# Plan and file the family's own tax return

The second tier puts the family's own tax return beside the plan. Prepare and e-file Form 1040 for the household. Then use the same facts to plan the next move. One seat holds both.

## Planning and the return on one seat
The Planning and tax returns tier is the planning tier with the household's return added. You keep every planning tool. You also prepare the family's Form 1040 with its schedules. The return and the plan read the same facts. A change in one shows up in the other. So the advice and the filing never tell two stories. Clients see their return and their plan in the same portal.

## Form 1040 with its schedules
Prepare the family's own return on Form 1040 for tax years 2023 through 2026. Wages, interest, dividends and gains go on their schedules. So do a side business, rental income and retirement withdrawals. Credits, deductions and estimated payments are included. The return covers the federal form and every state the family files in. Printed form pages show exactly what will be filed. You see one form at a time or the whole package.

## E-filing with postmarks and answers back
File the return with the IRS and with all 50 states plus DC. The client signs the e-file form from the portal before anything is sent. Each filing gets a postmark when it is accepted into the queue. The answer comes back into the same record. A rejected return shows the reason in plain words. It goes back to you to fix. Copies go to the client's portal when the filing is accepted.

## Returns that name what is missing
Every figure on a return is checked against its source. Sometimes a fact is missing. Then the return says so and names the one fact it needs. It does not fill in a quiet zero. You add the fact and figure it again. A return for a year that is not over is a projection. It uses this year's published rules and says so once.

## Tax planning cards
Each card asks one question about this year and shows the exact tax difference. See what is still owed and when the next payment is due. See how much room is left before the next bracket for a Roth conversion. See the effect of taking a gain or a loss. See what a gift to charity saves, with the deduction the return would take. Save the move you choose as a fact in the plan.

## From the return to the plan
Facts from a finished return move into the plan through a reviewed transfer. You pick each change. The value from the return stays attached, so anyone can check it later. Then see how income, withdrawals and conversions change the taxes in later years. Each year of each market path in the plan is its own tax return. Open any year and read it line by line.

## IRS records under the client's say-so
The client signs an authorization from the portal. Their identity is checked first. Then the firm pulls the client's IRS transcripts through its own IRS account. These show the return, the account, and wages and income. The client never has to find last year's return or share an IRS login. The records sit next to the return you prepare, so you catch differences early.

## See it with an example
Open the retired couple's example without signing in. Run their plan and pick any year on any path. Read that year's return line by line. Then change a fact, such as a Roth conversion, and see the taxes move. The plan and the return change together. [Try the platform](/try?for=wealth), read about [planning](/planning), or [talk with us](/contact) about your practice.