Professional tax preparation · Windows desktop
BAIT keeps the forms-based workflow preparers know: type on the form, check the return, print on the official IRS forms. Built first for the 1040, the 1065 and the 1120-S, with document reading and tax planning the old package never had.
Private preview Firms join by invitation. The download and every update come from bait.tax, and installed copies update themselves.
Familiar from day one
Preparers type on the form, not into a questionnaire. Enter moves to the next field, Ctrl+S saves, F7 runs Check Return, and the forms in a return sit as tabs along the bottom of the window. Interview mode is there for the 1040 when a newer preparer wants it.
Black is entered, blue is calculated, red is overridden. Right-click a field to override it, restore it, add a note, or jump to the form its value flows from.
Errors that block e-file, Warnings, Overrides and Information, each one a click from the field it is about. The review checklist, reviewer sign-off and the unapplied source documents show up in the same list.
Return Manager, Rollover Manager, Client and Payer Managers, Fixed Asset Manager, Billing Manager, E-file Manager. Last year rolls forward with carryovers and payer shells; client lists come in from CSV, printed returns and conversion files.
Beyond preparation
Drop in the W-2s, 1099s and K-1s. BAIT reads them into the input forms and keeps each value’s source on the field, so review is a glance rather than a hunt. Scans go through local OCR on the preparer’s machine.
A scenario is a copy of the return with changes. The strategy library ranks what applies by the saving it computed: S corporation election, retirement contributions, QBI, estimated payments, timing, depreciation elections, gain and loss harvesting, Roth conversions. Projections use next year’s parameters and a planning letter goes to the client.
Off until an administrator turns it on, with the firm’s own key. Anything bound for the model is scrubbed first: names, addresses, SSNs, EINs and account numbers become temporary keys and come back on the way in. The model drafts the narrative and answers what-if questions; the engine computes the tax, every time.
Built for the office
An office keeps one database on a host computer; workstations pair with a connection code and work on the same returns. A single preparer runs the same build on one machine.
Security
BAIT is desktop software. Returns, documents and settings live in an encrypted database on the firm’s own machines. This website holds your sign-in and nothing about your clients.
Get BAIT
BAIT is in private preview. Tell us about the firm and we will set up the accounts that download and install it. Already have one? Sign in.