I am constantly getting asked by friends and family for help with their income taxes. They are always asking me what is income tax and why they have to pay it. Finally after explaining the concepts to them over and over, I decided to write this short article to explain to everyone how simple income taxes can actually be if you take a bit of time to educate yourself.
Income tax works exactly the way it sounds. It is a tax based on your income, or the amount of money you have earned. In most cases this is based on the previous calendar year. Both businesses and individuals are subject to paying income taxes every year. Even if you do not owe anything, you must always submit a tax return. When you do not submit one, you are opening yourself up to a lot of trouble later down the road. There are penalties, interest, and other fines that could be involved.
The tax system in the United States works on a sliding scale. The more you make, the more you pay. The less you make, the less you pay. All of the taxes are based on a percentage of your gross and net income. Gross income is the amount of money you make before any expenses are accounted for. Net income on the other hand, is the money you are left with after you have subtracted out all of your expenses for the year.
It is very important to make sure that you apply all relative deductions possible to your income tax return. By doing this you will lower the reported net income, thus lowering your tax liabilities. Obviously, you should never deduct expenses that are not true or not valid, but there are plenty of legal deductions you can use that you might not be aware of. Newly weds, small business owners, and people with larger families are usually open to many different deductions to help ease their tax payments. Depending on your situation, you can sometimes deduct thousands of dollars from your tax return.
It is very overwhelming to figure out which deductions are right for you and which are not. In almost every city, there are affordable tax professionals that can help you figure out how much you owe in taxes. Most of the time, they can help you figure out deductions that you might have missed on your own. The amount of money they save you, can sometimes be more than the amount that they charge you for their services. A tax professional is one of the few services that can actually make you money instead of costing you money.
Making mistakes on your tax return can cost serious money in fines and fees. It is advised that everyone gets the assistance of a tax professional. This will save you the liability of potentially messing up your returns.
After reading this article, I hope that you now have a better understanding of what income tax is. Now you can teach all your friends and family when they ask you!
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