Our annual survey of what New York tax practitioners think of tax preparation and research software is this issue's cover story. This represents the 17th edition of the survey, conducted by Susan Anders and Carol Fischer, and represents an opportunity for NYSSCPA members to share their opinions on the software they use and help shape what other preparers and vendors expect from the market. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted just before the busy season but not effective until the coming year, loomed over preparers and taxpayers. CPAs found themselves preparing one year's returns while advising clients who had questions about how the timing of deductions—medical expenses, mortgage interest payments, income and property tax payments, charitable contributions, and miscellaneous expenses—would affect next year's returns under the TCJA. Further complicating compliance for 2017 was the retroactive passage of various expiring tax provisions and an IRS system outage on tax day itself. Respondents took the challenges in stride, and their collected wisdom here can help other tax professionals in the market for software to decide which solution to choose.

Elsewhere in the issue we look at a variety of other topics. In an unusual subject for the Journal, wineries are the focus of an article by Cecily Raiborn, Janet Butler, and Ann Watkins. CPAs are needed to provide accounting and business advice to winemakers, and the authors offer examples of issues endemic to the industry, including common fraud problems.

Some timely headlines are addressed by our columnists this month. Our State & Local Taxation column, for example, looks specifically at how New Jersey has responded to the Supreme Court's decision in Wayfair by enacting “economic nexus rules” aimed at collecting more taxes from remote sellers. And the Estate & Retirement Planning column answers common questions clients might ask their CPA about whether they need estate planning in the wake of the increased (but temporary) exemption enacted by the TCJA.