Four new templated actions are available when building a scenario in Tax Planning: Catch-Up Contributions, HSA Contributions, Estimated Payments, and Mortgage Interest. Each one gives you a simple form for a common planning move — fill it in, and Tax Planning calculates the impact on the client's return automatically.
Where to find them
Open a scenario and click Quick Actions. The four new actions are grouped with the others:
Catch-Up Contributions and HSA Contributions — under Tax Strategy
Estimated Payments — under Income
Mortgage Interest — under Deductions
Select an action to open its form. As you fill in the fields, Tax Planning shows a live preview of the result — nothing changes on the scenario until you click Apply.
Catch-Up Contributions
Models the extra retirement contributions clients age 50 and older are allowed to make, on top of the regular contribution limit.
Fields:
Account Owner — Taxpayer or Spouse. Each spouse is modeled as its own action, so add one for each person contributing.
Plan Type — 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), TSP, IRA, or SIMPLE IRA
Current Catch-Up Contributions — the amount already contributed year-to-date
Tax Planning shows the Available Catch-Up Contribution remaining, based on that scenario's tax year limits. Applying it reduces wages (for workplace plans) or increases the IRA deduction, depending on the plan type you choose.
Good to know:
The client (or spouse) must be age 50 or older — you'll see a message if they aren't.
Workplace plans require wages on the return for that person. If there aren't any, the action will flag it.
Under SECURE 2.0, if a person's prior-year wages were over $150,000, their catch-up contribution must go into a Roth account and won't reduce taxable income. Tax Planning flags this automatically.
If a Backdoor Roth strategy already uses the client's full IRA limit, there may be no IRA catch-up room left to apply.
HSA Contributions
Models maximizing contributions to a Health Savings Account for clients on a high-deductible health plan.
Fields:
Coverage Type — Self Only or Family
Tax Planning shows the Remaining Contribution Possible based on that year's HSA limit, after subtracting any employer or Archer MSA contributions already counted. Applying it increases the HSA deduction on Schedule 1, Line 13.
Estimated Payments
Models changes to the federal and state estimated tax payments a client has made (or plans to make) for the year, and shows the effect on any underpayment penalty.
Fields:
Total Federal Estimated Payments — the cumulative total for the year, not just one quarter
Total State Estimated Payments — same, for the client's state
Both fields are pre-filled with a safe harbor estimate when one is available. Applying the action updates Form 1040, Line 26 and the state equivalent, and shows the federal and state underpayment penalty before and after.
Mortgage Interest
Models the itemized deduction for mortgage interest paid on a qualified residence.
Fields:
Total Mortgage Interest — Schedule A, Line 8a
Total Mortgage Balance
Tax Planning compares Total Itemized Deductions against the Standard Deduction and tells you which is more beneficial for the client. Applying the action updates Schedule A, Line 8a (and state tax, where relevant).
Applying and editing an action
Once you're happy with the preview, click Apply to add the action to the scenario.
Applied actions move to the Applied group in Quick Actions, where you can reopen any of them to adjust the inputs or remove them.
As with any change in a scenario, you may need to save before you see the update reflected in Total Income or Tax Impact.
What these actions don't do
They don't give tax advice — they model the mechanical impact of a change so you and the client can review it together. All modeled scenarios should be reviewed by a qualified tax professional before implementation.
They don't verify contribution or payment amounts against outside account records — the numbers you enter are what Tax Planning calculates from.