Software for Tax Planning

[Candace Participant]

Our office doesn’t prepare tax returns. We are financial planners who, among other things, help advise clients on tax planning strategies. As such, I am looking for tax planning software that we can use to help advise our clients.

Currently we are using Dinkytown (their free online calculator) but I find that it isn’t very robust and is somewhat static. At a prior firm, I used BNA Tax Software, which was better but that was ages ago and I am not sure whether that is still a worthwhile tool. What are others using? I’d love to hear pros and cons of different tools that are out there based on your experiences!

[Ryan Firth Participant]

Hi, Candace. I just started using RightCapital as a financial planning tool. I was impressed with the tax planning capabilities that I saw during the sales demo I received. Admittedly, however, I’m not well versed in the software (I have much to learn), so I can’t intelligently speak to its capabilities. I should have a more articulate verdict for you in the coming months.

[Chris Benson Participant]

We use BNA Tax Projection software and have for years but I do wish there was something better. It still does an excellent job and is very accurate but the user interface is really confusing and hard to learn and it can be really difficult to find some numbers.

I’m intrigued by what I’ve heard about RightCapital but making a financial planning software change would be a big change for us as we have been using MGP for years now. Keep us posted Ryan!

[Candace Participant]

Thanks Chris and Ryan.

Ryan, I just did a quick search of RightCapital and came across a review that said that it’s a tool that is most appropriate for clients with less than $2 million in liquid assets. Our client base typically starts at $2million in AUM so the software may not be a good fit. Additionally, we also use MGP and it may be hard to switch. Still, I’d be interested in hearing back in the coming months!

Chris, assuming we can figure out how to use the software, does BNA have reports that I could show clients/are client-friendly?

[Chris Benson Participant]

Unfortunately I don’t think the BNA reports are client-friendly at all. I will sometimes send a summary report to a client but it’s often more confusing than just sending them page 1 and 2 of a 1040.

I did a test drive of Tax Clarity software from Covisum a while back and had high hopes. It is definitele more client-friendly but didn’t feel as robust as what BNA offers for the actual calculations. It might have been improved though so it’s worth checking out: http://www.covisum.com/tax-clarity

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