A method to estimate a tax refund range. The method includes receiving, by a computer processor and from a user, a reduced portion of tax preparation input data prior to receiving a remainder portion of the tax preparation input data, calculating, by the computer processor and prior to receiving the remainder portion, a tax refund range estimate based on the reduced portion, presenting the tax refund range estimate to the user, and receiving, in response to presenting the tax refund range estimate to the user, the remainder portion for later use when preparing a tax filing for the user.