Questions? We're Ready!
The ICLUBcentral Support team -- Adrienne, Dan, Irving, Paul, Peg, Richard, Sean and Sonya -- just wants to thank you for your patience over the week of Christmas. We enjoyed a restful holiday with our families and are looking forward to helping make this Tax Season simple and successful for everyone.
Our Support lines are now open. Our online support resources have been updated and improved: see for yourself at www.iclub.com/support. If you can't find an answer to your question there, you can submit an email inquiry any time of day or night via our website ( www.iclub.com/support/request.html ), or call us between the hours of 11am and 6pm, Monday through Friday. Please note that we will be closed New Year’s Day.
What to expect during Tax Season
Look at the line at your local H&R Block next week, and you'll see what Tax Season is like. During Tax Season, the volume of inquiries our support team receives roughly triples. The period of heavy volume begins in early January -- just a few days from now! -- and ends the fourth week of March. During that time, we strive to answer all customers as quickly as possible, but like the lines at your local tax preparer, there's nothing stopping everyone from coming in on the same day. We value you and do our best to answer your questions as fast as we can, working as hard as possible to get you the answer you need as quickly as possible. So please understand that if your email takes two or three days to answer instead of one, or if the phone line rings busy, it’s not that we're ignoring you. Even if you can't see the other folks in queue, they’re there! If you've sent us a question, we'll get you the answer.
What ICLUBcentral is doing to make Tax Season better
Let’s ask the guy in charge, Daniel Abraham. We hired Daniel, a seasoned support manager, last year to help improve our support practices.
“I was brought in around this time last year and got to experience Tax Season firsthand, which allowed me to see both our strengths and our weaknesses. So for the past year, the support team has been training hard, adding tools to our toolbox, and planning specifically to make this Tax Season successful for all of our customers. Many of the changes we’ve made are internal, but you'll notice the results when you contact us.
We’ve beefed up our staff and will be hiring further for Tax Season. (In fact, drop us a line if you know any good support candidates in the Boston area!) We’ve also implemented a range of new training processes, testing our Support staff on all of our NAIC software and making sure that they have the knowledge they need to be able to answer your questions.
The result? Hold times are down 60% for phone inquiries, and we’ve improved to answering 90% of email inquiries within 24 hours. A year ago, it took an average of 12 minutes for us to answer your question over the phone. Now, with our new training and tools, that’s been reduced to 7 minutes. That means not only that we can your question sooner, but also that we can take more calls, reducing the next caller’s chance of getting a busy signal.
Another example of an improvement: A year ago, each Support rep had his or her own list of answers. If you asked the same question to two different reps, you might get slightly different answers. Today, we speak with one voice. We built an online knowledgebase that helps us answer questions with greater speed and consistency. When you call or write, we refer to that knowledgebase, and more often than not, can send you out a set of detailed, standardized instructions on how to solve your issue.
We're listening. These changes could not have been made without your feedback. Every email that goes out from Customer Support now contains a link to a Customer Satisfaction survey. Use that link! Fill out the survey! Tell us what you like and what you don't like so we can set our priorities for the next year and make sure we’re fulfilling your needs."
Thanks again for your patience, and best wishes for a pleasant and prosperous new year!
The NAIC Club Tax Printer and NAIC State Tax Printer are the only tax software products licensed by NAIC to work with NAIC Club Accounting software. The software helps you generate Federal and state tax forms, respectively, for your investment club and its members. It just takes a few minutes to print the forms, which you can then sign and mail directly to the IRS and relevant state tax authority.
You can pre-order the official NAIC Club Tax Printer at a $10 discount until January 1, 2004. That's just 1 day away, so act now! Useful tax-related links and detailed information on the NAIC Club Tax Printer may be found at www.iclub.com/taxes.
The 2003 NAIC Club Tax Printer for Windows has been released. This means that it has been built, subjected to a battery of quality assurance tests, and successfully passed an official NAIC beta test. Please see below for status of the tax printer on various media. The Federal tax printer generates the Federal Form 1065 and related schedules including Schedule K-1 and Schedule D.
Federal tax printer (Download)
Now available.
To download the NAIC Club Tax Printer, please visit http://www.iclub.com/taxes/download.
The download file is approximately 20 Mb. Download times will vary from under a minute for customers with broadband Internet access to an hour or more for customers with a slow modem connection. If you have trouble with the download, you may switch your order from download to CD at https://www.iclub.com/store/tpcd.aspx.
Anyone may download the NAIC Club Tax Printer, but to use it, one must have a valid 2003 NAIC Club Tax Printer serial number. Serial numbers may be purchased for $49 apiece until January 1 and $59 thereafter by selecting the “Download” option at www.iclub.com/taxes/buy.
Federal tax printer (CD)
In production.
The CDs and manuals are currently being manufactured, and some have already been shipped to NAIC, which will begin processing customers’ orders on January 2, 2004.
The NAIC Club Tax Printer may be ordered on CD at www.iclub.com/taxes/buy. Starting January 2, clubs may also order the CD version by calling NAIC toll-free at 1-877-275-6242, ext 0. Please note that no phone orders will be accepted until January 2, and only the CD version may be ordered by phone.
Federal tax printer (Online)
In testing.
The NAIC Online Tax Printer, which functions as part of NAIC Online Club Accounting (NOCA), is being tested. As soon as the product is available, all NOCA clubs will receive an email letting them know. Clubs using NOCA may order the online tax printer by clicking on the TAXES tab on the maroon toolbar. To log into or sign up for NOCA, please visit www.naic-club.com.
State tax printers (Download & CD)
In testing.
The state tax printer has not yet been released, as it is awaiting final release of the tax forms by the relevant state authorities. These forms are typically released in mid-to-late January. To pre-order the NAIC State Tax Printer, please visit www.iclub.com/taxes/buy.
Every year, we help tens of thousands of investment clubs file their taxes. This three-part series of tips answers questions treasurers frequently ask us and corrects some common misconceptions.
How do I prepare my club's Federal taxes?
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Make sure you have version 2.5 or higher of NAIC Club Accounting installed on your computer. The 2003 NAIC Club Tax Printer will not work with earlier versions. To update to the latest version of NAIC Club Accounting, please visit our website.
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Open the 2003 NAIC Club Tax Printer software program. Use the simple question-and-answer format to print out your:
a. Form 1065 (including Schedule D & supporting schedules for Schedule K)
b. Schedule K-1 (one for each partner)
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Send one Form 1065 to the IRS at one of the three regional centers. (Make sure to identify the proper IRS mailing address for your club.) Keep one copy of the Form 1065 for club records.
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Print 3 copies of each member’s Schedule K-1. Send one copy of each Schedule K-1 to the IRS, keep one copy of each for the club, and give the third copy to the appropriate partner.
Where can I find more information on investment club taxes?
Visit ICLUBcentral’s tax-season webpage at www.iclub.com/taxes. The page features detailed information about the NAIC Club Tax Printer, links to important tax season resources such as the IRS and state tax information, and more.
Read past newsletters, subscribe, or unsubscribe at:
http://www.iclub.com/newsletters/
Copyright 2003 ICLUBcentral Inc. All rights reserved.
