Field Notes & Custom Worksheet

Facts

Start the Tax Planner and open the plan you saved for A Couple, Basic and Average (A Couple.pl5). The taxpayer wants you to note in the plan that $10,000 of his wages from his new employer will come from a bonus, and that this amount is subject to change. Create a custom worksheet for the Wages, Tips, Other Compensation entry (His New Employer) on the Income worksheet and use a field note to indicate that the amount may change. Use the following for each:

Be sure you adjust both cases. Enter field notes on the $52,000 amounts on the Wages worksheet (both cases). Save the plan when you are finished.

Program Considerations

• You can add a custom worksheet to show more detail for an amount. You can only add custom worksheets for amounts on the lowest level of input, which is the lowest worksheet level in the Worksheets list. These amounts are colored in black and indicated with a . You cannot add a custom worksheet for any calculated amounts, which are colored in blue.

Note: Custom worksheets are similar to the Code Notes feature, or [CTRL]+[E] fields, in the 2005 Lacerte Tax program.

• You can use field notes to type a note or reminder that is specific to a field. There is no character limitation and you can add a field note for any cell in Tax Planner (except for custom worksheets). If you want to remove the field note completely or type a new note, click the Clear button.

Note: Whenever you enter a field note, the cell is marked with a red flag .

How?

To create a custom worksheet:

1. Start the 2005 Tax Planner program and open the sample plan (A Couple.pl5).
2. Click the Income tab, then His New Employer in the Wages list.
3. Click Wages, Tips, Other Compensation.
4. Click Custom Worksheet on the Edit menu.
   
5. Enter "Regular Wages" as the title for the first line and change the $52,000 amount in each case to $42,000.
6. Enter "Bonus" as the title for the second line and enter $10,000.
7. Click the button to go back to the Wages worksheet.

To enter a field note:

1. Click 52,000 in the His New Employer worksheet.
   
2. Click Field Notes on the Edit menu.
   
3. Enter the text from the table above.
   
4. Click OK.
5. Repeat each step for the other case.

To close the plan and save changes:

1. Click Close on the File menu.
   
2. When prompted to save, click Yes.

Tips & Shortcuts

• You can click the worksheet indicator to quickly add a worksheet.
  
• You can right-click on a field to insert a field note.
  
• You can also press [Ctrl]+[C] and [Ctrl]+[V] to copy and paste in field notes.

Review

You should have been able to create a worksheet for the Wages, Tips, Other Compensation entry (His New Employer) and field notes for the Wages worksheet:

Troubleshooting

Problem: When I create Field Notes and Custom Worksheets, I don't see anyway to tell the program not to print them.

Solution: How the program handles these items is discussed later in the Custom Plan Reports exercise in the Generating Reports section.

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