The Title Report
TitleVest survey shows NYC e-forms 'indispensable'. According to company officials, survey results showed the company's service is favored for creating New York City Real Property Transfer Tax forms.
Just 90 days after its official launch, TitleVest Agency, Inc.'s free Web-based solution, ACRIS ASAP, is becoming an indispensable tool for attorneys and other professionals who are required to electronically prepare New York City and state real property transfer tax information forms, according to a user survey.
Rather than navigating the New York City Department of Finance (DOF) Automated City Register Information System, known as ACRIS, over 95 percent of surveyed users responded that TitleVest's ACRIS ASAP accomplished the DOF "E-Tax" forms preparation work much faster and was easier to use than the City's ACRIS Web site itself.
The overwhelming majority of respondents who had previously used the City's ACRIS Web site directly or paid another company to prepare the forms said that going forward they would switch to ACRIS ASAP for their E-Tax preparation needs.
TitleVest, a leading New York-based provider of title insurance and related services, e-mailed the survey to 180 attorneys and support staff who had used ACRIS ASAP at least once. In additional comments, virtually every respondent said that TitleVest's ACRIS ASAP was a valuable and highly welcomed solution to the rigorous and painstaking method of using the City's ACRIS website to prepare the required forms. The E-tax forms are required for every real property or co-op share transfer transaction.
The survey garnered rave reviews from users who rated ACRIS ASAP's features as follows:
-- 92 percent found ACRIS ASAP's one-page form simple and easy to use;
-- 77 percent lauded the fact that information needed to be entered only once, even for revisions;
-- 75 percent cited TitleVest's staff for knowledgeable, friendly and attentive customer support.
-- 85 percent appreciated that ACRIS ASAP is free.
In addition, 95 percent of users said they would recommend ACRIS ASAP to a colleague.
Bill Baron, president of TitleVest, said, "During the past year, we heard nothing but complaints from attorneys who used the City's ACRIS Web site. The response we're getting now from those same users is how ACRIS ASAP has dramatically simplified the E-Tax preparation process."
The DOF, which eliminated hard copy forms preparation and mandated electronic preparation in 2004, requires users to navigate 14-plus pages with tabs and sub-tabs on the City's ACRIS website. By contrast, ACRIS ASAP users simply access a single-page interface hosted on the TitleVest Web site. The program interfaces with the City's ACRIS Web site and automatically creates all of the required E-Tax forms in a matter of minutes. Additionally, ACRIS ASAP is fully integrated with TitleVest's library of legal forms, title, coop and UCC orders. What this means is that any data from any legal form or TitleVest order can be automatically transferred into ACRIS ASAP, further eliminating both the need for redundant and time consuming data entry and the possibility of typographical errors.
"It's really a no-brainer for real estate attorneys. ACRIS ASAP creates the required E-Tax forms in a fraction of the time and effort required by the City's ACRIS Web site." Baron said.
For more information, visit www.TitleVest.com .