CCH's COMPLETETAX PRO Lets Firms Profit From Do-it-Yourselfers

(RIVERWOODS, ILL., October 25, 2001) – Now there’s a way for tax professionals to actually profit from the growing trend of do-it-yourself online consumer tax preparation, according to CCH INCORPORATED (CCH), a leading provider of professional tax software and services. CompleteTax Pro^TM is a turnkey solution from CCH that can build a firm’s practice, enhance its web presence and open a new revenue stream with a minimal commitment of staff time and firm resources. (To order, call 1-800-841-8453 or visit http://www.completetaxpro.com.)

"Many professional tax firms have watched from the sidelines as potential customers have moved to doing their own tax returns using consumer-oriented software – increasingly, Internet-based software," said Bob Dias, senior marketing manager for CCH.

"CompleteTax Pro is a good example of the do-it-yourself approach to tax preparation, but it’s designed to build web traffic for tax professionals, provide them with an additional income stream and create new opportunities to market their additional services and secure more profitable professional engagements," Dias added.

Built Around Proven System

CompleteTax Pro is CCH’s professional affiliation program built around CCH’s proven CompleteTax online individual tax preparation system. First developed in 1998, the easy-to-use CompleteTax system handles federal and all state Individual returns.

End-users have access to a comprehensive online help system, including "Frequently Asked Questions," CCH technical support via e-mail and 900-number telephone support. For help with substantive tax issues, users have access to the online CCH Tax Guide for CompleteTax, containing over 500 pages of thorough, easy-to-understand tax explanations, tips, worksheets and other helpful tools.

Under the basic CompleteTax Pro program, firms simply provide a link from their web sites to a secure CCH server, customize the CCH program with their own firm name and logo and choose a price point for the service.

CCH handles the processing of all self-prepared tax returns and provides complete back-office product support, including program and data hosting on secure servers, automatic program updates and maintenance, electronic transmission of e-filed returns and all e-commerce functionality, including credit card processing and profit-sharing distributions.

Firms Choose Options

Firms typically will offer CompleteTax Pro through their own web sites as a paid service. But CompleteTax Pro lends itself to other uses as well:

Firms can selectively offer the service at no charge for promotional purposes or as a goodwill gesture for select accommodation returns such as dependents and students.

Through sub-accounts, firms can also place CompleteTax Pro on the web sites of their business or organizational clients. The sub-account can be branded with the firm’s or client’s logo, and a separate per-return price can be set. Among other marketing possibilities, this allows the firm to reach through its clients to the customers, members or employees using the site.

While firms typically have minimal involvement with the returns, they can enable an "Ask a Professional" link which allows users to seek help from the firm’s professionals. Firms using CCH’s ProSystemfx Tax can also import data collected from CompleteTax Pro into their systems.

"The bottom line is that the firm has control over how it fits CompleteTax Pro into its product mix and marketing strategy," Dias said.

Availability and Pricing

For more information on the CompleteTax Pro affiliate program, call 800-841-8453 or visit http://www.completetaxpro.com. A nominal set-up and maintenance fee of $195 is required when a CompleteTax Pro order is processed.

About CCH INCORPORATED

CCH INCORPORATED, headquartered in Riverwoods, Ill., was founded in 1913 and has served four generations of business professionals and their clients. The company produces more than 700 electronic and print products for the tax, legal, securities, insurance, human resources, health care and small business markets. CCH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer North America. The CCH web site can be accessed at www.cch.com. The CCH tax and accounting web site can be accessed at http://tax.cchgroup.com.

-- ### --

nb-01-121