Tax Help
Mel Creighton isn’t promising he can do anything to lighten your tax load. And he isn’t claiming he can help you understand the sweeping changes in the new tax law signed last month by President Reagan.
However, he does say his Irvine software publishing house, Creighton Development Inc., is the first to develop a personal finance analysis software program that incorporates many of the provisions of the new tax law--a claim verified by Ken Wasch, executive director of the Software Publishers Assn.
The program, called Finance 10, can be used with IBM personal computers and IBM-compatibles. Originally released earlier this year, it is designed to help accountants, bankers, financial advisers, brokers, tax preparers and others calculate and analyze the impact of purchases, loans, sales and other financial moves.
But during six hectic weeks in September and October, portions of the program were rewritten to reflect new capital equipment depreciation schedules and certain income tax deductions limitations. Among the new tax law areas covered in the package are investment tax credit rollbacks, personal asset depreciation schedules, credits for low-income housing and historical structures and deduction limits for luxury cars used in business.
“We worked around the clock to get this information into the program,” Creighton said. “As soon as changes were approved in Congress, we were working them into the program.”
A former Price Waterhouse & Co. accountant in Los Angeles, Creighton owned his own public accounting company for 12 years before deciding in 1984 to open a software publishing company specializing in programs for Apple Computer’s Macintosh.
After developing and distributing three programs, including top-selling MacSpell+, Creighton turned his attentions to programs for the more popular IBM personal computer. Finance 10, which retails for $149, is the first. But early next year Creighton hopes to introduce Real Estate 10, which is supposed to help brokers and sales people evaluate the costs, tax implications and other aspects of potential real estate transactions.
