It would be helpful to enable a toggle option to highlight in the boxes top left TOTAL TAX (for the year) rather than REFUND/DUE amount, and include a GRAND TOTAL (of Federal plus one or multiple states). This would help those of us doing WHAT IF ANALYSIS - e.g. what if I did a Roth Conversion, or what if I accelerated donations, what if I contributed to an HSA. Currently, this requires entering the change and then tediously searching through the Federal and State forms for the actual tax due amount, entering that in a worksheet, then doing the same for the other scenario. It was also be great to enable this as a feature (i.e. lock results of Scenario A, then run and lock Scenario B and show the difference).
For those of us who make estimated payments all year (self employed, retired, etc) rather than having withholding from an employer paycheck, the total tax paid may be more top of mind than what may be refunded/due in April (which is just a result of how much we over/under paid during the year).
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Try using the test copy option ...
This is my mini version of the downloaded tutorial that should be in the downloaded program:
Forms Mode lets you view and make changes to your tax forms "behind the scenes."
If you're adventurous, you can even prepare your return in Forms Mode, but we don't recommend it. You may miss obscure credits and deductions you qualify for, and you may forget to report things that will come back and haunt you later.
Forms Mode is exclusively available in the TurboTax CD/Download software. It is not available in TurboTax Online.
If you want to play around with different figures and tax scenarios without affecting your original return you can ….
It's always a good idea to make a backup copy of your tax data file, in case your original gets lost or corrupted. Here's how:
If you make changes to your original tax return file, repeat these steps to ensure your original and backup copies are in-synch.
GEN85508
Answered by TurboTax FAQ to this question
AND save it as a PDF so you have access to a copy even if you don’t have the program still installed and operational :
AND protect the files :
Try using the test copy option ...
This is my mini version of the downloaded tutorial that should be in the downloaded program:
Forms Mode lets you view and make changes to your tax forms "behind the scenes."
If you're adventurous, you can even prepare your return in Forms Mode, but we don't recommend it. You may miss obscure credits and deductions you qualify for, and you may forget to report things that will come back and haunt you later.
Forms Mode is exclusively available in the TurboTax CD/Download software. It is not available in TurboTax Online.
If you want to play around with different figures and tax scenarios without affecting your original return you can ….
It's always a good idea to make a backup copy of your tax data file, in case your original gets lost or corrupted. Here's how:
If you make changes to your original tax return file, repeat these steps to ensure your original and backup copies are in-synch.
GEN85508
Answered by TurboTax FAQ to this question
AND save it as a PDF so you have access to a copy even if you don’t have the program still installed and operational :
AND protect the files :
Thank you! I had typed "What If" in the Search Topics, Help, and on intuit.com, and struck out. I had not typed it in Search while in Forms Mode (since it is not an IRS Form, but would be more of a Turbotax feature - so it hadn't occurred to me to try that). I will experiment with this What-If tool! Wish Ttax had mentioned its existence somewhere!
I have used Ttax for 30+ years (Mac version) and am probably in Forms Mode more than Interview Mode. The Interview Mode gets frustrating/slow for me, but I do use it when initially entering data just so I don't skip a step. I have often saved draft versions (whether pdf or ttax file) under different filenames to run various scenarios, but I still have the above-mentioned issues of hunting for the total tax (on Fed & multiple states) and creating a summary spreadsheet for each saved scenario.
Glad I asked! Thanks for the response.
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