You can tailor your BudTax to suit your affairs. As you enter data,
automatic calculations determine your bank balances, fund balances, and
tax data. You can plan ahead so you'll know how you'll stand next April 15th.
You can plan ahead as far as you like by copying the StrongForms for future years.
When you want to actually file your return, you can manually copy the
numbers onto your paper form.
To view an example of a screen, click on *BudgeTax Screen. Use your broswer's BACK function to return to this page.
The following is an extract from the Strongware Operator Guide.
2.8 Budget and Estate Planning with BudTax. If you've ever had problems with your personal finances, then you'll appreciate using your BudTax spreadsheet model, shown on the next page. You can open it up and follow along as you read, noting the following features. You can customize your BudTax by revising the example figures with your own figures. If you spend a little time to setup your BudTax to start with, then you will surely feel it's time well spent when you complete it and see your "Big Picture". You can enter data for individual items into your *BudTaxS sheet and it will summarize the data, for example, on a monthly basis; you can then copy and paste the sums into your BudTax. You can setup your PrsNote records for all of your things you want for the year, then estimate the costs or gains, and then enter them into your BudTax as your resources are provided. You can sort them as you like to and then schedule them so that your BudTax is your main planning and scheduling tool. You can see your after-tax position as you plan so you can revise your plan to accomodate your taxes. You can also use your BudTax to verify your checkbook.
a. Overall arrangement. The BudTax spreadsheet model is arranged with columns of months; however, you can customize it and so use it for weeks or years in life phases. Rows show your line items, both relatively stable and variable expenses. The 'Totals' column sums the 'Act.(ual)' column entries. The 'Total' row tracks actual expenses as you write checks and/or as you budgetted them. Note the similarity to LIFASE. You can copy your BudTax for the current year to the spaces below for the next years, with linking between your December and January figures for funds, budget amounts, PAL, and so on. You can plan ahead as far as you like, such as seven years to match a life phase.
b. Typical household bank accounts. BudTax tracks to two bank accounts, to show your periodic deposits and withdrawals for a household with two wage-earners, two houses, and two automobiles.
c. PAL-TA-PAL. BudTax uses the PAL-TA-PAL scheme via the 'Assets' and the 'Liabilities' and 'Equities' columns. Changes from beginning to end are calculated into the 'Gain' column. Note that 'Mortgages' and 'Improvements' are appreciated at 2.5 %, while 'Autos' and 'Personal Property' are depreciated at 10%.
d. Customizing your budget and fixed expenses. You can customize the expense line items by changing, adding, or deleting with your Row Block Insert or Delete functions. For relatively fixed expense items, you can also enter the figures into the 'Act(ual)' columns for each month. You can enter the figures for January and then copy them to the other months. If you lease your home, then you can simply enter zeros for the principal, interest, and taxes and improvements, then enter the lease or rent payment as another line item.
e. Funds management for variable expenses. If you have variable expenses where the items change from time to time, such as automobile maintenace, you can use your StrongWare capability for funds management. You can allocate average amounts to each line item fund and track them independently and collectively. The funding formula in each cell tracks the funds balance for the previous month, the actual expense for the current month, and adds the funding amount, such as, for cell N18, "K18+M18+75". As you go through each month, you can see how much is left in the fund. You can save or borrow between funds and keep track of the total funds available. You can then see how much of your bank balance is available for other uses. You can carry over your balance from year to year by copying the ending funds to the beginning funds.
f. Translating special variable expenses with BudTaxSS. You likely will have some variable expenses where you'll want to identify them in your BudTax, such as improvements, emergencies, or casualty losses, etc. Notice that your BudTax has a space in the line below, 'For:', to identify the 'Budget Item' from your PRSNOTE. You can enter the identification into your PRSNOTE, and then use your BudTaxSS to translate into your BudTax at the appropriate month 'Est.' column and the line item row. The 'Budget Item' field will run over into the 'Actual' and 'Funds' columns. -20, -30 Office Equipment
---+-------------------------------+------+-----------------+-----------------+ | BudTax.WQ1 PrintLandscap G | H | I J K | L M N | A1.AY75 / AY1..BQ57 | | | ---+---------------------------------+------+-----------------+----------------- ROW| v v v LINE ITEMS: V V V BUDGET|Jan.95| January | February ---+---------------------------------+------+-----------------+----------------- 4 | BANK 1: |Funds | Est Act Funds | Est Act Funds 5 | Checking Begin Balance 0 | | 1421 600 | 1767 748 ---+---------------------------------+------+-----------------+----------------- 6 | Pay 1 3000 | | 2936 | 2936 ---+---------------------------------+------+-----------------+----------------- 12 | Home1 Mortgage Principal -150 | | -150 | -150 13 | Home1 Mortgage Interest -350 | | -350 | -350 14 | Home1 Mortgage Prop.Tax -150 | | -150 | -150 16 | Home1 Improvements** -75 | 0 | -50 25 | 17 | For: | | | 18 | Home1 Maintenance* -75 | 0 | -90 -15 | 19 | For: | 20 | Furnishing & Appliance** -75 | 0 -400 -450 -375 -20 -30 -330 21 | For: | Refrigerator Office Equipment 22 | Trash and Sewage Service -28 | 0 25 | Telephone / FAX / EMail -100 | 0 | -100 0 | -100 0 26 | Auto 1 Operation-gas -72 | 0 | -77 -5 | -91 -24 27 | Auto 1 Loan Principal** -100 | 0 | -100 0 | -77 23 28 | Auto 1 Interest -100 | 0 | -100 0 | -100 0 35 | Petty Cash Allowance -400 | 0 | -400 0 | -400 0 38 | Savings*/ Reserve/Invest -100 | 600 | -95 605 | -95 610 +---------------------------------+------+-----------------+----------------- 39 | Total ALE/ End Bal/ Fund 269 | 600 | 1767 748 | 1926 651 +---------------------------------+------+-----------------+----------------- 40 | End Bal-Fund,Cash,Total | |1019 0 1019 |1275 0 1275
g. Line Item Master, LIM, Records. After you have customized and tailored your BudTax to suit your particular needs ( another advantage of using StrongForms for SCOTS is your familiarity with designing ), then you can create Line Item Master records in your database for each line item. You can identify themm with Record Id entries according to the Line Number, such as PL17, PL23, and so on. In your LIM record, you can identify the particulars such as the party you're paying in the name and address and telephone and account number fields and the definition of the line item in the 'About' field. For your variable line items, you can then copy the LIM to make records for each month. You can identify monthly records with Record Id with month, such as PL1704 for Line Item 17 for April. You can then print your PRSSS report using a query for PL??04*. If you have multiple entries, such as for personal property, then you can use an alpha suffix, such as PL1704a and calculate a total and enter it into a Total Record, with an entry in your 'Budget Item' field.
h. Budget to tax. If you prefer doing tax planning and management rather than simply going to a tax filer
after-the-fact, you'll appreciate your BudTax spreadsheet model's built-in functions.
Annual totals are automatically calculated and then copied into the tax calculations, so you can see what
your taxpaying status will be next April 15th and so be in a position to make better decisions before-the-fact.
Wages, witholdings, contributions, interest and dividends, mortgage interest and real estate totals are
calculated into your tax blocks. Note that Auto Loan interest expense is treated as a personal loan; if you use
mortgage equity, then you can modify your BudTax so as to include it as deductible mortgage interest. You
can modify the formula in cell BD34 by adding "+AS28 " and similarly for Auto 2.
BudTax has a built-in calculation function so that it uses the lesser of itemized or standard deductions.
Medical and miscellaneous deductions also have built-in logic formulae for allowable deductions.
Note that Auto Loan interest expense is treated as a personal loan; if you use mortgage equity, then you
can modify your BudTax so as to include it as deductible mortgage interest. You can modify the formula in
cell BD34 by adding "+AS28 " and similarly for Auto 2.
To view an example of a screen, click on *BudTaxT Screen
Back to -> *Home
