BAIT
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Professional tax preparation · Windows desktop

Tax software that works the way your office already works.

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.

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Private preview Firms join by invitation. The download and every update come from bait.tax, and installed copies update themselves.

  • Entered
  • Calculated
  • Overridden
Built for104010651120-S
Also prepares112010419901040-NR
Tax year2025 parameters2026 projections

Familiar from day one

Forms, not interviews. Your hands already know it.

Every screen is the IRS form

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.

Color says where a number came from

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.

  • Entered
  • Calculated
  • Overridden

Check Return before anyone else does

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.

The managers you expect

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

A planning tool, not only a reporting tool.

Source documents read themselves in

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.

Scenarios the engine recalculates

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.

AI that never sees a name or an SSN

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

One host, every workstation, the same return.

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.

  • E-file Manager. Creates MeF submissions for every return type and the extensions and amended returns that go with them, tracks acknowledgments, and lands on the field a reject points at.
  • Print on the official forms. Filing, Client and Preparer copies with print sets, watermarks and a masked SSN on the client copy. Save as PDF or send to the printer.
  • Letters and billing. Client letters with merge fields, invoices, payments and a billing history per client.
  • Fixed assets. Federal, AMT and state books with a year-by-year schedule, feeding Form 4562 and the AMT adjustments.
  • Research at the line. The IRS instructions, publications and Code sections for the form on screen, without leaving the return.
  • Backups on a schedule. Encrypted backups that restore with any user’s passphrase from the time they were made.

Security

Client data stays on your computers.

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.

  • Encrypted at rest. Every record is encrypted under a data key that only user passphrases unlock. There is no master key and no back door, so a lost passphrase cannot be recovered: keep two administrators.
  • Login, roles and multi-factor sign-in. Administrators, preparers and reviewers; per-user permission to see full SSNs; failed sign-ins slow down and are logged.
  • An activity log of who opened, changed, printed and e-filed what.
  • Nothing leaves unscrubbed. AI features are off by default, run under the client’s section 7216 consent, and send identifiers nowhere.
  • Signed, self-updating builds. Installed copies check bait.tax for updates, download only when you say so, and install on restart.

Get BAIT

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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.

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