Drake Tax 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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Overview
Pricing and Plans
Features
User Reviews

Overview

Drake Tax

3.8

(113)

Pricing

Starting at $349.99 one time

About Drake Tax

Drake Tax is a tax preparation software designed to meet the needs of professional tax preparers. Its suite of features aims to streamline the tax preparation process, enhance accuracy and improve efficiency for users. This software addresses various aspects of tax filing, providing users with tools that facilitate both federal and state tax return preparation.

Drake Tax helps small to midsize accounting firms streamline returns operations for multiple clients via a unified portal. The platform enables organizations to compare and evaluate taxes for different states and print forms in Spanish.

A significant feature of Drake Tax is its intuitive data entry system that allows users to input tax information quickly and accurately. The software uses a double-entry system to cross-reference data, significantly reducing the likelihood of errors. Additionally, Drake Tax includes extensive diagnostic tools that automatically scan returns for mistakes and omissions, offering suggestions for corrections. These features are central to ensuring the accuracy and completeness of tax returns.

Drake Tax allows tax professionals to handle data entry operations and reduce keystrokes using the dou...

Drake Tax Screenshots

Drake Tax Pricing and Plans

Starting price: $349.99 one time

Free Trial

Free Version

Pay-per-return

$349.99

flat rate, one time

Plan includes:

1040
1040nr
1041
1065
1120
1120h
1120s
706
709
990

Drake Tax Pro

$2,195.00

No plan information available

Drake Tax 1040

$1,795.00

No plan information available

Drake Tax Features

Popular features found in Tax Preparation
Tax Calculation
Tax Filing
Tax Forms
Tax Management
More features of Drake Tax
Access Controls/Permissions
Accounting
Activity Tracking
Alerts/Notifications
Billing & Invoicing
Client Portal
Corporate/Business
Data Import/Export
Data Verification
Document Management
Electronic Filing
Exception Notification
For Tax Practices
K-1 Reporting
Tax Planning

Drake Tax User Reviews

Overall Rating

3.8

Ratings Breakdown

50%

18%

12%

15%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

3.8

Value for money

4.0

Customer support

3.9

Functionality

3.7

Kimberly W.

Verified reviewer

Accounting

2-10 employees

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed July 2022

1st year user

This is my first year with Drake and it is very functional for the cost. Drake is constantly improving and listens to their clients.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Drake has myriad training avenues and has provided for solid tax planning opportunities.

Cons:

Some of the functionality is clunky. There are fields that could auto-populate from demographics that do not. This requires repeat entries.

Reasons for switching to Drake Tax

Price

Rivka K.

Verified reviewer

Accounting

Self-Employed

Used monthly for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed September 2024

Switched to Drake

switched to Drake this tax season and went well, good customer support

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Easy to navigate from one form to another

Cons:

old world look and feel, for example software could not handle a business name with a . in it

Reasons for switching to Drake Tax

Pro Series did not provide good customer service, value for money was not worth it and they took a long time to respond to tax law changes

Paul N.

Verified reviewer

Accounting

11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed February 2025

Good, but not great.

This a complete package, but takes years of working with it to get things working smoothly and timely.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Complex environment that is well developed.

Cons:

The logical expectation seldom worked with Drake. The online self help features were very poor making it difficult to know how to fix certain instances without many years of working on Drake.

Maribeth J.

Verified reviewer

Accounting

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2024

A fantastic tax return prep program.

Drake makes it easy for our staff, at any level, to do their job with confidence. With its built in error messages and data validation features it is a great program.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Drake helps us optimize the time spent on each return because the built in compliance features and warnings gives us confidence that we are thorough with each return. The Gruntworx feature is a game changer, allowing us to minimize data entry needs.

Cons:

My only issue is with the updates process. Obviously, real time changes make them necessary, however I am often the first person in and when I access Drake it requires all users are logged out. Because we are a small office it is easy enough to do but I can't imagine how that would affect a larger firm.

Reasons for switching to Drake Tax

Pricing was the primary reason, but the support availability and quality has only reinforced our belief we made the right choice.

Susan C.

Verified reviewer

Financial Services

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2023

The Best Software for Tax Preparation/Management

Overall I would Highly recommend Drake Tax and accounting software.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

The many functions and features provided to service your clients and provide them the best value for their money.

Cons:

Billing section. Also every year we get the full package from Drake. I would love to see them maybe include a few free Continuing Education Credit with the purchase.

Reasons for choosing Drake Tax

The value for our money and the fact that Drake is a pioneer in the industy. Also noticed that many other services seem to utilize drakes software and then just customize it to their comoany

Reasons for switching to Drake Tax

Drake tax offers a more professional experience for our clients.

Frank J.

Verified reviewer

Accounting

2-10 employees

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed April 2024

Drake uses programmers not tax professionals to design their product

poorly trained staff but very friendly, unless u ask for their supervisor. I have been in calls w support for over an hour until I say “ u don’t know this do u?” When they answer in the affirmative you know they have staffing problems and they re trying to protect their managers from pirate clients

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

They are nice on the phone The portals work well n efficient

Cons:

Their support staff is mostly untrained each year You must ask if the person u r talking to has been trained in the area u need help with Drake software folk cannot understand why, when a new user to their product, questions why Drake doesn’t flow information well between screens n forms Depending on whom u speak with - I have gotten “ that won’t work” when in fact management tells me- oh that is simple Staff does not understand their own software beyond the basics

Reasons for choosing Drake Tax

Cost n promises by sales person n a cpa that they said had much exp w Drake… turns out he was near dead n retired for years

Reasons for switching to Drake Tax

Old cost was 25k minimum per year, Drake starts at 65

Thomas B.

Verified reviewer

Accounting

Self-Employed

Used weekly for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed June 2022

Drake is OK for the price but has flaws and the product support doesn't live up to prior reputation

I tried Drake tax because I received sales calls at least 4 days a week for over a year....so I figured I'd try the PPR version. I also tried it because Drake had a superior reputation for product/customer support (i.e., when something may not appear to report correctly, they respond and address it if so). That may have been true at some point, but I haven't found it so. As a new user, over the course of about 18 months, I contacted Drake maybe 5 times about an issue with either Drake Tax or Drake Portals. In most cases, the first point of contact didn't really understand the issue (which is OK). But, I hardly ever received any callback response from anyone who could respond to the issue (after being told I would). So, as far as I am concerned, Drake has no more support or concern about potential reporting issues than any other competitor (which is generally none). As long as that's the case, it seems better to go with a tax prep software that gets reporting right more often than not, such as Prosystem, Proconnect, or Ultratax if you can afford it.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

For the money, Drake Tax offers more value compared to competitors. It's certainly not the worst. If you can't afford a more robust solution like Ultratax, Prosystem, or Lacerte, and you don't do terribly complex returns, Drake is a reasonable choice, and the Drake portal integration is pretty serviceable. The asset manager in Drake Tax is one of the best I've used, and handles group/bulk sales quite nicely. The built in integration with a document manager which automatically creates client folder structures when a new client is added is also handy.

Cons:

Allocating things between states in Drake can be cumbersome, making you create a separate tab for each state rather than allocating in a grid, etc. Certain things do not flow correctly to the return without substantial preparer oversight or adjustment. State specific codes or items, vacation home loss carryovers, QBI reporting, PY basis losses reporting on Sch E among others. Product/Customer support has historically had a good reputation, but I've certainly found the opposite to be true. I've found no more concern for product support and customer inquiries than any other platform, which takes away a big reason for considering Drake in the first place.

Reasons for choosing Drake Tax

I still haven't made any final decision for the home office practice. I use UltraTax in my day job, and I stick with that as my primary software.

Reasons for switching to Drake Tax

Intuit has non-existent customer support for product issues. Drake had a reputation for superior support. I emphasize the word 'Had.' I also just wanted to familiarize myself with other software's approach (they're all a bit different).

Marie P.

Verified reviewer

Accounting

Self-Employed

Used weekly for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed July 2025

Great when it works, horrid when it doesn't

When it works great. However, by getting a different person each time if you have an issue, I have gotten conflicting advice. I am still a Drake client but going forward I will not default to suggestions from sales automatically.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

When Drake works well, it is amazing. Customer service does pick up and can generally answer questions.

Cons:

If you have a complex issue, you need to re-explain the issue. There is no relationship manager, if you have an issue you have to call, give the info again, wait for a call back etc. While Drake works well generally, I suggest ensuring you ask a lot of questions before listening to sales to proceed. Also, ask your sales rep if they will advocate if there is an issue.

Richard B.

Verified reviewer

Financial Services

Self-Employed

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed November 2024

Covid recovery