Tax Tools Version Information

4/12/2026 - 004 - Change variable declarations from var to let and const in all JavaScript code.
3/31/2026 - 003 - Changed amount due to be negative and the refund to be positive in the federal and state estimated tax tools. Changed default font from Calibri to Helvetica so it will work with PDF files.
3/31/2026 - 002 - Changed the credits in the federal estimated tax calculator.
3/30/2026 - 001 - Improved limit checking for input values.
3/22/2026 - 000 - New version

Version 2025.07, Released 3/22/2026

3/22/2026 - 002 - Fixed problem with calculator where buttons were not working. This was caused by incorrect use of double quotes and a duplicate reference to the JavaScript code.
3/13/2026 - 001 - Changed to use tax year in version number
3/11/2026 - 000 - New version

Version 1.6, Released 3/11/2026

3/10/2026 Added function entry and exit tracing.
3/07/2026 Created the Enhanced Deduction for Seniors Calculator
3/07/2026 Finished the AMT calculator.
2/26/2026 Improved the input processing consistency for the math calculator and also enabled cut and paste.
2/26/2026 Improved the consistency in the way the tools are implemented.
2/26/2026 Allow debug keywords to be entered from any input field.
2/23/2026 Added entry for QCDs to federal estimated tax calculator.

Version 1.5.007, Released 2/22/2026

2/22/2026 Implemented new version of Tooltips.
2/22/2026 Removed all dependencies on PHP. Replaced PHP include capability with loadIncludefiles() JavaScript function.
2/17/2026 Enhancing the implementation of debugging code.
2/17/2026 Changed the Simple Math Calculator to allow decimal numbers less than one without a leading zero.
Added MFS support to Social Security - Taxable Benefits Calculator.
Added the evalExpression() library function, to evaluate a string that contains a simple mathematical expression. Created the Simple Math Calculator tool. Changed toInteger() to use evalExpression() so all numeric input now allows simple mathematical expressions.
Started coding the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) Calculator.
Created Library folder and moved files from CSS and Scripts to that folder. Created Version folder. Created Debug.js and Debug.css files.
Remove getDate() to avoid name conflict.
Added getDateObject(), isBefore(), and isValidDate() to util-Dates.js.
Added "get" prefix to ThisYear(), LastYear(), TaxYear(), and Today() to make them more unique.
Ignore spouse's age unless filing status is MFJ.
This is the first working version of the California Estimated Tax Calculator.

Version 1.5.006, Released 1/9/2026

Remove initial "0" from the input fields in all the tools. Made various updates to tooltips.
Still fixing some problems with the state tax refund calculator.
CSS cleanup in all the tools; introduced CSS variables for global color values.
Continued refinements to comments in code, tooltips, and help information.
You cannot click on a link in a tooltip so make them look like the surrounding text.
Improved the consistency of the look-and-feel of the tools.
Change the estimated payment calculation to include the estimated payments that were paid.

Version 1.5.005, Released 1/9/2026

Fixed font-size of version-number class.
Developed the State Tax Refund Calculator. This included several side-effects to the shared code and made a few changes to other tools that were discovered during the development (i.e., there were lots of changes).
Made changes to version.html. Moved "Issues" section to version.html.
Made changes to TaxTables.js to make sure tax year is a number, added isValidTaxYear(), added TT_StandardDeduction(), added support for blindness, and added a default value for the age parameter of TT_StdDeductionExtra().

Version 1.5.004, Released 1/3/2026

Create util-*.js files to replace TaxTools.js. Moved Version.* to Scripts folder. Edited the comments in the Small Business Tax Calculator.

Version 1.5.003, Released 12/31/2025

Reversed the parameters to InitializeTaxTables() and added default values for the parameters. Add comment to SaveRestore.js. Remove extra call to ChangeHandler() in SaveRestore.js.

Version 1.5.002, Released 12/30/2025

Removed the HTML form element from EstimatedTax.php. Added ThisYear(), LastYear(), and TaxYear() to TaxTools.js.

Version 1.5.001, Released 12/27/2025

Added a common version number and version log for all the tax tools. This is the start of recording changes that are made to the tax tools.

Version 1.5

This is the first version of the web based estimated tax calculator.

Version 1.4, 11/14/2025

The Excel version of the estimated tax calculator was developed first and was used as a prototype for the web based version. This is the version number of the Excel version that was used as the prototype.

Tax Tools

The current set of tax tools are:

Age Calculator
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) Calculator
Enhanced Deduction for Seniors Calculator
Estimated Tax Calculator (federal)
Estimated Tax Calculator (California)
Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Calculator
Simple Math Calculator
Small Business Tax Calculator
Social Security - Taxable Benefits Calculator
Social Security - Lump Sum Calculator
State Income Tax Refund Calculator

Issues

Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) Calculator

Only supports the tax year 2025.

Estimated Tax Calculator (Federal)

Does not support blind taxpayer or spouse.
Does not support small business (schedule C).
Does not support dependents.
Allows you to enter the amount of credits, but does not calculate CTC or EIC, or any other credit.

Estimated Tax Calculator (California)

Tax tables for 2026 are the same as 2025.

Social Security - Taxable Benefits Calculator

See the description for the Adjustments field in help file. There are a few adjustments that may not be handled correctly by this tool.
If you are a non-resident alien, do not use this tool; the taxable percentage of your Social Security is 85%.

State Tax Refund Calculator

Does not take into account that MFS may be required to itemize deductions.

Changes I'm Thinking About

More tools
- CTC, EIC, and CalEITC Calculators
- Sales Tax Calculator
- Currency Exchange Rate Calculator
Add checks to fields that have known limits so the input values do not exceed those limits.
If an input field is modified internally, should the input field be updated so the user can see that the corrected value?
I could merge the small business tax calculation into the estimated tax calculation, but it would calculate values that are currently entered by the user. If more and more fields are calculated then the tool becomes more of a tax program than a tool for estimating the tax from the numbers that you enter. Where should the dividing line be?
Should the tools be implemented as Excel spreadsheets. It would allow the user to see the actual computations that are being made. Users could review the formulas for accuracy and provide feedback. They could also make changes to their copy of the spreadsheet to prototype new ideas. However, since each spreadsheet contains all the code that it uses, once it is copied, it would be difficult to know how it differs from another version. It would be impossible to update all the copies when a change needs to be made. Version control could be a nightmare.