Last Updated: April 22, 2012
Don't be fooled by the lack of complexity of this web page. The software available on this web site is amongst the most sophisticated and user friendly for planning your taxes. We put our energies into the spreadsheets that you are about to download, instead of glitzy web pages that are more functional than the products they tout.
These spreadsheets are applicable to residents of the United States who file personal income taxes. The spreadsheets assume that you are a full-time resident of the state that you work in (tax rates and schedules are tuned for this situation only). If you are a resident of one state and work in another, or have multiple sources of income attributable to multiple states, then you should consult a tax advisor to see if these spreadsheets apply to your situation. Most individuals will be able to use these spreadsheets for planning their personal income taxes. At the very least, the Federal Only spreadsheet will apply to residents of the United States who earn income in the United States.
The tax planner spreadsheets allow you to perform on-the-fly tax planning with minimal effort. Most people will be able to calculate their federal and state taxes in a matter of minutes. This is no hoax and no joke: you will be able to plan for your taxes in less time and at significantly less cost than you have ever been able to in the past. These spreadsheets are real products that are currently supported on Windows and are being provided freely to anyone who wants them, no obligation!
The tax planner spreadsheets require that you have Microsoft Excel version 5.0 or higher. Excel version 5.0 is often called "Excel 95". Users who have newer versions of Excel (such as Excel in the Microsoft Office 2000 / XP / 2003 / 2007 / 2008 / 2010 suites) will have no trouble using these spreadsheets.
Tax Year 2012
Version 1.03, 4/22/2012, separates the number of dependents from the number of child dependents so that the latter can be overridden by the user to handle special-case child tax credit situations.
Version 1.02, 4/8/2012, fixed an error in the computation of FICA over-withheld from multiple earners.
Version 1.01, 2/15/2012, updated the FICA and SE-FICA rates to be 4.2% for the entire year after Congress approved a year-long reduction.
Version 1.0, 1/18/2012, includes spreadsheets for
California and Federal Only. The tax rates in this version will very
likely change during the course of the 2012 calendar year if Congress again
adjusts the AMT exemption amounts and FICA rates, and states finalize their
rates. In this version, the federal AMT rates have been carried over
from 2011 as we believe this will be a close approximation to what Congress
will eventually do to patch the AMT for 2012 (should a patch not be
forthcoming, the current version of this spreadsheet will grossly
underestimate AMT for many taxpayers). Also, this version contains
embedded logic to properly account for the January/February FICA payroll tax
reduction plus the recapture tax (if any) associated with that reduction.
Again, in the likely event that Congress acts to extend the FICA payroll tax
reduction into further months of the year, a new version of this spreadsheet
will be made available to account for the change. In order to properly
account for the FICA payroll tax reduction and if applicable, the recapture
tax, it is necessary for users to associate the portions of their W-2 income
in the proper months that it was earned. At this time, the IRS has not
yet officially published all of the 2012 tax figures that this spreadsheet
requires to provide the most accurate calculations and thus we expect a
future version of this spreadsheet to contain updates once those figures are
known (in such cases, the 2011 figures have been carried over in this
version which should provide a close approximation).
Tax Year 2011
Version 1.03 10/26/2011, updated California and Federal Only spreadsheets to enable Excel's cell commenting feature
Version 1.02, 9/24/2011, updated California and Federal Only spreadsheets with a correction to the FICA withholding and overpayment calculations.
Version 1.01, 9/14/2011, updated California spreadsheet with new CA FTB published rates and exemptions for 2011.
Version 1.0, 1/13/2011, includes spreadsheets for California
and Federal Only. The tax rates in this version will very likely
change during the course of the 2011 calendar year if states adjust their
rates. The "last minute" federal tax legislation (extending 2010 tax
rates/brackets into 2011) has been incorporated into this release.
This version includes a fix for situations where all income is subject to
capital gains rates.
Tax Year 2010
Version 1.04, 10/30/2010, updated California spreadsheet with new CA FTB published rates and exemptions for 2010.
Version 1.03, 5/24/2010, updated all spreadsheets to implement the repeal of Pease and PEP 2010 limitations (personal exemptions and standard/itemized deductions not subject to high income phase-out). It is likely that these limitations will be reinstated for 2011.
Version 1.02, 4/4/2010, updated the California spreadsheet to alter tax rates and exemptions using newly published 2010 figures. It is likely that these figures will be further updated later in the year once the state publishes its final rates based on inflationary and other data.
Version 1.01, 2/6/2010, updated all spreadsheets to accommodate federal AMT tax credits.
Version 1.0, 12/28/2009, includes spreadsheets for
California and Federal Only. The tax rates in this version will very
likely change during the course of the 2010 calendar year if Congress again adjusts
the AMT exemption amounts and states
finalize their rates. In this version, the federal AMT rates have been
carried over from 2009 as we believe this will be a close approximation to
what Congress will eventually do to patch the AMT for 2010.
Tax Year 2009
Version 1.05, 10/15/2009, updated California spreadsheet with new CA FTB published rates and exemptions for 2009.
Version 1.04, 10/2/2009, updated California spreadsheet with all CA FTB published rates and exemptions for 2009.
Version 1.03, 5/8/2009, updated all spreadsheets to account for the change in 2009 federal AMT exemption limits passed in the Stimulus bill.
Version 1.02, 3/20/2009, updated California spreadsheet to correct the maximum income limit subject to SDI/VPDI taxes.
Version 1.01, 2/22/2009, updated all spreadsheets to add user editable fields for specifying tax credits and parameters to request that tax due calculations round to the nearest dollar. Note: changes to the California state personal income tax rates and exemptions have not yet been made pursuant to the recently adopted budget. These California rate/exemption changes will be implemented later this year once the actual surplus rate is known (either 0.125% or 0.25%), the exemption amounts are finalized, and the withholding bracket data is published.
Version 1.0, 1/2/2009, includes spreadsheets for
California and Federal Only. The tax rates in this version may
change during the course of the 2009 calendar year if Congress again adjusts
the AMT exemption amounts, and states finalize their rates. It is also
impossible at this time to predict what the new Obama Administration and
Congress will do to the tax code, though no wide sweeping changes are
expected to take effect in 2009.
Tax Year 2008
Version 1.04, 1/2/2009, updated all spreadsheets to fix a federal income tax calculation that occurred when taxable income did not exceed the 15% bracket and long-term capital gains pushed that taxable income from the 10% bracket to the 15% bracket.
Version 1.03, 10/5/2008, updated all spreadsheets to account for the AMT exemption increases included in section 102 of the H.R. 1424 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act bill passed into law. Also updated the California spreadsheet to account for the portions of the 2008 state tax rates made public.
Version 1.02, 5/10/2008, updated all spreadsheets to account for the low income capital gains tax rate changing this year from 5% to 0%.
Version 1.01, 3/7/2008, updated all spreadsheets to account for the itemized deduction and personal exemption phase-out limitation percentage from 2/3 to 1/3 based on the 2008 tax law change. For high income taxpayers in the AMT, the likely effect of this phase-out of the phase-out is nil because the tax burden will simply shift from normal income tax to AMT.
Version 1.0, 12/31/2007, includes spreadsheets for
California, Ohio, and Federal Only. The tax rates in this version may
change during the course of the 2008 calendar year if Congress again adjusts the
AMT exemption amounts, and
states finalize their rates. Federal AMT exemption amounts in this
version are using the "patched" 2007 figures approved by Congress for that
year only under the assumption that in 2008 another patch will be approved
and the rates comparable to those in effect for 2007.
Tax Year 2007
Version 1.05, 12/20/2007, updated all spreadsheets to account for the one year AMT patch legislation that increased the amount of the AMT exemption.
Version 1.04, 9/3/2007, updated the California spreadsheet only to account for the portions of the 2007 state tax rates made public. In December further updates will likely be required to account for the complete set of state tax rates (this is normal for California). In this version, any state tax figures not yet updated reflect those from the 2006 tax year.
Version 1.03, 3/19/2007, updated the California spreadsheet only to correct the federal AMT adjustment in cell J53 if cell F73 is changed by the user to specify that CA VDPI is being paid instead of the default CA SDI; corrected an error in CA SDI/VPDI cell J40 if cell B76 indicates that more than one wage earner is earning W-2 income.
Version 1.02, 2/6/2007, corrected the federal itemized deduction phaseout limitation (now 2/3 of the computed amount). Also added to the California spreadsheet a user capability to treat CA VPDI as non-deductable for federal purposes if not paid into a mandatory pool.
Version 1.01, 12/19/2006, cash and noncash deductions are subject to a maximum of federal 50% AGI (adjusted gross income). This is the minimal threshold that applies. Other limits listed in IRS Publication 526 may need to be considered by the user when inputting charitable donation data.
Version 1.0, 12/9/2006, includes spreadsheets for
California, Ohio, and Federal Only. The tax rates in this version may
change during the course of the 2007 calendar year if Congress adjusts the
AMT exemption amounts which have reverted to their year 2000 levels, and
states finalize their rates.
Tax Year 2006
Version 1.04, 12/19/2006, cash and noncash deductions are subject to a maximum of federal 50% AGI (adjusted gross income). This is the minimal threshold that applies. Other limits listed in IRS Publication 526 may need to be considered by the user when inputting charitable donation data.
Version 1.03, 12/9/2006, updated California tax rates, added California 10.3% income tax bracket, updated instruction #9 (no user manual), updated federal child tax credit phase out limit.
Version 1.02, 11/25/2006, fix to schedule A itemized deduction limitation (now 2/3 of the computed amount)
Version 1.01, 6/7/2006, updates for revised federal AMT rates for the TIPRA 2005 bill, signed into law
Version 1.0, 1/1/2006, includes spreadsheets for
California, Ohio and Federal Only
Tax Year 2005
Version 1.03, 12/24/2005, final California tax rates installed
Version 1.02, 12/5/2005, minor bug fix to cells N33 and N35 in the California spreadsheets, no tax calculations affected
Version 1.01, 2/20/2005, includes support for separating qualified dividends from long-term capital gains
Version 1.0, 1/7/2005, includes spreadsheets for
California, Ohio, and Federal Only
Tax Year 2004
Version 1.04, 12/16/2004, final California tax rates installed
Version 1.03, 7/24/2004, minor edits to the California "single" sheet removing a user-defined formula from cell F60 that should have been zeroed out prior to release.
Version 1.02, 5/18/2004, bug fix for Federal Only spreadsheet dealing with capital losses greater than $3000; bug fix for AMT calculations in all spreadsheets to include personal property taxes
Version 1.01, 1/11/2004, includes spreadsheet for Ohio
Version 1.0, 1/1/2004, includes spreadsheets for
California and Federal Only
Tax Year 2003
Version 1.03, 12/27/2003, final California tax rates installed
Version 1.02, 6/8/2003, changes to account for newly instituted lower federal tax rates
Version 1.01, 1/4/2003, change to self-employed health insurance deduction rate
Version 1.0, 12/29/2002, includes spreadsheets
for California, Ohio, and Federal Only
Tax Year 2002
Version 1.02, 12/29/2002, final California and Ohio tax rates installed, correction to joint sheet schedule A high limit income
Version 1.01, 4/12/2002, fixes for all spreadsheets: edge condition case for federal AMT calculations
Version 1.0, 12/27/2001, includes spreadsheets
for California, Ohio, and Federal Only
Tax Year 2001
Version 1.07, 12/27/2001, Ohio spreadsheet personal exemption amount updated
Version 1.06, 12/25/2001, low income capital gains 60 month tax rate changed from 10% to 8% in all spreadsheets
Version 1.05, 12/22/2001, final California tax rates installed, child tax credit amounted updated in all spreadsheets
Version 1.04, 6/24/2001, new lower federal tax rates installed in all spreadsheets, non-editable cells now not selectable
Version 1.03, 3/7/2001, MacOS information added below
Version 1.03, 2/24/2001, Georgia spreadsheet added; denoting one or two wage earners in joint filing status for the purpose of computing excess FICA payments
Version 1.02, 1/22/2001, Minnesota spreadsheet added
Version 1.01, 12/27/2000, California and Federal Only cell note enhancements (no formulas changed), Ohio spreadsheet added
Version 1.0, 12/18/2000, includes spreadsheets for
California and Federal Only
Tax Year 2000
Version 1.11, 3/7/2001, MacOS information added below
Version 1.11, 2/24/2001, Georgia spreadsheet enhancements for high-income federal Schedule A filers, and elderly/blind Georgia standard deduction
Version 1.1, 12/27/2000, Ohio spreadsheet has final tax rates
Version 1.09, 12/18/2000, California spreadsheet has final tax rates
Version 1.08, 8/3/2000, includes a spreadsheet for the state of Louisiana
Version 1.07, 6/2/2000, includes a spreadsheet for the state of Georgia
Version 1.06, 4/14/2000, California spreadsheet enhancements for the SDI calculation. The state changed the formula effective 4/1/2000.
Version 1.05, 3/23/2000, includes a spreadsheet for the state of Michigan
Version 1.04, 1/14/2000, California spreadsheet enhancements for state tax deductions
Version 1.03, 1/12/2000, includes a spreadsheet for the state of Colorado
Version 1.02, 1/11/2000, more robust Schedule A and federal AMT tax calculations for high incomes
Version 1.01, 1/5/2000, includes a spreadsheet for the state of Connecticut
Version 1.0, 12/31/1999, includes a much improved federal AMT calculation, California AMT calculation, AMT carryforward tax credit, and exemption credits for senior citizens and the blind
Tax Year 1999
Version 2.03, 1/5/2000, includes a spreadsheet for the state of Connecticut
Version 2.02, 12/21/1999, California, Colorado, and Ohio spreadsheets updated for final 1999 state tax rates; all spreadsheets updated to use final federal child tax credit formula
Version 2.01, 12/3/1999, includes a spreadsheet for the state of Georgia
Version 2.0, 6/25/1999, includes the child tax credit calculation in all spreadsheets
Tax Years 1997-1998
Version 1.0
Available in Federal Only version, or Federal + State versions.
The currently implemented states for 2012 include: California only
The currently implemented states for 2011 include: California only
The currently implemented states for 2010 include: California only
The currently implemented states for 2009 include: California only
The currently implemented states for 2008 include: California and Ohio
The currently implemented states for 2007 include: California and Ohio
The currently implemented states for 2006 include: California and Ohio
The currently implemented states for 2005 include: California and Ohio
The currently implemented states for 2004 include: California and Ohio
The currently implemented states for 2003 include: California and Ohio
The currently implemented states for 2002 include: California and Ohio
The currently implemented states for 2001 include: California, Georgia, Minnesota, and Ohio
The currently implemented states for 2000 include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin
The currently implemented states for 1999 include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Ohio, and Wisconsin
The currently implemented states for 1997 and 1998 include: Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin
Please note: At this time we are not able to accommodate any requests for implementing additional states. If your state is not implemented above, you can still use the Federal Only version to compute federal taxes.
Versions are updated regularly as new tax laws become effective both at the state and federal level.
Recalculates your tax situation automatically every time you make a change to a spreadsheet. This allows for easy "what if" scenarios to compare different tax situations.
Provides you with accurate tax calculations so that you are neither over nor under withheld. You will be able to compute exactly what your withholding should be so that you do not give the government an interest free loan, nor owe the government a large tax bill (possibly complicated by penalties and interest) at the end of the tax year. For persons who pay estimated taxes, you will never make a payment that is too large or too small. No more guesswork at computing your taxes!
Eliminates the need for most people to consult with an expensive tax advisor. The spreadsheets can eliminate or greatly reduce the amount of money you spend paying a tax advisor to compute your taxes for you.
Handles any filing status (single, married joint, married separate, and head-of-household). Handles deductions for senior citizens and the blind.
Handles any number of dependents.
Calculates the child tax credit for any income level and filing status.
Has built-in knowledge of all federal and state tax rates and income brackets. For states that have city or local taxes, the spreadsheet performs both automatic calculation of these taxes while also allowing you to manually enter the taxes owed should you wish.
Automatically determines whether a standard deduction or itemized deduction is best.
Handles situations where your income changes. You can choose to specify your income month-to-month, or yearly. For individuals who are subject to receiving bonuses or other variable income streams, the spreadsheet makes accounting for your ever-changing income painless.
Handles multiple income streams. Calculates any overpayments of FICA or state taxes when multiple income streams are present.
Handles self-employment income and expenses (Schedule C). You can enter your income and expenses month-to-month, or yearly as you wish. The spreadsheet totally automates the complex nature of self-employement taxes and deductions thereof.
Handles all forms of dividend and interest income, including short-term capital gains (assets held less than 12 months) or long-term capital gains (assets held greater than 12 months). For high-income individuals, long-term capital gains are taxed at the proper lower rate.
Handles income sources that are federally and/or state tax-free.
Performs automatic calculation of taxes against the federal AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax). If AMT tax is owed, it will be automatically displayed in the spreadsheet. Allows for stipulation of AMT carryforward from previous years.
For high-income individuals, automatically calculates any Schedule A limitations and limitations in personal exemptions (temporarily set to 0% in 2010 and 2011).
Provides tax summary information, including all payroll taxes owed.
Provides instant net income calculations (by taking your gross income and subtracting all forms of taxes owed).
Handles taxes withheld from your paycheck as well as taxes paid on an estimated monthly or quarterly basis.
Requires no special knowledge of the tax code, and requires no expertise in using spreadsheets.
Includes informative cell notes, to aid in understanding what each cell in the spreadsheet is for.
Clearly deliniates between cells that you enter data into, and cells used solely for tax calculation purposes.
Is carefully constructed so that you will not accidentally modify a tax calculation (off-limits, read-only cells are write-protected).
Installation is painless: for Windows, download the self-extracting SETUP.EXE file for the tax year of interest to you, double click on it, extract the appropriate spreadsheet file(s), and open it in Excel. For MacOS, download the TAXPLAN.ZIP file, unzip it to extract the desired spreadsheet file(s), and open it in Excel. This zip file will also work on Windows for users who do not wish to download and run an executable from the web.
Does not make use of any macros, so there are no security or virus issues to worry about.
No run-time licenses or royalties.
These tax planner spreadsheets are being made available free of charge. There are no limitations or time bombs in the spreadsheets. Please use them as you wish with our compliments.
We welcome your feedback! Please let us know what your experience has been in using these spreadsheets. We pride ourselves on being extremely responsive to your concerns and suggestions! Click here to initiate email to us.
IMPORTANT: Some browsers require that you press and hold the SHIFT key while clicking on an item below to effect a download. If you get confused, choose the "Save File" option that your browser presents as a choice upon clicking an item below.
You will download a single SETUP.EXE file that you will then invoke on your computer to effect an installation. The installation will prompt you for which spreadsheets you wish to install. If you prefer, you can also download using the zip file method in the MacOS Download section below.
Once you have successfully downloaded the appropriate SETUP.EXE file onto your computer, use Windows Explorer to locate the file and double click it. The installation of the spreadsheets will thus commence. Once the installation has succeeded, you will be able to open the extracted spreadsheet files using Microsoft Excel.
These tax planner spreadsheets were developed on a Windows compatible system and have not been tested on Macintosh systems and therefore are not officially supported for MacOS. However, users have reported that the spreadsheets function without error on Macintosh systems using Excel 5.0 for Macintosh or later. Microsoft states that there should be no problem in using these tax planner spreadsheets on MacOS systems. You are therefore encouraged to try using these spreadsheets on MacOS using Excel 5.0 or later at your own risk.
You will download a single TAXPLAN.ZIP file that you will need to unzip on your computer to extract the desired spreadsheets. In order to unzip, you will need access to an UNZIP utility on your MacOS system such as ZipIt. This zip file method also works fine for the Windows platform.
TAXPLAN.ZIP for tax year 2012 (313KB, last updated 4/22/2012)
TAXPLAN.ZIP for tax year 2011 (308KB, last updated 10/26/2011)
TAXPLAN.ZIP for tax year 2010 (301KB, last updated 10/30/2010)
TAXPLAN.ZIP for tax year 2009 (297KB, last updated 10/15/2009)
TAXPLAN.ZIP for tax year 2008 (452KB, last updated 1/2/2009)
TAXPLAN.ZIP for tax year 2007 (452KB, last updated 12/20/2007)
TAXPLAN.ZIP for tax year 2006 (450KB, last updated 12/9/2006)
TAXPLAN.ZIP for tax year 2005 (442KB, last updated 12/24/2005)
TAXPLAN.ZIP for tax year 2004 (439KB, last updated 12/16/2004)
If you have any questions, problems, concerns, or suggestions about these tax planner spreadsheet products, please contact us as follows:
Geoff Mendal Software Consulting
1374 Robnick Court
Campbell, CA 95008-5833
(408) 796-7710 (voice)
mendal@taxvisor.com
http://www.taxvisor.com/taxes
Unfortunately, at this time, we are not able to accommodate any requests for implementing spreadsheets for additional states. If your state is not yet implemented, it is very unlikely that we will be able to implement your request in a timely manner.