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020719 . . how to do taxes in america . before going into detail about these things, i want to simplify what you should do, because this will save most people time and money. you are able to do your taxes 100% for free and correctly using these instructions. (this obviously doesn't exclude money you have to pay if you end up needing to pay tax at tax time). i also have instructions to reduce the amount you pay for taxes. a friend pays $250 to have their taxes done for them, but they really shouldn't have to pay more than $100 for taxes if they don't mind spending 2 hours doing their own taxes. this information is all to my best knowledge, and the tax law changes a lot, so use common sense when following my directions, even though i'm pretty sure everything is accurate here. . there are 3 types of taxes in america 1. federal (income tax) 2. state tax (secondary income tax) 3. local tax (property tax). each of these are not exclusively the type of tax in parenthesis, but this will help you remember what each tax is. for local tax you need to visit your local city or county website. . easiest possible way to file . it's always easiest to have someone else do your taxes, but you will pay more for it. if you simply want to get this done the fastest possible, i suggest stop reading and go to a tax service in person like HR block. i've heard friends pay between $40 and $250 for this depending on how much they earn and how much they own. you still have to collect all the information and save all the information to have someone else do your taxes, so you are spending more time than whoever you are paying collecting and sending this information. that's why i don't suggest this option if you want to save some money. with a little more effort you could do your own taxes and probably feel better about yourself afterwards because you don't have to rely on someone else to do your taxes. . federal tax . the rule of thumb about federal tax is if you have 'gainful employment' you need to pay federal tax. you can check using a government website which only takes 10 mins to click through several questions, and it will give you a simple answer if you need to file or not. if it tells you that you don't need to file, you are done with federal tax for this year and you should skip down to the state section (scroll down on this page) NOTE TO LECK INSERT ANCHOR LINK TO STATE SECTION https://www.irs.gov/uac/do-i-need-to-file-a-tax-return . file electronically either will be free or nonfree . assuming you need to file federal, taxact.com may or may not charge you. i've used several methods and this seemed the easiest. you should know early on if taxact will charge you, because it tells you. even if you have to pay, you can go through all the questions, and it will give you the result of what you will get or owe in 1-2 hours, but if it tells you that you need to pay taxact, you can quit and you just don't get the forms you need. even if you don't want to pay taxact, you should still go through the questions at least once in your life to learn about your own taxes. this explains all about your taxes very well in a very short time. taxact works for federal and state tax. it does federal first when you do the free taxact option. if you end up oweing the government money, you should be able to pay by debit, credit, bank account, or mail a check. https://www.taxact.com . if you decided to mail a check use this link for the address to mail your check https://www.irs.gov/filing/where-to-file-paper-tax-returns-with-or-without-a-payment . best way to file electronically 100% for free . assuming you still need to file tax and you decided not to just use taxact (or other software), this is the other easiest option i found. . i arrived at https://www.fileyourtaxes.com . if you end up needing to pay taxes and you can't pay immediately, you can still file your taxes using this website electronically and pay later with a check. i'm not sure if you can pay by credit debit or bank account later you might have to pay with a credit or debit immediately using this method. april 15th is the deadline for taxes, so you will see 3 week to 8 week waiting periods on websites about how long it takes to process your taxes, but i think this applies only to if you are getting a refund. as long as you put the things in the mail before april 15th, or filed and paid before april 15th, you should be fine and not incur a late fee. early in the fileyourtaxes questionaire it asks you if you want to file state. if you have already filed state (which i did accidently first) you say 'no' you don't want to file state tax also. i will try filing state tax with this method next year to see what happens, and update this website with more information then. . if you don't need to mail a check using this method, skip the next paragraph . i mailed my check a month later to https://www.irs.gov/filing/where-to-file-paper-tax-returns-with-or-without-a-payment where all i had to do was find the address and mail the check. select the '1040 form with payment' if you are mailing a check or you are mailing the entire return. remember forms like 1099 cannot be printed unless you have a special printer (color printers apparently don't work), so you can 'request' the forms from the irs, and they take weeks to get to you, you can go into a store and buy them, or you can file online like i am suggesting with fileyourtaxes.com . basically any occupation where you aren't an employee with a w2 you will be needing a red form you cannot print from your printer, so you need to file electronically if you are looking to file for free. . manual file 100% free . if for some reason the electronic 100% free method doesn't work for you, or know everything you need to about tax law, here is the manual option . it looks like just about everyone needs a 1040, and you can figure out what other forms you need reading the 1040 carefully. at least go through the "file electronically either will be free or nonfree" method, because it will teach you what you need to know so you don't have to literally read tax law. it's not explained well that the 1040 'is' the main tax form, so almost everyone needs the 1040 form. if you need forms with red ink you need to physically get those forms from the irs snail mail or a store, or if you happen to have a printer which can print the special red ink you can do that. i don't believe normal color printers work for this method. the electronic filing methods work with the red ink sheets, so for my taxes i use red ink forms, and i decided to use the electronic method, because i didn't want to physically buy or get forms mailed to me from the irs. . here are some helpful websites you need when figuring out how to file your taxes . instructions https://www.irs.gov/filing/individuals/how-to-file a dozen of the most common forms https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions this is a list of all forms https://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/formsPublications.html where to mail forms https://www.irs.gov/filing/where-to-file-paper-tax-returns-with-or-without-a-payment other free electronic file websites https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/ . file state tax 100% for free . for pennsylvania the rule of thumb for state tax is if you earn less than a certain amount and don't own property, you don't pay state tax. for the year of jan-dec 2018 that amount was $6000 for a single adult with no children. that amount is more if you are married and or have children. even if you don't have to pay state tax, you probably still need to file state tax (the state wants to know you are alive and earning $0 for example). this website tells you if you need to file state tax for pennsylvania. there should be similar websites for other states https://revenue-pa.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3275/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xNDkwOTA0OTAzL3NpZC9wT0RpRVNlbg%3D%3D . visit your state's website (usually can find the tax page on the state capitol's website). for pennsylvania it's https://padirectfile.state.pa.us/ . the process should be similar in other states. you can just use the state website to file taxes usually. filing state tax seems faster than filing federal tax. . remember if you have lived in or worked in more than one state, you probably need to file taxes in both states. that's why i am suggesting free tax software, so you don't have to become a tax expert to do your own taxes. it's a waste of time learning all the different tax laws, so i suggest use tax software and doing your own taxes should only take you up to a couple hours per year. . local tax . you usually only need to pay local tax if you own property or for a few other reasons. it's still a good idea to look into local tax and try to file local tax even if you don't have to pay local tax. each local tax has different rules. remember over the course of the tax year (january to december) if you have worked or lived in more than one county or city, you need to check each of those websites. i found it's either a city or county which is going to be your 'local' tax, so you don't have to check a town's website for example. if it's not a city you live or work in, it's a county. as with the other taxes, if you own more than one property or work in a different local tax area than you live, you have to look at both local tax locations. . | ||||||
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