| any income tax forecasting software out there? |
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tomseeley
Member
Cash: $ 2.85
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Joined: 01 Dec 2007
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| any income tax forecasting software out there? |
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I'd like to find some software I could use to do "what if" sort of forecasts of what my next year's fed income tax might be, if I inputted various hypothetical amounts of income, earnings, deductions, etc.
I use TaxCut to do my real tax returns and I know it does a bit of "next year" forecasting, but you have to put in a whole year of real figures first. I'm looking for something a bit simpler, even tho I'm well aware the predictions it'd give me would be just that: predictions. Nothing I could bank on.
Anyone know of any such programs?
A specific problem I'd like to study using such software would be: assuming all income, deductions, etc., remain equal except for one, what would the tax impact of continuing to deduct home mortgage interest vs not deducting such interest assuming I pay off the mortgage? [I'm aware that question involves more than just deductibility of interest; this message ONLY deals with the tax implications of either including or not including that particular deduction, so please devote your answer, if any, to the question I've asked.]
Thx.
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Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:04 pm |
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coaster
Senior Advisor
Cash: $ 1356.20
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Location: Wisconsin
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Just use Tax Code to make up an estimated income tax return. You can simplify the inputs, or if it's got a transfer feature, start with that. Forecasts are only as good as knowing what the tax code will be. But you can what-if using your current version. Just alter the inputs accordingly. I pay quarterly estimated taxes so I just use my most recent version of TurboTax to make an estimate tax return for the next year, updating it quarterly as I adjust my estimated income. There is no software specifically for this purpose that I know of, as it would just be a simplified version of tax preparation software.
~Tim~
Eye Candy : Why Whimsy
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Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:05 pm |
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efflandt
Senior Member
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Location: Elgin, IL USA
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You are probably making it more complicated than it is. If you have a tax program with all the data already in it, why can't you simply delete the mortgage interest entry and see where the tax ends up?
Otherwise figuring federal tax for additional income is as simple as knowing your marginal tax bracket, see http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=164272,00.html
For example if you are within the 25% bracket, you pay 25 cents federal tax for every dollar of additional income.
Removing a major deduction is not quite as simple, because you might then fall under standard deduction instead of itemized deductions. But once you figure the difference between current deductions and future deductions (or standard deduction), you have your figure for approximate additional taxable income.
If you wisely adjusted your W-4 to withhold less tax for mortgage interest deduction, you should revise that if paying off the loan.
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Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:57 pm |
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tomseeley
Member
Cash: $ 2.85
Posts: 12
Joined: 01 Dec 2007
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[quote="efflandt"]You are probably making it more complicated than it is. If you have a tax program with all the data already in it, why can't you simply delete the mortgage interest entry and see where the tax ends up?
Duh...... I never thought of that! Obvious, though, once you pointed it out!
Thx
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Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:18 pm |
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