Need it now - 2016 Taxcaster or similar

[spncity]

Any suggestions for software or sites? I want to do some forecasting for 2016 now - while I still have time to do charitable donations, etc., etc.

 

[hnzw_rui]

IRS Announces 2016 Tax Rates, Standard Deductions, Exemption Amounts And More - Forbes

Tax Brackets, Standard Deductions and Personal Exemptions barely budged so I reckon you could pretty much use 2015 Taxcaster (or similar software) to estimate 2016 tax burden.

 

[LOL!]

The end of 2015 is six weeks away, so plenty of time. I usually use the Thanksgiving holiday weekend for this kind of planning. By that time some preliminary fund distributions are available and only a paycheck or two are still to arrive.

Also the tax software companies start having their "deals" on their latest versions. Amazon usually has a free deal, too.

But 2015 is a "take the standard deduction" year for us since we bunch deductions and itemize on Schedule A in even years. Indeed, our 2014 tax return was submitted recently before the October deadline. So not much tax planning this year for us.

 

[Amethyst]

The big question is year-end gains. Sure, Vanguard tries to forecast these in November, but I've seen some pretty serious changes between the Nov forecast and the January reality. And other companies don't even forecast!

We don't get that much income from gains, but I would like to know if I should work more or fewer hours as 2015 winds down, in order to stay under a certain AGI. I'm stuck using last year's actual gains.

 

[sengsational]

You could download the Excel-based tax spreadsheet and modify it with the 2016 brackets. Unfortunately, the spreadsheet appears not to have been updated for 2015 yet. Using the spreadsheet wouldn't be perfect, but probably close enough. Certainly more detailed than taxcaster. I'd take my 2014 return, get it in there so it had about the same result as the one I submitted, then change the brackets to get a 2016 pro-forma.

http://www.accountingweb.com/techno...ile-your-2014-form-1040-and-related-schedules

 

[marko]

While we're on the subject:
Anyone having odd results on TaxCaster? This is the Intuit online quickie tax estimator.

One day I'll get one result and the next day I'll get a different answer to the same inputs.

 

[hnzw_rui]

While we're on the subject:
Anyone having odd results on TaxCaster? This is the Intuit online quickie tax estimator.

One day I'll get one result and the next day I'll get a different answer to the same inputs.

My return's pretty simple and the refund I get is pretty consistent (W2 + interest, standard deduction, no taxable investment account).

 

[braumeister]

One day I'll get one result and the next day I'll get a different answer to the same inputs.

Much like asking two different IRS reps the same question.

 

[OAG]

Tax Act 2016 is available at their site now.