This is a simple income tax calculation tool. It is vastly incomplete and only capable of processing the most common tax situations. It is only intended for tax planning and analysis, not for filing your taxes.
Tax information is entered on a variety of worksheets and tax forms at the bottom of this page. You can click on the heading of any worksheet or tax form to alternately expand or collapse that form. After your tax information has been entered, press the Calculate button to create a simulated tax return. Click this link for more help with this tool.
Filing Status
Taxpayer's Name
Street Address
City
State
Zip Code
Taxpayer's Birthday
Taxpayer Is Blind
Has SSN
Spouse's Birthday
Months Lived Together
Spouse Is Blind
Has SSN
Long Term
Transaction
Name
Proceeds
Cost Basis
Wash Sale
This is the current version of the tax tools. The version number is actually a link that you can click on to see the version history log.
Selecting a year from this drop-down list will change the tool to use the tax tables for that year. Any tax information that you have already entered will not be affected by changing the tax year.
Pressing the "Save" button will save the data that has been entered to a text file named "TaxProgram.txt" in your Downloads folder. This data can be reloaded by pressing the "Restore" button.
Pressing the "Restore" button will reload the data from a file into the tool, which will replace any data that is already there. The file must have been previously saved by this tool.
Press this button to add a dependent. This will cause several additional fields to appear where you can enter information about the dependent.
Press this button to calculate the tax return. The input forms will be closed and the tax return will be displayed at the bottom of this web page. You can press this button to see the intermediate results and then go back to entering additional data.
Pressing this button will display a drop down list of forms that you can use to enter tax information.
Select your filing status from the drop-down list. Many calculations on the tax return use different values and limits based on the filing status. The filing status is also used in a few places in this tool to hide entry fields that are not relevant to the current tax payer.
This is the name of the taxpayer. It is only used to identify the taxpayer that the information belongs to. This may be useful if the information is saved or printed.
The street address of the taxpayer is only used to determine the sales tax rate for the area where the taxpayer lives. This, in turn, is only used to determine the state and local tax deduction. In order to look up the sales tax rate, you must enter the street address, city and zip code. The state must be California so it cannot be changed. If the address is not entered, a state-wide value is used.
This is used to determine if the taxpayer will be 65 or older at the end of the tax year, which is necessary to qualify for some tax benefits for seniors such as an increased standard deduction.
If the taxpayer or spouse is blind, an additional amount is added to increase the standard deduction.
Some tax benefits require the taxpayer to have a valid Social Security number. Social Security numbers are issued to U.S. citizens and resident aliens. Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITIN) are issued by te IRS to non-resident aliens who are required to file a tax return. The first digit of an ITIN is always a 9, and a SSN never begins with a 9.
This is the number of months that the taxpayer and spouse lived together during the tax year.
The dependent's name is not used by the tool, but may make it easier to distinguish the entries when there is more than one dependent.
This is a drop-down list of the possible relationships between the taxpayer and dependent. If the relationship is not in the list, select the most similar relationship.
This is used to determine the dependent's age at the end of the tax year.
This is the number of months the dependent lived in the taxpayer's home during the year.
This is the gross income of the dependent.
This indicates whether or not the dependent is a full-time student.
This indicates whether or not the dependent is filing a his or her own tax return with the filing status of Married Filling Jointly.
This indicates whether or not the taxpayer provided 50% or more of the dependent's support.
This indicates whether or not the dependent provided 50% or more of his or her own support.
This indicates whether or not the dependent is disabled.
In this section you can enter expenses that can be used on your tax return but that are not found on another tax form.
Enter the total premiums paid for healthcare insurance for the taxpayer, spouse, and dependents.
Enter the total premiums paid for dental and vision insurance for the taxpayer, spouse, and dependents.
Normally, when a taxpayer is receiving Social Security payments, their Medicare premiums will be deducted form their Social Security benefits and shown on form SSA-1099, box 3. If you entered form SSA-1099 and it shows the Medicare premiums in box 3, you do not need to enter them here. If you enter them in both places, this value will be used, and the Medicare premiums on all SSA-1099s will be ignored.
Enter the actual premium paid for log term care insurance for the taxpayer. The deductible amount of the LTC premiums will be reduced to the maximum amount allowed based on the taxpayer's age.
Enter the actual premium paid for log term care insurance for the spouse. The deductible amount of the LTC premiums will be reduced to the maximum amount allowed based on the spouse's age.
Enter the out-of-pocket costs paid for doctor visits.
Enter the amount paid for prescription medications; not over-the-counter medications.
Enter the amount paid for medical aids such as glasses, hearing aids, crutches, walker, wheelchair, etc.
Enter the amount you paid for medical facilities such as nursing home or care facilities.
Enter the amount you paid for additional nursing services.
The number of miles driven for medical appointments. This will be multiplied by the allowance for medical mileage.
Enter the amount of any other deductible medical expenses you paid during the tax year.
Enter the amount of federal estimated income tax payments that you made during the tax year. Do not include payments that were made for this tax year, but not made during the tax year. You can include payments that you made this year for another year.
Enter the amount of state and local estimated income tax payments that you made during the tax year. Do not include payments that were made for this tax year, but not made during the tax year. You can include payments that you made this year for another year.
Enter the amount you owed on last year's state income tax that was paid during this tax year.
Real estate property tax is typically paid in two installments, one in December and another one in April of the next year. The real estate property tax you can deduct is the sum of any installments that were paid during the tax year.
Enter any personal property taxes that you paid. This is typically the "license fee" portion of the vehicle registration fee for all of your vehicles.
The state and local tax deduction can be a deduction for either the state and local income tax or the state and local sales tax, whichever is larger. This tool will automatically calculate the standard sales tax deduction for your address, but if you made any large purchases during the tax year, you can include the sales tax from those items by entering that amount here.
Enter the total of all cash gifts you gave to charity except for Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD"s), which, if made, need to be subtracted from the amount of taxable income entered for the retirement account.
Enter the fair market value of all non-cash donations you made to charity, such as donations to thrift stores.
Enter the number of miles you drove for charity. This will be multiplied by the allowance for charitable mileage.
Educators can deduct up to $300 each for the taxpayer and spouse for un-reimbursed classroom expenses. Educators may be a teacher, counselor, principal, or aide that worked at least 900 hours in a K-12 school during the tax year.
Enter the amount of alimony you paid during the tax year. If you were divorced before 12/31/2018 and required to pay alimony, the amount of alimony you paid can be deducted on your federal and California tax returns. If you were divorced after 12/31/2018, the amount of alimony you paid can only be deducted on your California tax return.
If you entered the amount of alimony you paid in the previous entry, enter the date of your divorce in this entry.
If you paid someone to do your taxes and made the payment during the tax year, you may be able to deduct that amount on your California tax return if the total amount of your "miscellaneous deductions" is greater that 2% of your adjusted gross income (AGI).
If you incurred investment expenses, such as paying an advisor for investment advice, you may be able to deduct the amount of that expense on your California tax return if the total amount of your "miscellaneous deductions" is greater that 2% of your adjusted gross income (AGI).
If you made a contribution to an IRA account, enter the amount of the contribution here.
In this section you can enter income you received that is not reported on a tax form.
If you received jury duty pay, you must declare it as income. Enter the amount you were paid here.
If you were divorced before 12/31/2018 and received alimony payments, the amount you received is taxable on your federal and California tax returns. If you were divorced after 12/31/2018, the amount of alimony you received is only taxable on your California tax return.
If you entered the amount of alimony you received in the previous entry, enter the date of your divorce in this entry.
Enter the amount of any winnings you received from gambling.
Enter the amount of any other income you received during the tax year that is not entered elsewhere.
In this section you can enter information about stocks or assets that you sold.
Press this button to add another row of information for another stock or asset you sold.
When an asset is sold, it is classified as either a long-term or short-term sale based on whether or not you owned the asset for one year or more.
This is the name of the asset. The name is not used by the tool, but it may be useful to distinguish entries when you have sold more than one asset.
Enter the total amount you received from the sale of the asset.
Enter the total amount you originally paid for the asset when it was purchased.
A wash sale is when an investor sells a security at a loss and then buys the same or similar security within 30 days before or after the sale. A loss from a wash sale is not allowed by the IRS. If a wash sale loss occurred, it should be shown on the brokerage statement and entered here as a positive number.
Enter a name to identify the business. It does not need to be the actual name of the business. The name is necessary if there is more than one business being included on the tax return so that other forms, such as 1099-NEC or 1099-K, can be connected to the correct business.
Enter any cash income for the business here. This is any income for the business that is not entered on a tax form, such as 1099-NEC or 1099-K.
Enter the amount spent on advertising.
Enter the amount spent on commissions.
Enter the amount spent on insurance.
Enter the amount paid for interest on loans.
Blah blah blah ...
Enter the amount paid for utilities.
Enter the amount paid for licenses.
Enter the amount paid for training.
Enter the amount paid for tools.
Enter the amount paid for travel.
Enter the amount paid for meals.
Enter the amount paid for rent.
Enter the number of miles driven for business. This will be multiplied by the allowance for business mileage.
Enter the amount paid for tolls.
Enter the amount spent on any other business expenses.