Start here · How to use this program
- Enter Baseline and Planned. Copy Baseline to Planned, change the Planned totals, and choose filing status and enter annual 2026 income and tax payments. Leave unused fields at zero.
- Open only relevant sections. Add K-1s, rentals or a property sale. Amounts entered here flow into the personal estimate.
- Test a strategy. Enter additional retirement savings or reviewed deductions. Compare the scenarios in the report.
- Read, save and print. Review the analysis, download the scenario, then print the report or save it as PDF.
Plain-English help and a simple example
Baseline is what you expect without the new strategy. Planned is the result after the changes you enter. Withholding is federal tax already taken from pay; it is not your tax deduction.
Example: enter $100,000 of projected W-2 Box 1 wages and $15,000 of federal withholding. Then enter $5,000 of additional eligible pretax 401(k) savings. The report recalculates tax and the refund or balance due. A $5,000 deduction does not mean a $5,000 tax saving.
Blue = estimated refund. Red = estimated amount to pay. Zero is shown neutrally. Fields labeled “reviewed” need the preparer to confirm the allowed amount. Use the employer's W-2 projection or payroll report for Boxes 1, 3 and 5.
Do not enter the same amount twice. For example, enter S corporation income in the K-1 section rather than also in “other income.” K-1 interest, dividends and capital gains go in the investment fields. The entity comparison is a separate illustration and does not change the personal estimate.
To keep work: click Save client scenario. To continue later: click Open scenario and select that JSON file. To make a report: click Print / save PDF and choose “Save as PDF” in your browser. Use this page in Chrome or Edge; there is no installation or account requirement. Your inputs stay in your browser unless you save a scenario or report to your device.
1 · Client, income and tax paymentsStart with the basics. Enter your annual 2026 forecast.
Enter your current forecast under Baseline. Click Copy Baseline to Planned, then change the Planned amounts. Enter final annual totals in both columns. Tax is calculated automatically.
Wages and business income
Interest, dividends and investment gains
Preparer: payroll, deductions, credits and payment details
2 · K-1 and C corporation shareholder income1120-S S corporation or 1065 partnership / LLC. C corporation dividends are entered separately.
Enter only income/loss allowed for the current year, after basis, at-risk and passive limits. K-1 distributions are not automatically taxable income. For multiple entities, use reviewed totals. K-1 self-employment earnings are used only to calculate SE tax and are not added to income a second time.
3 · Investment / rental propertyEnter your share of annual rent and expenses. Multiple rentals can be aggregated after preparer review.
Other reviewed Schedule E income or allowed loss
This schedule calculates rental profit. A loss is deducted only up to the reviewed “allowed loss” entered, including supported carryovers. The program does not determine passive-loss eligibility or calculate depreciation. Do not duplicate amounts from the K-1 section.
4 · Property saleSeparate gain estimate for an investment property, rental property or home.
Enter the client's ownership share. Include depreciation allowed or allowable. Reviewed home exclusion cannot exclude depreciation-related gain. This is a cash-sale illustration; installment sales, 1031 exchanges, section 1231 lookback, selling a partnership interest, collectibles and mixed-use allocation need a separate reviewed calculation. Capital losses are not automatically deducted here; enter the allowed result in the investment section.
5 · Try additional tax strategiesChange only amounts that are not already included in the baseline.
Preparer: final planned deductions, credits and other taxes
Choose “Same as baseline” for totals to follow baseline inputs. Choose “Enter reviewed planned totals” when your strategy changes eligibility or phaseouts.
6 · Should the client use an LLC, S corporation or C corporation?A separate comparison for a single-owner, active operating business. It does not change the personal forecast.
Preparer: annual costs and reviewed QBI
The amount entered replaces only the taxpayer's Schedule C profit in this separate illustration; it is not added to it. Other personal income remains in the comparison. Single owner, active participation and ordinary operating income assumed. Partnership allocation, passive business NIIT, corporate dividends that fail qualified-dividend requirements, state/franchise taxes, FUTA/SUTA, benefits, retirement plan differences, accumulated earnings tax and conversion/exit taxes are not modeled. A corporation is not automatically appropriate for holding appreciating real estate.
7 · Client tax strategy report Live calculation
Your plan at a glance
Planning opportunities to review
How the calculation flows
| Calculation | Baseline | Planned |
|---|
Tax savings compare total federal tax before refundable credits. A refund is based on payments and refundable credits as well.
Strategy impact
With separate entries, savings compare your two final forecasts. In strategy mode, each additional strategy is also tested on its own.
| Additional strategy | Applied | Tax savings alone |
|---|
Payment planning
Review before acting
Scenario analysis · Which plan looks strongest?
These scenarios use only entered amounts. Deductions and spending must be eligible; the lowest tax does not automatically mean the best financial decision.
| Scenario | Federal tax | Tax savings / (increase) | Refund / amount due |
|---|
Single-strategy scenarios hold reviewed baseline deduction and credit totals constant. The combined scenario uses either your separate Planned entries or the planned totals selected in strategy mode. “No sale this year” is a timing illustration using the same year's rates, not a forecast of next year's taxes or sale proceeds.
Investment property and sale analysis
The summary cards show Planned. The table compares both forecasts.
| Property calculation | Baseline | Planned |
|---|
Entity choice analysis · Separate business illustration
Federal tax attributable to the illustrated business includes owner income tax, SE / payroll taxes and corporate tax. Annual compliance costs appear separately.
| Business tax treatment | Federal tax | Annual costs | Owner cash after tax/costs | Kept in company |
|---|
Owner cash is profit less the modeled incremental federal taxes, annual costs and retained corporate earnings. Retained C corporation profit is company cash, not personal spending money, and can face future shareholder tax. Reviewed QBI and other personal deduction/credit totals are held as entered; this is an illustration, not an election recommendation.
| Structure | Typical federal filing | Decision factor |
|---|---|---|
| Single-member LLC, default | Owner's Schedule C (operating business) | Simple administration; SE tax generally applies |
| Multi-member LLC, default | 1065 + partner K-1s | Multiple owners; allocations and SE rules need review |
| Eligible LLC / S corporation election | 1120-S + shareholder K-1s | Reasonable wages, payroll and compliance costs |
| C corporation or LLC with C election | 1120; no shareholder K-1 | 21% company tax; potential shareholder tax on dividends |
Action checklist
Client / preparer notes
Coverage and source notes
This program independently implements a limited planning engine. The attached Excel1040 workbook by Glenn Reeves is used as a category reference; its formulas and form layouts are not reproduced. No taxpayer data was imported. K-1, rental and property sale inputs feed the personal projection. Entity choices are analyzed separately.
What is calculated and what needs preparer review
- Calculated: 2026 ordinary income brackets, basic standard deduction, regular 0% / 15% / 20% qualified dividend and net long-term gain stacking, normal capital gain/loss netting, reviewed unrecaptured section 1250 gain at a maximum 25% rate, Schedule C self-employment tax for each spouse, half-SE adjustment, Additional Medicare tax, and NIIT on separately reviewed net investment income.
- Reviewed inputs: allowed rental losses; net capital gain/loss after netting; IRA and self-employed retirement deductions; allowed itemized deduction; QBI; nonrefundable and refundable credits; additional standard deduction; Schedule 1-A and other special deductions; other taxes including any AMT increment. Enter separately for baseline and plan where provided.
- Not automatically calculated: AMT, EITC, child/dependent or education credits, QBI eligibility/phaseouts, SALT limits and phaseouts, charitable floors, the 37% bracket itemized limitation, senior/tip/overtime/car-loan deduction phaseouts, taxable Social Security, depreciation schedules, business loss limitations, passive loss allowances, excess Social Security withholding, community property allocation, penalties, or state tax. Roth conversion basis, dependent deductions, health insurance, retirement limits and extra payments need reviewed amounts. Reviewed totals must already reflect these rules. Estimates can be materially incomplete if they are omitted.
- 401(k): this model caps additional taxpayer pretax employee deferrals at the regular $24,500 limit less all existing traditional/Roth employee deferrals. It does not model age catch-ups, employer contributions, Solo 401(k) employer contributions, or catch-up Roth requirements.
- HSA: direct deductible contributions only, full-year eligible coverage confirmed by the preparer, capped at $4,400 self-only / $8,750 family less all existing employer and personal contributions. Catch-up and partial-year eligibility are not modeled. Payroll HSA savings in FICA are not modeled.
- Investment inputs: enter signed long-term and short-term totals including carryovers; the program nets normal-rate gains and losses; exclude collectibles and section 1202 gains; enter unrecaptured section 1250 gain only in the property sale section. Enter signed short-term totals including carryovers. Do not enter the same sale gain in both property and investment fields. Losses combined with depreciation-rate gains require a reviewed regular income tax override. Collectibles, section 1202 gains and foreign-exclusion cases require external review.
- Payments: the annual safe-harbor target uses the lower of 90% of planned current-year tax or 100% / 110% of reviewed prior-year tax, assuming a full 12-month prior return and eligibility. It is not a quarterly penalty calculation or a statement of amounts overdue.
- Privacy: no network requests, trackers, or automatic browser storage. Inputs remain in this page's memory until you export a JSON scenario. Exported files contain your inputs without encryption. Closing/reloading loses unsaved work.
IRS references and workbook mapping
- LLC tax classification · S corporation compensation · Form 1120 instructions · Property sale capital-gain worksheet.
- Revenue Procedure 2025-32 — 2026 tax brackets, standard deduction and capital gain thresholds.
- 2026 retirement limits · 2026 HSA limits.
- SSA contribution base · Self-employment tax · Additional Medicare tax.
- NIIT · Passive activity rules · 2026 estimated tax guidance.
| Workbook category | Program input |
|---|---|
| W-2s | Box 1 wages; separate Boxes 3 and 5 |
| 1099-INT / DIV; Sch. D | Interest, dividends, reviewed capital results |
| Sch. C / SE | Separate business profit and payroll per spouse |
| Sch. E / 8582 | Rental profit and reviewed allowable loss |
| Sch. 1 / 1-A / A / 8995 | Reviewed adjustments and deductions |
| Sch. 2 / 3 / 1040 | Reviewed taxes, credits, and payments |