Drake Tax is built as a Windows desktop program. Drake Tax hosting means running that same program on a remote Windows server, and your team connects to it over the internet instead of installing it on every office computer. The software, the forms and your licence stay the same. What changes is where it runs.

How It Works

Your Drake Tax installation, client files and settings sit on a Windows server in a data center. Each preparer opens a remote desktop session from a PC, Mac or tablet, and sees a Windows desktop with Drake Tax on it. Keystrokes and screen images travel over an encrypted connection. The returns themselves never leave the server, so a lost laptop does not mean lost client data.

Because everyone works in the same installation, two preparers can no longer end up with two different copies of a client file, and nobody has to email backups around.

What Stays the Same

• Your Drake licence. You keep your own licence and you buy it from Drake. Hosting does not replace it.
• Your EFIN and e-filing. You e-file from the hosted server with your existing EFIN. There is no new IRS registration.
• How the software looks and works. It is the same Drake Tax, so there is nothing new to learn.

What Changes

• No office server to maintain. The hardware, Windows updates and daily backups are handled for you.
• Work from anywhere. Home, a client’s office, or a Mac that could never run Drake natively.
• Seasonal staff are quick to add. A new preparer gets a login. You do not set up another computer.
• Printing. You print from the hosted session to your local printer through universal printing. Test your usual forms during the trial.

What Drake Itself Says About Hosting

This is worth knowing before you choose any provider, including us. Drake Software partners with one hosting service, Rightworks, and on its published support pages says it tests Drake only on that platform. Drake’s system requirements page says other cloud hosting services and virtual servers are not supported by Drake Support, and that Drake will not troubleshoot them.

That does not mean hosted Drake does not work. Drake lists Windows Server 2019, 2022 and 2025 among its supported operating systems, and many firms run Drake on servers hosted by other providers. It does mean the hosting provider carries the support for the environment. If you host with us, we handle the server, the connection, printing, backups and performance. If a question is about the Drake program itself, such as a tax calculation or a form, Drake Support is still the right place, but they may ask you about your environment and may not troubleshoot a non-Rightworks setup.

If that trade-off matters to your firm, ask every provider how they would handle a Drake problem that needs Drake’s help, and get the answer in writing.

Who Hosting Suits

• Firms with two or more preparers who need the same files at the same time.
• Firms with remote or seasonal staff, or preparers on Macs.
• Firms with an aging office server or a PC that “has Drake on it” and nothing behind it.

It may not be worth it for a single preparer in one office who has a reliable machine and good backups, unless remote access is the goal.

What to Check Before You Move

• That your Drake licence and EFIN stay yours, and that you can take them to another provider.
• How your busiest weeks are handled, not just the average. Ask about concurrent users in March.
• Who you reach when something breaks during filing season.
• Where your data sits and how backups are made and tested.
• That you can try your real workflow first.

What It Costs With Cloud Innovics

Plans run from $80 a month (2 users, 2 applications) and $150 a month (5 users, 3 applications), billed monthly with no long-term contract. See the pricing page for the current plans. You can start a free trial and run your own Drake workflow before you decide.

Related

Full plan details, the migration steps and security information are on our Drake Tax Hosting page. For how we protect data, see Our Security Measures.