Copying & Entering Adjustments

Facts

Start the Tax Planner and open the plan you saved for Basic and Average Couple (A Couple.pl5). The taxpayer changed employers in 2005 and would like you to show them what the effects will be on their tax return. Enter the following information for the plan:

The taxpayer has provided you with the following information about his employers:

Copy the entire 2005 scenario to 2006, change the "His Employer" entries for 2006, and then add the new W-2. View the results on the Main Summary. Save the plan when you are finished.

Program Considerations

Copying data from one year to another or from one case to another can be especially beneficial when creating plans. Copying an entire scenario can give you a starting point for additional cases, and copying worksheets can eliminate time consuming data entry.

The Copy Column feature allows you to:

• Copy the current worksheet -- This can be used to copy items at the worksheet level. This doesn't copy any higher-level or lower-level worksheets, but it will override any existing entries in the destination column.
• Copy the entire scenario -- This can be used to copy the entire column's data. This includes all levels of worksheets.
• Copy to and from -- You can copy to and from any available columns.

Entering data in the Tax Planner can be done at either an upper or lower level, depending on what you want to include in the plan report (detailed worksheets vs. summaries). For example, suppose that you know a client is going to sell a particular stock in a future year for a $2,000 gain. More than likely you would drill down and enter the entire activity on the Disposition worksheet at the Income tab. However, if you did not want to provide any supporting detail, you could enter the total amount on the Disposition Income worksheet, or even higher up, the Total Income worksheet. Upper-level entries will trigger the override () notification and a diagnostic if lower-level entries for that field exist. For more information regarding data entry, refer to the Introduction page.

How?

To copy an entire scenario:

1. Start the 2005 Tax Planner program and open the sample plan (A Couple.pl5).
2. Click Copy Column on the Edit menu.
   
3. >Click Entire Scenario at the top of the Copy Columns dialog.
   
4. Select Case 1 - 2005 in the Copy From list and check Case 1 - 2006 in the Copy To list.
5. Click OK.
   Note: A Confirm dialog appears, warning you that data in the destination scenario will be overwritten.
   
6. The program copies the information to the case.
   

To modify plan data:

1. Click the Income tab.
   
2. Click His Employer in the Worksheets list.
   
3. Enter the changes in the 2006 column.
   

To add an activity:

1. Click Wages in the Worksheets list.
   
2. Click Add in the Employer list.
   
3. Enter the name of the employer and the information for 2006.
   
4. Click the Summary tab to view the results on the summary.
   
5. Click Close on the File menu.
   
6. When prompted to save, click Yes.

Tips & Shortcuts

• You can click the Copy Column button to open the Copy Columns dialog.
  
• You can get to lower-level worksheets (and activities) by double-clicking anywhere in a row that has underlying detail. These cells are indicated with a .
• You can add activities from within a worksheet by clicking the Add button at the top of the input.
  
• For wage entries, the program automatically calculates Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Review

You should have generated the following results on the Main Summary:

Troubleshooting

Problem: I entered an override, but I don't see it at the Main Summary.

Solution: The override indicator only appears where the override is entered. Use the Diagnostics to quickly view (and jump to) your overrides.

Next >>