The Community Meetup- March 2024 Edition

Quicken Janean · March 26

Tax strategies for you

By Janean Comfort

Last month we discussed Quicken's Lifetime Planner; a feature that helps users create a comprehensive financial plan that spans your entire life. This is a tool that, although can be very helpful, users felt could be improved. Quicken’s Tax Planner is also a helpful tool that has been around for quite sometime in Quicken Classic for Windows. The Tax Planner empowers you to proactively manage your taxes, optimize your financial decisions, and achieve better tax outcomes. The Tax Planner in Quicken helps you predict your tax bill by analyzing your income, deductions, and credits. You can also explore different financial scenarios to see how they affect your taxes, find ways to save on taxes, and receive reminders for important tax deadlines to stay organized. This week, we take a deeper dive into the Tax Planner, how to use it and how it can be improved.

The Tax Planner and how to best use it

The Quicken Tax Planner is designed for individuals and households who want to effectively manage their taxes and make informed financial decisions. It can also benefit a wide range of users like: small business owners, investors, and retirees.
Some key aspects of the Tax Planner are:

Tax Projection: The Tax Planner allows you to project your tax liability for the current year based on your income, deductions, credits, and other tax-related information. This projection helps you estimate how much you may owe or get back when filing your taxes.

Scenario Planning: You can create multiple tax scenarios to see how different financial decisions, such as increasing retirement contributions or selling investments, could impact your taxes. This feature helps you make informed decisions to minimize your tax burden.

Tax Optimization: The Tax Planner identifies tax-saving opportunities by analyzing your financial data and suggesting strategies to reduce your taxable income or maximize deductions and credits. It can also help you plan for tax-efficient investment strategies.

Tax Deadline Reminders: Quicken's Tax Planner includes reminders for important tax deadlines, such as estimated tax payment due dates and filing deadlines. This feature helps you stay organized and avoid late penalties.

Some things to keep in mind is users may find Quicken's Tax Planner could be improved by better integrating with external tax preparation software for a smoother tax filing experience. Additionally, adding more advanced tax optimization strategies, like tax-loss harvesting and detailed retirement planning, could offer users greater flexibility and precision in managing their taxes.

To get to the Tax Planner in Quicken, follow these steps:
Go to the "Planning" tab located at the top of the Quicken window.
In the "Planning" tab, you will find a section called "Tax Center." Click on "Tax Center" to open it.
Click on "Show Tax Planner" to launch the Tax Planner tool.
Once you've accessed the Tax Planner, you can start using it to project your tax liability, explore tax-saving strategies, and manage your tax-related information effectively.

*The Tax Planner is only available in Quicken Classic for Windows; however, it is planned to come to Quicken Classic for Mac in the future. Please stay tuned and let us know what you want to see improved.

Releases this past month

There were no new releases this past month for Windows and Mac users. Before you install any update, we recommend you perform a One Step Update. You should also make a backup of your data file. To see all the current releases for Windows, please visit this support article. For more details about the Mac releases, please visit this support article.

If you missed any releases, don't worry. You only need to download the most recent release to update Quicken.