Tax Projection Module

[Kev-in-CT]

Please consider expanding your tax projection module into something more robust, including states, rental properties, etc. We buy BNA Income Tax Planner every year and have been hoping this feature could be expanded within the software so it's cohesive, seamless and autofills with the rest of the client's data.

Thank you.

[sjrcpa]

I use BNA, too. With Lacerte there is a bridge that transfers the data. Does PTO offer that?

It works well for federal but the states need some minor tweaking.

[haroldyahr]

I believe the Tax Plan feature is the weakest link in the ProConnect software.  BNA Tax Planner is the ideal software for tax projections, but it is expensive.  I only prepare a dozen returns each year, so purchasing BNA is not an option.  However, it appears that Intuit put a great deal more effort into Lacerte's tax projection module.  With ProConnect, almost all data feeds from the tax return and is not easily changed.  In other words, there is very little inputting functionality in the Tax Plan area, which almost renders the software worthless.  I have made the same comment now for 4 years and have seen very little improvement in the Tax Plan area.  

[sjrcpa]

Lacerte costs a lot more than PTO. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

[sjrcpa]

Try TaxTools. Several of the regulars here use and love it.

[IntuitGabi]

Thank you for your feedback. Changing to "Open for voting". 

[JanAtheCPA]

I agree that the PTO Tax Planner is not professional - in fact, it's basically useless because it's full of blatant errors.  I'm currently preparing just a few 2021 tax returns in my final year, and I want to project 2022 for a couple of clients. The 2022 standard deduction for a single over-65 taxpayer came up in the planner as $14,850, for crying out loud (sh/be $14,700) and it gave him a random $500 dependent credit for 2022 for unknown reasons - that I can't delete (and I combed all of the credit input worksheets trying to do so).  It's bizarre that all items are carried over from the base year (2020, two years prior, which no one cares about anymore) but a lot of them can't be adjusted for 2021 actual or 2022 projected amounts.  This includes the complete inability to make Schedule E inputs as someone mentioned already, but there are others.  What the heck?  Is this a lack of programming skills - or a lack of desire to make this thing useable? 

I've decided the Planner is not worth the effort - too many calculation problems make it useless for trying to show a client how their future tax situation will differ from last year.  The 1040-ES worksheet comes up with a correct result for estimated taxes IF you can figure out the contradictory and random requirements for making entries, and at least you can make entries for all of the possible inputs - but unfortunately the printed result is not client-friendly.  That's what the Planner should be for, but there's no point if the results are all wrong. 

Overall, PTO is not a professional product.  Similar to another poster, I had to abandon my beloved ProSeries because it's not affordable for the few clients that I'm still servicing in my almost-retirement.  PTO is a barely-acceptable substitute, and I would never recommend it to someone looking to build a professional practice unless they plan to exclude clients with returns that are more complex than the old 1040A. 

[IntuitGabi]

Try out the new Intuit Tax Advisor released earlier this year!

Here's some more helpful links: 
Get 3 free credits by signing up on this link here 
Vote on upcoming strategies on the Strategy Pipeline page and utilize the ITA Idea Exchange board 
Check out Product Updates and share your feedback with us on the ITA Discussion board 

Hope this helps and looking forward to your feedback!! 

[sjrcpa]

Never heard of this before  Strategy Pipeline page  and the link is broken.

[TroyDH]

Intuit Tax Advisor is a good tool, but there is still a strong need for the Tax Planner tool, especially when preparing a simple income projection to update estimates.  (ITA is overkill for this).

Intuit Team, at a minimum, please update real estate and states.