Get ready for the 2025 filing season!

With tax forms growing longer and more complex every year (after flirting with simplicity just a few years ago), and the uncertainty of last-minute tax changes, the next tax season could have unexpected changes. But you'll be ready for anything ... if you order your Tax Preparer update now!

With tax laws built-in and e-file options for professionals, Tax Preparer is still the best deal in accurate, fully-automated, professional tax software.

TIPS on moving Tax Preparer to a new computer or upgrading an old one.

Moving to a new computer? If you bought a new computer and want to copy your prior-year data to that computer for translation, see the last few pages of Chapter 14 of the new User's Guide (pages 14-13 through 14-18). It provides useful information and tips on moving Tax Preparer data from one computer to another, backed by examples for four common scenarios.

NEW: Upgrading old computer to Windows 10? If you upgrade an existing computer to Windows 10, you may encounter printing or start-up problems:

•   Printing: You may have to update the driver for your printer if graphic forms in Tax Preparer do not print properly. While the Windows 10 upgrade automatically installs the required new drivers for most popular printers of recent vintage, it does not update drivers for older or less popular printers, many of which did not yet have Windows 10 drivers available when Windows 10 was first released. You may therefore have to install a new driver from the website for the manufacturer of the printer, if available.
•   Start-up (32-bit only): Tax Preparer may not start because of a change in settings that Microsoft's upgrade to Windows 10 imposes automatically for 32-bit versions of Windows 10. To change the settings back to the ones required by Tax Preparer, see Customer Service Memo CSTP1503. (No such problem exists for 64-bit versions of Windows 10, which are generally installed when you upgrade a 64-bit computer to Windows 10.)

Additional help. Some people have had perplexing problems this year for which there were not immediate solutions. These include failure of the installation programs, failure of Tax Preparer to start, inability to access tax data, and inability for e-file transmission software to find e-file output to transmit. All of the problems are caused by either aggressive anti-virus software or non-standard computer setups. However, convenient solutions for all problems are available and are described in two memos on our Bulletins page:

•   CSTP1501: How to ensure proper installation and updating of Tax Preparer.
•   CSTP1502: How to avert inability to run Tax Preparer's start-up .vbs file.

ON-LINE UPDATES for 2025 Edition

These on-line updates can be used only by those who have already installed a prior release of the same program for the same filing season. (For the last on-line updates for the prior tax season, click the 2024 EDITIONS button near the top of this page.)

Tax Preparer
(Form 1040)

Release 2025.01g now available.

(Updated 3/23/2025.)

Partnership Edition
(Form 1065)

Release 2025.01b now available.

(Updated 4/25/2025.)

California Supplement
(Form 540)

Release 2025.01c now available.

(Updated 3/27/2025.)

Manuals
(Tax Forms Guides and User's Guide)

IMPORTANT NEWS

4/25/2025 Release 2025.01b of Partnership Supplement 1065 now available.

This update revises printouts of complete returns to prevent extra copies of Form 1065 from being printed. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the Partnership Downloads Page.

4/20/2025 Release 2025.01a of Partnership Supplement 1065 now available.

This update revises printouts of Schedule K for better clarity and fully updates the Partnership Tax Forms Guide. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the Partnership Downloads Page.

3/27/2025 Release 2025.01c of California Supplement 540 now available.

This update revises Schedule P to ensure proper transfer of AMT to Form 540, revises auto-create to ensure that Schedule P p.3-4 is created when Schedule P p.1-2 exists and vice versa, and revises our Control Form to prevent the blocking of autocreate of Schedule P. This is a MANDATORY UPDATE for anyone who uses Schedule P. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the California Downloads Page.

3/23/2025 Release 2025.01g of Tax Preparer 1040 now available.

This update adds forms 2350, 4136, and 8824 and recently released IRS publications. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the Downloads Page.

3/22/2025 Release 2025.01b of California Supplement 540 now available.

This update revises official printouts of Schedule P to conform with recent changes in FTB printout requirements and further updates the Calfornia Tax Forms Guide 2025 Edition. This is a MANDATORY UPDATE for anyone who uses Schedule P, which is used to figure the AMT and claim most credits. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the California Downloads Page.

3/17/2025 Release 2025.01f of Tax Preparer 1040 now available.

This update revises Form 1040-X and corrects a problem in transferring amounts to Form 1040 through Schedules 2 and 3, as well as withholding from Forms 1099-G, 1099-INT, and 1099-DIV, for returns NOT started by translating the prior-year return. Because of the latter problem, this is a MANDATORY UPDATE for Form 1040 tax returns. This update also adds recently released IRS forms and publications. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the Downloads Page.

3/17/2025 Release 2025.01a of California Supplement 540 now available.

This update adds Schedule P and revises forms FTB 3519 and FTB 540-ES. It also fully updates the Calfornia Tax Forms Guide 2025 Edition. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the California Downloads Page.

3/6/2025 Release 2025.01e of Tax Preparer 1040 now available.

This update adds to the software Forms 2210, 2210-F, and 1040-ES and fully activates e-file for transmitting returns to the IRS. It also adds recently released IRS forms and publications. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the Downloads Page.

3/6/2025 Release 2025.01 of California Supplement 540 now available.

If your ordered our California Form 540 software for the current filing season, you should have received a link to the download of the software. If not, be sure to let us know.

2/23/2025 Release 2025.01d of Tax Preparer 1040 now available.

This update adds to the software Form 8379, and revises Form 1040, Schedule EIC, Form 8606, and date entry formatting. It also adds a recently released IRS publication. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the Downloads Page.

2/17/2025 Release 2025.01c of Tax Preparer 1040 now available.

This update adds to the software Forms 1040-X, 4137, 6781, 8396, 8606, and 8815. It also adds recently released IRS publications, forms, and instructions. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the Downloads Page.

2/10/2025 Release 2025.01b of Tax Preparer 1040 now available.

This update adds to the software Forms 5329, 8283, 8839, and 8862. It also revises printouts for Form 1040, Schedule 1, and Schedule 3, and adds recently released IRS publications, forms, and instructions. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the Downloads Page.

2/2/2025 Release 2025.01a of Tax Preparer 1040 now available.

This update adds to the software Forms 1116, 1310, 2106, 2555, 4562, 4684 5405, 5695, 6198, and 6252. It also adds recently released IRS Pubs. 514 and 583. To get the new update and more details on the changes, go to the Downloads Page.

1/27/2025 Release 2025.01 of Tax Preparer 1040 now available.

Our release coincides with the opening of the tax season by the IRS. Today is the first day that the IRS will accept tax returns for tax year 2024 and will start processing them. If you ordered our software for preparing federal Form 1040 tax returns, you should have received an email with a private link to your download. Be sure to let us know if you haven't received it, and we'll resend it immediately.

Prior releases. For details on prior-year changes throughout the tax season, see Changes in Recent Releases for the respective software:

•   Changes for prior-year 1040 (individuals) software
•   Changes for prior-year 1065 (partnerships) software
•   Changes for prior-year 540 (California) software

What are the changes?

Because of the convenience of the web, we issue new releases frequently, even when most of the changes are relatively insignificant. Changes are highlighted in the bottom half of the respective download pages. However, if you want more detail about the most significant changes, there are two other places to look:

•   E-FILE ALERTS. Changes that are of consequence ONLY to e-file returns are documented here. The changes typically avert specific Reject Codes for the e-file return, so if your return is rejected, check this list first to see if you need to update your software and take particular steps to repair your data.
•   BULLETINS. Changes that are significant for both paper and e-file returns are documented here. Technical Change Notices are issued for each significant change, including the steps you may have to take to repair a return prepared with an earlier release.

Changes that are not documented on either of these pages are less serious in nature, including rewording on some on-screen lines to make entries more understandable, correction of spelling errors, correction of line number references on printouts, and technical changes that have no affect on calculations.

IMPORTANT TIP: After you translate a prior-year return to the current-year format, be sure to VIEW ALL TRANSLATED WORKSHEETS to ensure that the worksheets are recalculated under their new format, and to verify that all entries are proper for the current return. This step is especially necessary this year because of major changes in several worksheets.