"How much am I going to save?"

That's the question on most people's minds when talk turns to President Bush's $1.35 trillion federal tax relief plan. Now you can find out--or at least get an educated guess--thanks to a free online calculator that uses income figures and other data to estimate your savings over the next ten years.

Intuit, best known for its Quicken and Turbo Tax programs, announced the Tax Relief Act Estimator today. For example, the estimator figures total savings could easily top $18,000 for a family of four with a $100,000 gross income.

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To get a feel for how the tax cuts will affect your own wallet, you'll need to type in answers to 24 questions about your tax filing status, marital situation, income, investments, deductions, and retirement plans.

"They really loaded [the legislation] with cuts, but that's why it affects a lot of us, especially families, for this period of time," explains Ann Schetter-Clark, the Intuit tax analyst and programmer who designed the estimator. "I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by what they find out."

For a theoretical family of four (consisting of two working parents and two kids) with a total annual income of $100,000, the estimator calculates tax savings of $18,104. The test family input includes some pretty standard deductions, including a $2000-per-month home mortgage deduction, stock market investments, and contributions to a 401(k) retirement plan.

The calculator returns a table showing that this hypothetical family's estimated savings grows every year, from $873 in 2001 to $3071 in 2010. Of course, the actual numbers will vary according to any number of variables.

It's also important to note that the estimator uses today's dollars and doesn't account for inflation. It also doesn't figure on any income changes, investment gains or losses, or family-size fluctuations.

In addition to across-the-board reductions in tax rates, the plan phases out the so-called marriage penalty, phases in additional tax credits, and raises tax benefits regarding education (including an increase in contribution limits for Education IRAs and a deduction of up to $4000 per year for education expenses). The plan also raises limits for contributions into 401(k) plans and other retirement programs.

For a hypothetical family of three with an annual income of $50,000, the savings will amount to an estimated $7600 over the next decade, or $760 per year. In this example, the family has no home mortgage deduction, $3000 in yearly IRA contributions, and only token investment income.

For a single person with an income of $25,000 per year, with no 401(k), few deductions, and low investment income, the savings in the first year total $300 and then fluctuate between a high of $500 and a low of $350 through the next nine years. Total savings come to $4150.

Taxpayers who want detailed information about tax changes can click on a help file at the bottom of the estimator's Web page to see what changes take effect in each year, Schetter-Clark says.

Taxpayers' pockets will soon feel the first positive impact of the tax cuts. Every American who pays income taxes should receive a check late this summer or early next fall. Single taxpayers will receive $300, single parents who are head of household will get $500, and married couples will get $600.

And it shouldn't be long before everyone is taking more money home.

"They're supposed to issue the withholding tables soon, maybe by June, so your paychecks will soon reflect the lower tax rates," Schetter-Clark says.