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PC-SIG Diskette Library (Disk #982)
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Information about “TAX-PLANNER”
TAX-PLANNER is a question-and-answer program to help you estimate the
income tax you'll owe Uncle Sam. Then, you can fine-tune your
paycheck deductions so you'll have enough withheld when you file your
returns the next year.
You can easily modify the withholding options, such as marital status,
number of exemptions and additional taxes for withholdings. You can
also estimate deductions from various employers and print reports each
time an estimate is completed.
FILES982.TXT
Disk No 982
Program Title: TAX PLANNER
PC-SIG version 1.1
TAX-PLANNER is a question-and-answer program to help you estimate the
income tax that you'll owe Uncle Sam. Once you've done that, you can
fine-tune your paycheck withholdings so you'll have enough tax withheld
when you file your returns the next year.
With the withholding-tax estimator, you can easily modify the withholding
options, such as marital status, number of exemptions, and additional
taxes for withholdings, until you fine-tune the withholdings from each
source. You can also estimate withholdings from various employers and
print reports each time an estimate is completed.
Usage: Financial.
System Requirements: 256K memory.
How to Start: Type PRINTDOC (press enter).
Suggested Registration: $20.00
File Descriptions:
TPREADME TXT Informational file, read before using program.
TP870001 EXE Introductory screen and automatic system setup.
TP870002 EXE Registration module.
TP870003 EXE Main menu module.
TP870004 EXE User guide module.
TP870005 EXE System file used by TAX-PLANNER.
TPINCTAX EXE Module to estimate 1987 income taxes.
TPPRTTAX EXE Module to print income tax estimate.
TPWTHTAX EXE Module to work with payroll withholdings.
BRUN20 EXE Runtime module used by TAX-PLANNER.
TPMANUAL DOC Abridged documentation for the TAX-PLANNER system.
AUTOEXEC BAT Startup file for a bootable diskette.
COPYHD BAT Installs program on a hard-disk equipped system.
COPYONE BAT Installs program on a single floppy drive computer.
COPYTWO BAT Installs program on a dual floppy drive computer.
PRINTDOC BAT Prints documentation file using your printer.
TP87 BAT Starts TAX-PLANNER program (floppy systems).
TP87HD BAT Startup file for hard-disk users.
CONFIG SYS Startup file for a bootable diskette.
TPFILES TXT Listing of TAX-PLANNER files.
PC-SIG
1030D E Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale Ca. 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1987,88 PC-SIG Inc.
GO.TXT
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ <<<< Disk No 982 TAX PLANNER >>>> ║
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ To print the documentation, type: ║
║ PRINTDOC (press enter) ║
║ ║
║ To run the program, type: ║
║ TP870001 (press enter) ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
TPFILES.TXT
Listing of Tax-Planner Files
BRUN20 .EXE - Runtime module copyrighted by Microsoft Corporation.
TP870001.EXE - Introductory screen and automatic system setup.
TP870002.EXE - Registration module.
TP870003.EXE - Main menu module.
TP870004.EXE - User guide module.
COPYONE .BAT - Procedure for installation on one floppy drive systems.
COPYTWO .BAT - Procedure for installation on two floppy drive systems.
CONFIG .SYS - System configuration file for diskette users.
TPINCTAX.EXE - Module to estimate 1987 income taxes.
TPPRTTAX.EXE - Module to print income tax estimate.
TPWTHTAX.EXE - Module to work with payroll withholdings.
TP87HD .BAT - Startup file for harddisk users, renamed to TP87.BAT.
AUTOEXEC.BAT - Auto startup file for diskette users.
TP87 .BAT - Startup file for diskette users.
TP870005.EXE - A system file used by Tax-Planner.
COPYHD .BAT - Procedure for installation on harddisk systems.
TPREADME.TXT - An informational file for all users.
TPFILES .TXT - This listing of Tax-Planner FIles for Version 1.87.
TPMANUAL.DOC - Documentation for the Tax-Planner System.
PRINTDOC.BAT - For printing the Documentation file (TPMANUAL.DOC).
20 Files on the Tax-Planner Distribution diskette - Version 1.87
TPMANUAL.DOC
Tax-Planner
Version 1.87
For Tax Planning During 1987
by Michael H. Norris
Garland, Texas
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris
Table of Contents
Tax-Planner Subject Page
How Tax-Planner developed 3
Program Features 4
Licensing Information 7
Registration Information 8
A sample registration form 9
Warranty Statements 10
Required Equipment 10
Installing Tax-Planner 11
Backup Copies 11
Working Copies 12
Copying Tax-Planner Files
Floppy Disk Systems 12
Hard Disk Systems 13
Getting Started 15
Overview 15
Quick Start 16
Appendix - Files on this diskette 20
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 2
How Tax-Planner Developed
As I prepared to file my 1986 Federal tax return I learned more
about the tax law changes which had been passed in 1986. These
changes to the law will change the way that we file our 1987 and
future year Federal income tax returns.
I had heard that tax rates would be decreased. I had also heard
that certain deductions I always counted on to legally reduce my
taxable income were being restricted, or even eliminated. I am
like a lot of people in that while I do not enjoy paying taxes, I
actually hate not getting a refund when I file my return.
A few years ago I ended up paying a lot of money (in my opinion)
when I filed my return because I had too little money held out
during the year. I decided that it was time to do some advance
planning in order to prevent paying out a lot of money when tax
time came around again. I began working on an income tax program
that would help me plan for either a refund, or at the worst, a
small amount of additional tax that I could afford to pay when I
filed my tax return.
In 1987 every employee will be required to file a new W-4 form no
later than October 1st. This is a revised form and "Simplified",
now four pages of instructions instead of the two pages provided
in the past.
The revised W-4 form, and its lengthy instructions, are designed
to make it easier to determine the number of withholding
exemptions that we should claim, or additional amounts of income
tax withheld, to avoid being penalized for failing to withhold
enough tax during the year. I did not find the new W-4 easy to
interpret. If you have more than one source of income, or if you
and your spouse are both employed, you may also have trouble
using the new form.
In 1986 and prior years you could be penalized for failing to
withhold at least 80 percent of the tax you owed during the
year. In 1987 that penalty will be applied if you fail to
withhold at least 90 percent of your tax during the year. A real
problem exists for 1987 and the next few years in that it is
difficult to know how much tax you will owe at the end of the
year early enough in the year to have enough tax automatically
withheld to meet your tax obligation, and to avoid penalties.
This problem has developed because certain deductions we used in
1986 are eliminated entirely for 1987 - such as the sales tax
deduction. Other deductions are now subject to percentage
limitations that were allowed completely in 1986 - such as
miscellaneous deductions on Schedule A. Other deductions are
being phased out for certain people - such as the IRA deduction
in 1987 if you are covered by a company pension plan. Welcome to
Tax-Planner, it will help you analyze these changes.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 3
Features of Tax-Planner
Tax-Planner is designed as a question and answer program which
will allow you to estimate the income tax that you will owe for
1987 and to use that income tax estimate to fine-tune your pay-
check withholdings so that you will have enough tax withheld when
you file your tax returns in 1988.
The income tax estimate allows the following types of income and
expenses to be input (or computed by the program) and used in the
estimation of 1987 Federal income tax.
1. Income tax based on the following filing categories:
a. Single return,
b. Married filing a joint return,
c. Head of Household status,
d. Married filing separate returns,
e. Widow(er) filing status.
2. Claim up to 99 dependents.
3. Considers the tax benefits of individuals who are over age
65 or who are legally blind for income tax purposes (a change
in tax treatment from prior years.)
4. Allows income, expenses, and deductions from the following
sources and calculates the income tax according to any
special tax treatment (Input is requested in the same
order that is used on the 1986 Federal income tax return -
form 1040.)
a. Salaries, wages, tips, etc.
b. Interest income.
c. Dividend income.
d. Taxable refunds of State and local income taxes.
e. Alimony you receive.
f. Business income or losses from sole proprietorships.
g. Capital gains and losses.
h. Other capital gain distributions.
i. Other gains and losses on the sale of business assets.
j. Fully taxable pensions, IRA distributions, and
annuities.
k. Other pensions and annuities, including rollovers.
l. Income from rents, royalties, partnerships, estates,
and trusts.
m. Farm income and losses.
n. Unemploymant compensation.
o. Social security benefits - calculates the portion, if
any, which may be taxable in 1987.
p. Other income sources not listed above may be combined
and entered as one item, just as done on form 1040.
q. Moving expense deductions (an itemized deduction for
1987.)
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 4
Features of Tax-Planner, continued
r. IRA contribution deductions - which are limited at
the upper income levels, beginning in 1987.
s. Deductions for penalties on the early withdrawal of
savings from time accounts.
t. Deduction for alimony you pay to another person.
u. Deductions for Employee business expenses (must be
itemized for 1987, the program computes the allowable
amount based on the new 2% income limitation.)
v. Deductions for itemized deduction in the following
categories:
1) Medical expenses with the new 7.5% limitation.
2) State and local income taxes, real property tax,
and other taxes (except for sales taxes.)
3) Interest expenses which applies the 35% limit
for consumer interest expenses.
4) Contributions (allowed only if you itemize other
personal expenses.)
5) Casualty losses (reduced by the $100 per
occurrence and the overall 10% limitation.)
6) Miscellaneous deductions which are also subject
to the new 2% income limitation.
5. Allows for either the calculation or entry of the
following Tax credits:
a. Child and Dependent care credits.
b. Credits for the elderly and Handicapped.
c. Input of other credits such as Foreign tax credits or
Mortgage credits.
6. Allows for either the calculation or entry of other taxes:
a. Self-employment taxes on business income.
b. Taxes from the recapture of investment credits.
c. Social security taxes on tip income not reported to
employers.
d. Taxes on early withdrawal of IRA's, or penalty taxes
on prohibited transactions.
e. Input of other taxes.
7. The following payments may be entered from the income tax
estimator module and reduces the amount of tax that will
be needed from withholdings - which are calculated in a
different estimator program:
a. Withholdings that have occurred prior to the
estimation date.
b. Estimated payments that you may have made.
c. Earned income credit which is treated as a payment
since it is a refundable credit. It is calculated
automaticcal by Tax-Planner.
d. Calculation of excess social security withholdings.
e. Any other payments which you may have made.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 5
Features of Tax-Planner, continued
The withholding tax estimator allows you to easily modify the
withholding options, such as marital status, number of
exemptions, and additional taxes for withholdings, until you
fine-tune the withholdings from each source. Earnings from
various employers may be used to estimate withholdings. Reports
may be printed each time an estimate is complete.
Tax-Planner also includes a mini-manual on the disk that may be
reviewed from the main menu.
One may enter a question mark for most of the income tax and
withholding tax questions to obtain more help than is given
within the text of a question.
A report may be produced from within the income tax estimator of
the income tax estimate. The tax itself that is estimated is
carried forward to the withholding program.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 6
Licensing Information
Tax-Planner is not free software, and it is not public domain
software. All versions of Tax-Planner, including version 1.87,
are user supported software, also known as Shareware.
This software is being made available for a trial period so that
you can determine if it is of use to you. If you determine that
this software is useful to you, or if you repeatedly use it
yourself, or allow others to use it, you must register your
copy. Non-registered users are granted a limited license to use
Tax-Planner on a trial basis only.
Registered users are granted the right to use Tax-Planner on any
machine that they own, or use, as often as they wish, provided
that in no case may Tax-Planner be used on more than one machine
at the same time, except where multiple copies have been
registered, or a site-license has been granted.
No user may modify Tax-Planner in any way including, but not
limited to, disassembling, decompiling, or otherwise changing the
product. All users may copy Tax-Planner for the trial use of
others, subject to the above restrictions, and the following
terms:
Tax-Planner must be copied in its original (unmodified)
form, complete with the files that contain licensing,
registration, and copyright information.
Full Tax-Planner documentation must be distributed with
the other system files.
No fee, charge, or other compensation may be requested,
or accepted, by the licensee, or distributor, except for
a fee not to exceed $6.00 to defray the expense of
diskettes and shipping costs. No fee may be charged to
simply copy the distribution diskette files onto another
diskette.
Tax-Planner may not be distributed in conjunction with
any other product without the prior written approval of
the author.
Distributors of public domain software, or computer user groups, may
distribute Tax-Planner if the distribution copies are clearly labeled
as a User Supported Software product and the conditions above are met.
Operators of electronic bulletin boards, either membership or public
boards, may post Tax-Planner for downloading by their users so long
as the above conditions are met.
Tax-Planner may not be distributed in any other manner without first
obtaining written permission from the author - Michael H. Norris.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 7
Registration Information
There are two methods by which you may register your copy of
Tax-Planner:
1. Send your check or money order for $15.00 to
register your trial copy.
You will automatically receive a registration
receipt and a registered copy of any newer
release to the Tax-Planner version you have.
This will insure that your version is
up-to-date.
2. Send your check or money order for $20.00 and
receive the same benefits as stated above, and
be placed on the mailing list to receive a
trial copy of the 1988 Tax-Planner which will
be available in January 1988.
Consecutive versions of Tax-Planner may be
registered at reduced rates.
Please use the registration form that you can print from the
Tax-Planner menu, as this is the only way that I can determine
the version and release number of your Tax-Planner. You will
not automatically receive any newer release of Tax-Planner if
you do not use the personalized registration form.
A trial copy of Tax-Planner may be requested at any time by
simply requesting it and enclosing a check or money order for
$5.00 to offset shipping and handling expenses.
Registration and shipping prices are subject to change at any
time.
For information on other types of licenses, such as site
licenses, or for group registration discount information please
contact:
Michael H. Norris
P.O. Box 475122
Garland, TX 75047-5122
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 8
Registration Form
Remit to: Michael H. Norris
P.O. Box 475122
Garland, TX 75047-5122
Please send:
____ Tax-Planner Disks . . . . . . . . . . . @ $5.00 each ____
Tax-Planner current release only - no registration
____ Tax-Planner Regular Registration . . @ $15.00 each ____
Registration of the current version, and be mailed
any newer release to version 1.87.
____ Tax-Planner Extended Registration . . @ $20.00 each ____
Regular registration benefits and receive next
year's version automatically which can then be
registered at a reduced rate.
Subtotal ____
Texas residents please add 7.75% sales tax ____
Total - Texas only ____
Total - All others ____
Payment by ( )Personal check, ( )Business check, ( )Money order
Please MAIL to:___________________________________ (Name)
___________________________________ (Company)
___________________________________ (Mail Code)
___________________________________ (Street Address)
___________________________________ (City,State,Zip)
Signature _________________________________ Date _____________
Comments:
No orders outside the United States will be accepted. Checks
and money orders must be drawn on U.S. Institutions. No C.O.D.
orders will be accepted.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 9
Warranty Statement
The author, Michael H. Norris, makes no warranty of any kind,
express or implied, including without any limitation, any
warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular
purpose. The author shall not be liable for any damages, whether
direct, indirect, special, or consequential arising from the
failure of this product to operate in the manner desired by the
user. The author shall not be liable for any damage to data or
property which may be caused directly or indirectly by the use of
the program.
In no event will the author be liable to you for any damages,
including lost profits or lost savings, or other incidental or
consequential damages arising out of use or inability to use the
program, or for any claim by any other person.
Required Equipment
This software has been tested using IBM DOS versions 2.1 and
above, and with MS-DOS version 2.11.
It has also been executed on an IBM PC/XT/AT and on several IBM
PC compatible machines. It has not been tested on machines with
less than 256K of memory installed but should execute with as
little as 128K of installed memory.
Tax-Planner executes on either monochrome systems, or systems
which have color-graphic cards installed.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 10
Installing Tax-Planner
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Backup Copies vs. Working Copies
A backup copy is simply a copy of the Tax-Planner distribution
diskette. A working copy is a copy that you can use to start
your computer. In either case you should place a write-protect
tab on your Tax-Planner distribution copy. Your Tax-Planner
distribution diskette will become your backup copy if you elect
to prepare a working copy. If you do not intend to prepare a
diskette that can boot your system and start Tax-Planner you
should make a backup copy before using Tax-Planner. Tax-Planner
may be executed directly from the distribution diskette.
Making a Backup Copy:
Begin by booting your computer with your DOS system.
On a floppy diskette system, type the following command and
follow the instructions that appear on the screen:
A>DISKCOPY <Enter>
On a hard disk system, type the following command and follow the
instructions that appear on the screen. If you only have one
floppy diskette drive you will be instructed to swap diskettes in
the drive as the copy proceeds:
C>DISKCOPY A: B:<Enter>
When DOS asks for the SOURCE diskette, use the Tax-Planner
distribution diskette. Use a blank diskette as the TARGET
diskette. If your TARGET diskette is unformatted, DISKCOPY will
format it for you. DISKCOPY will write over anything that
already exists on the TARGET diskette.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 11
Installation, continued
Making a Working Copy:
A working, or bootable diskette, must have the Disk Operating
System installed before it can be used to start your computer. If
you wish to prepare a working diskette you should first use the
FORMAT command, with the /S option to format a diskette with the
system files on it. If you have not used the format command follow
the instructions below:
On a floppy diskette system, place your DOS diskette in disk drive
A and type the following command::
A>FORMAT /S <Enter>
On a hard disk system, type the following command:
C>FORMAT A:/S <Enter>
You will be instructed to place a floppy diskette into Drive
A, do so and follow the instructions on the screen.
When DOS asks if you want to format another diskette enter N for
"No". You are now ready to transfer the Tax-Planner files from the
distribution diskette to the diskette that you just formatted. If
you plan to install the Tax-Planner software on your hard disk you
should follow the instructions for hard disk installation.
INSTALLING Tax-Planner FILES
Tax-Planner contains two procedures that allow you to copy the
Tax-Planner files from the distribution disk to a diskette that has
been formatted with the /S option. It also includes another
procedure that you may use to create a directory on your hard disk
and transfer the Tax-Planner files to the directory. In all cases
you start by placing the Tax-Planner distribution diskette into
drive A. If you have two floppy diskette drives you may place your
newly formatted diskette in drive B as you will not need to swap
diskettes during the installation procedure. Follow the
instructions below depending on your hardware configuration:
One Floppy Diskette Drive Systems
With the Tax-Planner distribution diskette in the drive:
A>COPYONE <Enter>
Follow the instructions that appear on the screen and be ready to
swap out between the Tax-Planner distribution diskette and the
diskette that you formatted with the /S option.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 12
Installation, continued
The following files will be copied to your diskette:
TP87.BAT - a batch file to start Tax-Planner when your
computer was started with some other DOS
diskette.
AUTOEXEC.BAT - a batch file that is executed immediately
when you use your Tax-Planner work diskette to
start your computer, and start Tax-Planner
immediately.
CONFIG.SYS - a file that the DOS system uses to set system
parameters for efficiency purposes and to set up
special device drivers.
TP87####.EXE - the Tax-Planner execution modules that are
used by Tax-Planner, where #### is a number that
identifies the particular module.
Other Tax-Planner files - may not be copied to your working
disk or to your hard disk if they are not needed
by Tax-Planner. This includes the COPYXXX.BAT
files and the Tax-Planner DOC file.
The procedure files that are used for installation purposes are
not copied to your working copy as they are not needed by
Tax-Planner and exist only to help you install Tax-Planner.
Two Floppy Drive Systems
With the Tax-Planner distribution diskette in Drive A and the
diskette you formatted with the /S option in Drive B:
A>COPYTWO <Enter>
Follow the instructions that appear on the screen. You will not
need to swap out the diskettes during the procedure. The same
files are created under this procedure that are discussed under
the One Floppy Drive System procedure.
Hard Disk Drive Systems
If you have more than one floppy diskette drive place the
Tax-Planner distribution diskette in drive A:
C>A:COPYHD <Enter>
This procedure will create a subdirectory with the name TP87 and
will copy the TP87.BAT file to the Root directory. All the
Tax-Planner files that are needed for execution will be copied to
the TP87 directory.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 13
Installation, continued
The files listed under One Floppy Disk Systems will be copied to
the TP87 directory except for the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and the
CONFIG.SYS file. You should already have files similar to these
on your hard disk and do not need to add anything to them in
order for Tax-Planner to work properly. The TP87.BAT file may be
moved to any directory of your choice so long as that directory
is in your PATH command.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 14
Getting Started
This software does not prepare tax returns. If you have not
filed your 1986 return you should not use this software to help
you since it applies tax rates that are effective for 1987 - not
1986.
This software has two major modules:
The 1987 Income Tax Estimator, and
The Withholding Tax Estimator.
One of the problems I face in marketing this software is that you
do not know how good it is until it comes time to actually file
your 1987 tax return - on or before April 15, 1988. You can
check the withholding tax estimates against your current pay stub
to see if they are accurate but you can not easily check out the
income tax estimate for accuracy.
The income tax estimate is as close as anyone can get this early
in the year since tax law is subject to change. The actual rates
are accurate and are not likely to change. Certain deductions
may be revived for 1987 that are not available right now if
enough pressure (public opinion) is brought to bear on Congress.
Use the program and add a few dollars to the Income tax estimate
before you begin the fine-tuning process with your withholdings
to build in an additional security blanket. Next year at this
time you will know how good the program actually is!
Your goal for using this program is to end up with an equal
amount of income tax withheld from your wages to pay the taxes
that you will owe when you file your 1987 tax return (on or
before April 15,1988 for most of us.)
To start you should have some information available:
1. The amount and type of income you receive, such as
earnings from wages, salaries, tips, interest,
dividends, your own business, etc.
This breakdown of types of income can be taken off a
prior year tax return - 1986 if you have it since
your 1987 sources of income may not differ much from
1986.
You will need to determine how much of each type of
income you can expect in 1987. You will really need
only the Form 1040 itself, and Schedule A (if you
itemized personal expenses) to obtain the broad
category information that is needed to use this
product to estimate through 1987.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 15
Getting Started, continued
2. Payroll Information to use to estimate how much
withholding tax is needed to offset the tax you will
owe.
You should get the latest pay stub from each source
of income. You need to be able to determine the pay
cycle (weekly, Biweekly, etc) and the total pay -
before any deductions.
Once you have gathered this information you are ready to sit down
and begin your 1987 Federal tax estimates.
Quick Start
We will use the following hypothetical situation for a quick
start demonstration of Tax-Planner:
You work a single job, are single, and make $2,000 each month.
You have $150 income tax withheld from each paycheck and have
received two of your 24 checks so far this year. You also re-
ceive $1,000 each month from your ex(spouse) for alimony which
has no tax withheld from it. You rent your home and do not have
enough personal deductions to itemize deductions. You wish to
change your payroll withholding to cover the additional taxes
that the alimony you receive causes.
Start your computer, then enter TP87 to start the Tax-Planner
program (If you have the Tax-Planner files on diskette you must
place the diskette in drive A before you enter TP87.)
The copyright and registration notice should be displayed on the
screen after the program loads. When you have read the notice
you should press enter to move to the next program.
The next program allows you to register your copy and prints a
personalized registration form. For now select option 4 from the
menu to continue.
The main menu appears next. When you have more time you should
read the on-line users guide. The menu options are arranged in
the order you should normally select. Enter 2 to estimate income
taxes. Once we have the tax estimated we will know how much
withholding will be required.
The income tax estimator will load and ask a few general
questions. First select filing status 1 (single.) Answer no to
each of the next two questions, you may answer no by pressing the
enter key if No is shown inside the diamond, such as <No>.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 16
Quick Start, continued
Answer the question about dependents by typing 1 and then press
enter. You must press return to enter an answer to the
questions. Answer No to the question about company pension plans.
The upper portion of the screen will begin to fill in. As we
continue the remainder of the screen will be completed. We are
now ready to begin entering income information. Press enter to
continue.
Enter 24000 in reponse to the question about income from salaries
and wages. Enter zero for the next three questions by simply
pressing enter, once for interest income, again for the dividend
income question, and a third time for income from local income
tax refunds.
You now must answer Yes to the question about other income since
we have not yet been asked about alimony income. Type a Y and
press enter to continue.
The next question asks us about alimony income. Answer it by
typing in 12000 and then press enter ($1,000 per month times 12
months.) We have no other income to use in the estimate but must
press enter for each additional question to either answer No or
to enter zero for each question. There are eleven (11)
additional questions that are income questions.
We now are notified that we we will begin entering information
about adjustments to income. Press return to continue.
There are four questions about these adjustments to income.
Answer the first three by simply pressing enter. The fourth
question may be skipped by typing N and then pressing enter. It
is different because it is currently a very popular adjustment to
income. Press enter a second time to leave the IRA question.
We are now notified that we may begin entering itemized deduction
information. Press enter to continue, then enter an N to skip
the itemized deduction questions.
We are now notified that we may enter tax credit information.
Press enter to continue, then press enter one time for each tax
credit question.
We are notified that we may enter other tax information. Press
enter to continue, then press enter four times to skip the four
other tax questions.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 17
Quick Start, continued
We now are at the last part of the program. Before we continue
check the upper portion of the screen, notice that the line for
"Estimate of Tax Needed" shows taxes of $6,476.50 with an arrow
just to the right of the amount. This arrow with two shafts has
progressed down the screen as we completed certain portions of
the tax information entries, changing to a single shaft as we
finished an entry class. Now look at the bottom part of the
screen. There is only one of the options that applies to us,
payroll withholdings. Answer Y to continue with the questions.
Enter 300 for the amount withheld from wages. Note that the
amount needed for taxes decreased $300. We now need 6176.50 in
withholdings to break even on taxes when we file our tax return
next year. Answer N to the other questions.
The screen should now inform us that we did not qualify for the
earned income credit. Press enter to continue and then answer No
to the question about printing a copy of the estimate. The
screen should clear and the menu display. Select menu option
three (3) so that we can work on our withholdings.
After the withholding program loads you will see a screen that is
basically blank - except for the amount of tax needed which was
carried over from the income tax estimate.
Simply press return to bypass the Income Source Name.
Enter 1 for single for the marital status.
You are now asked to enter the number of exemptions, we need a
lot of tax withheld since a third of our income has no
withholdings. Enter a 0 in response to the number of exemptions
to claim question.
Enter a 3 to select the semimonthly pay period from the menu.
Enter 1000 for the total pay we receive each payday.
Press enter to enter zero for the amount of additional
withholdings.
Type in 22 and press return for the question about the number of
pay periods to use. We have already received 2 checks and used
those withholdings in the income tax estimate. No reason for us
to duplicate income or deductions for this estimate.
The right side of the screen should now fill in. We can easily
see that only 64% of the tax we need will be available if we do
not request our employer to withhold an amount in addition to the
amounts that the tax table provides. We do not wish to
accumulate any amounts until we get our withholdings closer to
what we need.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 18
Quick Start, continued
Answer No to prevent accumulating this first estimate.
Press enter to prevent printing a report.
Press enter to estimate again.
Press enter to continue with the same source. The only
withholding option that we can now manipulate is the extra tax
since we are already using the highest rates, and are claiming no
exemptions.
Press enter to keep everything the same until we get to the
additional tax withholdings. Enter No so we can change our
previous entry and request that additional tax be withheld.
We are asked to enter the amount of additional tax to be
withheld. A quick check of the figures looks like $100 times 22
periods will be pretty close. Enter 100. Then press enter to
keep the same number of pay periods.
We now have 99% of what tax we need for 1987 withheld if we stop
now and fill out a W-4 form. We can go through the estimate
again to get even closer. We need a little over $50 which
appears to be about another $2.30 additional withholdings per pay
period to help us accumulate enough tax for 1987.
We should continue and print a report. It will contain enough
information to help us complete a form W-4 to give our employer.
If we had two income sources that were subject to withholding we
could have split the amount we needed between the two of them.
This is a good approach to use if you are married and have two
paychecks since one of the checks is normally larger than the
other. Split the amount of additional tax you need to withhold
between the two checks based on their relationship to total
income. If one person has total earnings of $10,000 and the
other has total earnings of $20,000 the one with the higher
earnings should have the largest amount of extra tax withheld.
End of the Quick Start
When you begin using Tax-Planner for your own estimate remember
to enter a question mark (?) for questions you do not understand
as the question mark entry will provide you with additional help,
or a better explanation of the question.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 19
Files on this Diskette
Your Tax-Planner diskette should have the following files on it as
the minimum required to perform properly.
TP870001.EXE - The Introduction Screen program which also
performs some minor set-up functions..
TP870002.EXE - The registration program which is bypassed
on registered versions until you distribute
a copy to another person.
TP870003.EXE - The Main Menu program.
TP870004.EXE - The User Guide.
TPINCTAX.EXE - The program that performs the income tax
estimate.
TPPRTTAX.EXE - The program that is called when you print a
copy of the income tax estimate.
TPWTHTAX.EXE - The withholding tax estimator and reporter.
TP870005.EXE - The module that contains your Version and
release information.
BRUN20.EXE - The runtime module required by these programs.
TPMANUAL.DOC - This manual on file.
Besides these files the Tax-Planner will create temporary files
that it needs as it executes. The files above are the minimum
files that may be distributed to allow others to use Tax-Planner.
Erase any files that end in LOG, TAX, or DAT, and the file
TP870008.EXE before you distribute a copy of your Tax-Planner files
as these files contain information on your tax situation which you
may not wish to share with other persons.
(c) Copyright 1987 by Michael H. Norris page 20
TPREADME.TXT
The Tax-Planner documentation may be printed by entering PRINTDOC from
the DOS prompt. The program may be started by entering TP87 after it
has been installed. The documentation explains how to setup Tax-Planner.
You should use whole dollar entries within the program as you reply to
its questions. Since most people will enter less than 50 dollar items
and the tax is a percentage of the income less certain expenses your
tax estimate will not be affected by more than 10 or 15 dollars in tax.
Within either the income tax estimator or the withholding tax estimator
you may enter a question mark "?" for most of the questions to receive
additional help, or an explanation of the question. I tried to stay
away from income tax terminology as much as possible but had to use it
in some cases. The tax law after the 1986 changes is still very complex.
Let me know of your problems or dislikes about Tax-Planner when you
register your copy. I can use your suggestions to improve the product
for 1988, or add additional help within the documentation.
Thanks for trying Tax-Planner,
Michael H. Norris
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #0982
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
AUTOEXEC BAT 66 3-20-87 10:22a
BRUN20 EXE 68396 6-13-86 10:55a
CONFIG SYS 33 3-20-87 10:23a
COPYHD BAT 1024 3-20-87 8:44p
COPYONE BAT 696 3-20-87 10:20a
COPYTWO BAT 695 3-20-87 10:21a
FILES982 TXT 2039 8-17-88 1:10p
GO BAT 38 10-19-87 3:56p
GO TXT 694 6-06-88 11:37a
PRINTDOC BAT 952 3-20-87 10:22a
TP87 BAT 66 3-20-87 10:21a
TP870001 EXE 7088 3-20-87 12:20a
TP870002 EXE 16896 3-20-87 12:20a
TP870003 EXE 5632 3-20-87 12:14p
TP870004 EXE 18608 3-20-87 12:22a
TP870005 EXE 24 3-20-87 9:31p
TP87HD BAT 49 3-20-87 10:22a
TPFILES TXT 1536 3-20-87 12:32p
TPINCTAX EXE 106496 3-20-87 12:06p
TPMANUAL DOC 44416 3-20-87 12:15p
TPPRTTAX EXE 15616 3-20-87 12:09p
TPREADME TXT 1408 3-20-87 12:15p
TPWTHTAX EXE 45344 3-20-87 12:10p
23 file(s) 337812 bytes
12288 bytes free