7 Intuit® Tax Advisor updates

As Intuit® Tax Advisor enters its third planning season, the product team continues to enhance the offering based on user feedback. Here are seven released features, requested by customers, to support tax professionals with more robust tools for efficient tax planning and advisory services.

1. Estimated Tax Payment Plans

Many users said they needed a simpler report for quarterly estimated projected payment engagements than the full Tax Plan with strategies. When users create a plan, they now have the option to create an Estimated Tax Payment Plan or a Tax Plan. 

The Estimated Tax Payment Plan includes all the pre-strategy baseline (PSB) capabilities to assist in adding life events and adjusting for economic changes to a baseline, and generating a schedule of federal and state estimated payment obligations. It also includes calculation of 2210 underpayment penalties. The client report summarizes the federal and state estimated tax payments to create a client reminder. 

Estimated Tax Payment Plans can be found on the Plans page in the tab next to Tax Plans. The page provides a dashboard view of estimated payment status (planned, paid, not paid) per quarter for each client.

Best of all, users can easily convert Estimated Tax Payment Plans into Tax Plans later to add strategies and showcase tax savings. 

2. It’s free to create Tax Plans and Quarterly Estimate Plans

Intuit Tax Advisor now allows users to create Tax Plans and Quarterly Estimate Plans without the need to use a paid credit. This change enables users to update the PSB, evaluate and incorporate strategies, and review plans without incurring charges. The paywall has been shifted to the Client Report, making the planning and advisory features of Intuit Tax Advisor more accessible. In addition, starting Jan. 1, 2025, Intuit ProConnect™ Tax and Lacerte® Tax TY24 customers will have free access to Intuit Tax Advisor.

3. Print the PSB and Review Plan

In response to user requests, Intuit Tax Advisor has added the capability to print the PSB and Review Plan. This feature allows users to maintain a record of baseline assumptions, strategy changes, and detailed federal and state projections. Users can customize the report’s level of detail before printing.

4. Wage Projector

The Wage Projector feature supports annualization of W-2 information from a paycheck, enabling the projection of annual wages and taxes withheld. The wage projector is initiated from the calculator icon in the Wages field. The calculator supports annualizing wages and deductions based on multiple pay period intervals, such as monthly and bi-weekly. It also ensures that Social Security wages and taxes align with annual wage limits. While future enhancements will address additional planning scenarios and deduction limitations, this update significantly improves wage projection capabilities.

5. Basis tracking for S Corporations and Partnerships

This feature allows advisors to track the impact of economic events and strategies on S Corporation stock and debt basis. It includes a PSB Basis Limitation section within the S Corporation K-1 activity and Analysis Worksheets in the Strategies tab to monitor basis changes. The feature aims to prevent unexpected capital gains due to negative basis.

The same PSB Basis Limitation section has been added to the Partnership K-1 activity and Analysis Worksheets in the Strategies tab to monitor basis changes.

6. Pass-Thru Entity Tax for California

The Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET) strategy for California is now available in Intuit Tax Advisor. This feature assists in modeling tax savings for Partnerships and S Corporations when the entity pays state tax on behalf of the taxpayer. It includes a worksheet for PTET calculation and provides details on election and payment requirements.

While future enhancements will add PTET for additional states, this update significantly improves the tax strategy capabilities. Currently, users can use the Custom Strategy for specific states to estimate the tax savings related to PTET strategies.

7. Other usability improvements

Here are a few usability enhancements introduced as a result of user feedback:

• The Client screen now offers more tax return information in customizable and sortable columns.
• The Client screen now provides a suggested email template for quarterly estimate planning engagement.
• Users can edit or hide the Disclaimer in the Client Report.
• Column headings on the Strategies tab remain visible while scrolling.

These seven updates collectively enhance Intuit Tax Advisor’s capabilities, providing tax professionals with more efficient and effective tools for tax planning and advisory services.

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