By Kevin Theissen
The Internal Revenue Service estimates that taxpayers and businesses spend 6.1 billion hours per year complying with tax-filing requirements. To put this into perspective, if all this work were done by a single company, it would need about 3 million full-time employees and be one of the largest industries in the U.S.
As complex as the details of taxes can be, the income tax process is fairly straightforward. However, the majority of Americans would rather not understand the process, which explains why more than half hire a tax professional to assist in their annual filing.
The tax process starts with income, and generally, most income received is taxable. A taxpayer’s gross income includes income from work, investments, interest, pensions, as well as other sources. The income from all these sources is added together to arrive at the taxpayer’s gross income.
What’s not considered income? Child support payments, gifts, inheritances, worker’s compensation benefits, welfare benefits, or cash rebates from a dealer or manufacturer.
From gross income, adjustments are subtracted. These adjustments may include alimony, retirement plan contributions, half of self-employment, and moving expenses, among other items.
The result is the adjusted gross income, or AGI.
From adjusted gross income, further deductions are subtracted. Taxpayers have two choices: the standard deduction or itemized deductions, whichever is greater. The standard deduction amount varies based on filing status.
Itemized deductions can include state and local taxes, charitable contributions, the interest on a home mortgage, certain unreimbursed job expenses, and even the cost of having your taxes prepared, among other things.
Once deductions have been subtracted, the personal exemption is subtracted. For the 2017 tax year, the personal exemption amount was $4,050, regardless of filing status.
The result is taxable income. Taxable income leads to gross tax liability.
The IRS reports that about 40 percent of taxpayers use tax preparation software.
But it’s not over yet. Any tax credits are then subtracted from the gross tax liability. Taxpayers may receive credits for a variety of items, including energy-saving improvements.The result is the taxpayer’s net tax.
Kevin Theissen is the principal of Skygate Financial Group.
