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Look for depth, breadth of information in tax planning software.

Article Excerpt
As the recent hurricane devastation reminded us, careful planning to anticipate natural disaster scenarios is very wise ... and very difficult.

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While you are not really making life and death choices, tax planning nevertheless has to take into consideration a wide range of factors of varying certainty in assisting clients to make wise tax-related decisions. Fortunately, the tax planning solutions reviewed here allow all that can be foreseen to be used as factors in quickly creating a large number of tax scenarios for consideration.

All programs operate in a similar fashion, allowing a number of different sets of circumstances to be projected over any number of years, with a variety of display choices available for viewing the result. The maximum number of cases and years varies from adequate to seemingly ridiculous but, depending on your situation, may be a factor in deciding what to buy. Various methods to simplify and personalize the resulting information display may also be a consideration in your decision.

As with any sort of activity that attempts to anticipate the future, tax planning efforts and their results are no better than the underlying assumptions used in formulating the plan. With the complexity of current tax code and no improvement in sight, a good tax library may be an investment that quickly pays for itself to create realistic tax scenarios for evaluation. However, it can't be expected to be of equal value to all potential users.

Other similar resources you may already have and the frequency with which tax questions have arisen in the past may help to make a purchase decision. In making that judgment, however, the depth and the breadth of the information included shouldn't be ignored. In addition to the practical analysis and examples that a good library should include to complement the tax code itself, there may be tools and sample documents that are valuable to assist a small practice in its growth process. A trial subscription is a good way to assess how useful it will be to your practice.

--Glenn Gordon

BNA Income Tax Planner Offers Multiple Analysis Modes

The BNA Income Tax Planner is a software application allowing limitless projections and scenarios regarding factors affecting income tax liability. An optional 50-state planner calculates resident income taxes for all states--including New York City and the District of Columbia--and also covers non-resident taxes for 28 states.

Features

The main screen consists of the normal pull-down menus and iconic toolbar to open appropriate worksheets. The total list of available worksheets can be displayed in a panel at left or right or hidden from view until needed. The main worksheet, always active since it is the bottom line for all scenarios, is a summary list of filing status, personal exemptions, income and other factors, ending in total net tax liability. Open worksheets appear as tabs across the top until they are selected for viewing, forming multiple rows if necessary. Worksheets may be tiled or cascaded for convenient viewing.

An assumptions selection in the pull-down menu row allows the user to choose the assumptions that underlie the tax planning analysis--revealing where the real power of the application resides. You may select a "Years within Cases" analysis, allowing one...

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