Excel Routines to Calculate Federal and State Taxes?
W
calculate the Federal and State tax obligations due given inputs of:
- Adjusted Gross Income
- State of Residence
- Filing Status (e.g., Single or Head of Household)
- W-2 Income (in order to get the FICA calculation)
I'm looking for something handy like this to do quick calculations when
considering different scenarios.
--
W
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Bill Brown
> Does any vendor sell an Excel library that contains functions that will
> calculate the Federal and State tax obligations due given inputs of:
>
> - Adjusted Gross Income
> - State of Residence
> - Filing Status (e.g., Single or Head of Household)
> - W-2 Income (in order to get the FICA calculation)
>
> I'm looking for something handy like this to do quick calculations when
> considering different scenarios.
>
tax return preparation software.
W
news:4ed2b8a4-d815-4790...@p32g2000vbi.googlegroups.com...
> On Nov 14, 4:02 pm, "W" <persistent...@spamarrest.com> wrote:
> > Does any vendor sell an Excel library that contains functions that will
> > calculate the Federal and State tax obligations due given inputs of:
> >
> > - Adjusted Gross Income
> > - State of Residence
> > - Filing Status (e.g., Single or Head of Household)
> > - W-2 Income (in order to get the FICA calculation)
> >
> > I'm looking for something handy like this to do quick calculations when
> > considering different scenarios.
> >
> TurboTax and TaxCut (among others) have such libraries disguised as
> tax return preparation software.
Sure, but that's a lot of overhead to carry around when you want to do rough
and dirty calculations.
--
W
Mark Bole
> "Bill Brown" <bro...@longwood.edu> wrote in message
> news:4ed2b8a4-d815-4790...@p32g2000vbi.googlegroups.com...
>> On Nov 14, 4:02 pm, "W" <persistent...@spamarrest.com> wrote:
>>> Does any vendor sell an Excel library that contains functions that will
>>> calculate the Federal and State tax obligations due given inputs of:
>>>
>>> - Adjusted Gross Income
>>> - State of Residence
>>> - Filing Status (e.g., Single or Head of Household)
>>> - W-2 Income (in order to get the FICA calculation)
>>>
>>> I'm looking for something handy like this to do quick calculations when
>>> considering different scenarios.
>>>
>> TurboTax and TaxCut (among others) have such libraries disguised as
>> tax return preparation software.
>
> Sure, but that's a lot of overhead to carry around when you want to do rough
> and dirty calculations.
>
As if Excel and a library of functions is not a lot of overhead?
Similar questions have been posed here before, as well as your recent
query over in microsoft.public.excel, and the answer always comes back
as follows: it's not profitable to spend the time creating and selling
such software given what already exists in the marketplace for generic
tax preparation. And unlike some other types of software development,
where you can get very valuable products at no cost, tax functions in
Excel just don't seem to be something that anyone wants to do for fun or
as a commercial loss leader.
-Mark Bole
rick++
> TurboTax and TaxCut (among others) have such libraries disguised as
> tax return preparation software.
I was friggen annoyed this year when 2008 disk Turbo tax would not
let me do a second tax return with sending them another $10.
I was trying to estimate 2009 taxes.
removep...@yahoo.com
> Does any vendor sell an Excel library that contains functions that will
> calculate the Federal and State tax obligations due given inputs of:
>
> - Adjusted Gross Income
> - State of Residence
> - Filing Status (e.g., Single or Head of Household)
> - W-2 Income (in order to get the FICA calculation)
>
> I'm looking for something handy like this to do quick calculations when
> considering different scenarios.
Why limit yourself to Excel format? Found http://opentaxsolver.sourceforge.net/blog.html
which is open source software, though I haven't tried it myself. The
input will be a text file describing the above input parameters, and
the output will be the tax. But it only does a few states, CA, MA,
NJ, PA, NC, NY, VA, and OH. If you can find an online tax calculator
that does all states, you can use that, though it will take some
technical work, such as automating a web service request. But it gets
complicated. What about the federal tax deduction for state tax
withheld?
Mark Bole
> Why limit yourself to Excel format? Found http://opentaxsolver.sourceforge.net/blog.html
> which is open source software, though I haven't tried it myself. The
> input will be a text file describing the above input parameters, and
> the output will be the tax. But it only does a few states, CA, MA,
> NJ, PA, NC, NY, VA, and OH.
I guess I'm wrong about the availability of tax prep code for free from
developers/hobbyists. It seems to be missing a lot (Sched E? AMT?
Child/Dep Care Credit?), however.
-Mark Bole
Bill Brown
>
> I was friggen annoyed this year when 2008 disk Turbo tax would not
> let me do a second tax return with sending them another $10.
> I was trying to estimate 2009 taxes.
>
>
returns with no additional charges. I have not yet reached a limit on
paper copy returns and I've done several including "what if" analyses.
Stuart A. Bronstein
> I was friggen annoyed this year when 2008 disk Turbo tax would not
> let me do a second tax return with sending them another $10.
> I was trying to estimate 2009 taxes.
I don't use Turbo Tax. How does it know that you've already done a
return? Is there a cookie on your computer that you can delete, or
do they connect via internet to Turbo Tax to see if the disk has been
used before?
--
Stu
http://downtoearthlawyer.com
Bob Sandler
>let me do a second tax return with sending them another $10.
>I was trying to estimate 2009 taxes.
You must have never updated the software. They removed the
fee for printing additional returns on January 6, 2009. If
you updated anytime after that, it would not ask you for the
additional payment.
Bob Sandler
Salmon Egg
<064747ea-9ea2-478c...@w19g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>,
Bill Brown <bro...@longwood.edu> wrote:
> On Nov 16, 11:20�am, "rick++" <rick...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I was friggen annoyed this year when 2008 disk Turbo tax would not
> > let me do a second tax return with sending them another $10.
> > I was trying to estimate 2009 taxes.
> >
> >
> My copy of 2008 Turbotax allowed me to electronically file 5 federal
> returns with no additional charges. I have not yet reached a limit on
> paper copy returns and I've done several including "what if" analyses.
If you can use the CD ROM out of the box, I do not see how you can be
stopped from doing as many paper tax returns as you wish.
I can see you might have problems updating if you have to use the
TurboTax website for that purpose. You might also have to buy a separate
ROM for the state.
The bottom line is that the CD ROM cannot remember anything. If you wipe
out all files relating to TurboTax, you can then reinstall it as many
ties as you want, but you may not be able to get it updated.
Bill
--
As the years go by, dying just before having to fill out a tax return has merit.
removep...@yahoo.com
> > On Nov 16, 11:20�am, "rick++" <rick...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > I was friggen annoyed this year when 2008 disk Turbo tax would not
> > > let me do a second tax return with sending them another $10.
> > > I was trying to estimate 2009 taxes.
>
> > My copy of 2008 Turbotax allowed me to electronically file 5 federal
> > returns with no additional charges. I have not yet reached a limit on
> > paper copy returns and I've done several including "what if" analyses.
>
> If you can use the CD ROM out of the box, I do not see how you can be
> stopped from doing as many paper tax returns as you wish.
>
> I can see you might have problems updating if you have to use the
> TurboTax website for that purpose. You might also have to buy a separate
> ROM for the state.
>
> The bottom line is that the CD ROM cannot remember anything. If you wipe
> out all files relating to TurboTax, you can then reinstall it as many
> ties as you want, but you may not be able to get it updated.
This may not work. First, a general piece of software may not let you
run directly off the CD, and you would have to install it on your hard
drive. Second, the software may let you run off the CD, but will make
use of your hard drive. The software will store the fact that you've
already done a return somewhere on your hard drive. Maybe in the
registry or some more secret location. You can download many
shareware programs, which are free to try for 10 days. On the 10th
day uninstall the program, then reinstall it. It magically knows that
you've already installed the software once before and used it for 10
days. So I'm sure Turbotax could do a similar thing. The only way is
to wipe out your hard drive, then reinstall the operating system and
everything else and tax software again, but that's just too much
work. Even that might not work, because software may be internet
enabled behind the scenes. For example if you install on your
computer and do a tax return, it could connect to the central server
to download the latest updates to the software and also store, on the
central server, the fact that your computer software program with
license number LIC1234 has been used to do a return. So if you use
the program to do another tax return, it will first ask the central
server if L1234 has already been used to do a return. So in short, I
have no idea how Turbotax works, but there's no guarantee that running
off the CD ROM will work.
Neill Massello
> If you can use the CD ROM out of the box, I do not see how you can be
> stopped from doing as many paper tax returns as you wish.
Some software titles incorporate an activation scheme that disables one
or more functions until an encrypted registration key has been received
from the publisher's server.
Mark Bole
>> Why limit yourself to Excel format? Found
>> http://opentaxsolver.sourceforge.net/blog.html
>> which is open source software, though I haven't tried it myself. The
>> input will be a text file describing the above input parameters, and
>> the output will be the tax. But it only does a few states, CA, MA,
>> NJ, PA, NC, NY, VA, and OH.
>
> I guess I'm wrong about the availability of tax prep code for free from
> developers/hobbyists. It seems to be missing a lot (Sched E? AMT?
> Child/Dep Care Credit?), however.
Forgive my replying to my own post, but...
I checked out another interesting tax software concept today:
"Self-Calculating IRS Forms
pdf forms downloaded from IRS with calcs added"
This site http://pdftax.com/ has posted 2008 files for free. It's just
as advertised, you fill out key lines on the form and various other
lines auto-calculate. I briefly played around with 1120S form, and it
worked OK. It also includes the forms I noted as being missing in the
product referred to above.
Standard disclaimers apply (I didn't notice any viruses, and I don't get
paid anything for writing this).
paultry
>
> "Self-Calculating IRS Forms
> pdf forms downloaded from IRS with calcs added"
>
Interesting that they can modify copyright-free government
produced forms and license them for sale.
Stuart A. Bronstein
> Mark Bole wrote:
>
>> "Self-Calculating IRS Forms
>> pdf forms downloaded from IRS with calcs added"
>
> Interesting that they can modify copyright-free government
> produced forms and license them for sale.
People can sell almost anything. I've seen Publication 17 produced
and sold - and they even claim to copyright it. But they can't
actually protect it dispite what they claim.
--
Stu
http://downtoearthlawyer.com
Wallace
"Stuart A. Bronstein" <spam...@lexregia.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9CC85ABAC5351s...@130.133.1.4...
> paultry <afn02...@afn.org> wrote:
>> Mark Bole wrote:
>>
>>> "Self-Calculating IRS Forms
>>> pdf forms downloaded from IRS with calcs added"
>>
>> Interesting that they can modify copyright-free government
>> produced forms and license them for sale.
>
> People can sell almost anything. I've seen Publication 17 produced
> and sold - and they even claim to copyright it. But they can't
> actually protect it dispite what they claim.
they can certainly protect their modifications (to they extent the
modifications constitute copyrightable subject matter).