinces where we are located. As we added plants in different jurisdictions via greenfield expansion and aquisition, Vertex was able to integrate those as long as the tax department is fully informed of the system.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • It has helped meet overall business goals.
  • Gives you the ability to add in and purchase only what you need.
Read full review
  • Vertex for the solution that we needed was half as much as the old tax software that we used
  • Our past solutions have not been able to exempt certain customers, so we were spending a lot of time manually adjusting sales orders in two systems (Netsuite and BigCommerce)
  • We are now able to add more complex tax rules, such as charging sales tax on digital, food, and clothing items differently than we were able to before
Read full review
ScreenShots

Vertex Screenshots

Screenshot of Vertex dashboard