ExecPlan Express Personal Financial Planning Software Announces Its Newest Release will Include all of the Recently Passed Federal Tax Law Changes

PRINCETON, NJ, February 04, 2011 (Press-News.org) For consumers and financial advisors alike, the new tax law changes may significantly impact short and long term tax, investment and retirement planning decisions. The recently passed Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 includes much more than an extension of unemployment benefits and the Bush era tax cuts. ExecPlan Express personal financial planning software's 2011 release incorporates all of these changes to help guide consumers on how to manage their financial goals in this new environment. Unlike simple retirement planning software or online retirement calculators, ExecPlan Express is an effective tool for evaluating how the new tax law changes will impact the financial objectives of most investors, pre-retirees and business owners.

Though every tax payer benefits from the extension of all the tax cuts, investors will benefit the most from the extension of the lower capital gains rate and the 15% tax rate for qualified dividends. The lower tax rates provide a higher net return on investment, and combined with a 2 year extension for these tax rates, investors have some midterm stability on investment tax policy, thus making stocks and mutual funds more attractive investments for the next couple of years. This partially explains the 1000 point gain in the Dow Jones industrial average since late November when it became apparent there would be an extension on these tax rates.

Those saving for retirement will also see benefits from lower taxation on their investments, but also will be able to continue contributing to their company retirement plans at the higher 401k limits that began with the Bush era tax cuts. There is also the "Tax Holiday for 2011" for all earned income with a reduction on FICA contributions of 2%. This reduction is on the employee's Social Security portion of the FICA tax and it is only for 2011, however this can mean a reduction of over $2100 for those paying the maximum Social Security contribution.

Though the new estate tax law changes is one of the biggest benefits for small to mid size business owners, there is a caveat, the change is only for 2 years, making any long term estate planning difficult. However, the compromised made will open the door to a possible permanent fix to an oppressive tax that often creates an unmanageable tax burden on the heirs of family businesses, often forcing their sale or liquidation. The new law sets the estate tax exemption (Unified Tax Credit or UTC) at $5,000,000 and the tax at 35% thereafter. In addition married couples can now pass their unused lifetime UTC to their surviving spouse, effectively raising a married couple's estate exclusion to $10,000,000 without have to set up an A/B will. This will protect most business owners where estate planning becomes a significant financial burden and or restraint on the day to day operations and control of a family run business.

Understanding what you can do or how much the new law will affect you usually means a commitment of both time and money either by hiring a professional financial advisor or dedicating the resources to acquiring and learning a professional financial planning software package. Avoid simple retirement planning software or online retirement calculators since their focus is usually a specific issue and thus can often lead to inaccurate or incomplete answers when assessing more complex financial planning goals . ExecPlan Express financial planning software with its needs based analysis design and its focus on the basic fundamentals of financial planning was created as an easy to learn and cost effective platform for both the consumer and the professional advisor seeking a financial planning tool to help guide them through a broad range of personal financial planning goals. "We have already experienced an increase in consumer interest in how the new laws will impact their personal finances" explains Robert Fourman, Director of Marketing and Sales. "And we expect these new changes to the tax law will only increase both professional and consumer demand for our financial planning software for 2011".

One other important change in the new law is a temporary fix to the AMT (alternate minimum tax) for 2010 and 2011. Many individuals, especially those who reside in states with high state income taxes and or real estate taxes would have found themselves facing a higher tax bill without this temporary fix. ExecPlan Express has also incorporated the AMT changes to help consumers and advisors evaluate how to take advantage of this change and what strategies could be implemented to protect against the impact of the AMT should the "temporary fix" not be extended beyond 2011. Professional advisors or consumers looking for a comprehensive financial planning software to help evaluate the impact form the changes to AMT as well as all the new changes in the new tax law, can obtain a free 30 day unrestricted trial version of ExecPlan Express at www.execplanexpress.com or can simply google financial planning software. Visitors to the website will also find access to free online financial calculators, be able to obtain detailed sample reports, or can spend time reviewing online tutorials.

Sawhney Systems is a provided of comprehensive financial planning software for the professional financial advisor. For information on our products ExecPlan and ExecPlan Express please contact us at (800)850-8444 or http://execplanexpress.com.