Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange
Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [income-tax]

This tag is to be used for any question pertaining to an individual's income taxes. If this tag is used, ideally a country-specific tag should also be specified, to indicate which region a question belongs to, as the answer may differ based on the country.

Questions regarding individual income taxes. It is essential to pair it with a country-specific tag to ensure we provide the most accurate and relevant answers for your particular region.

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Why would you ever turn down a raise in salary?

Related to a comment on this question: Is it true that Income Tax was created to finance troops for World War I? Does it ever make financial sense to turn down a raise at your job? It was mentioned for tax reasons it did no good, but would not…
MrChrister
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Making $100,000 USD per month, no idea what to do with it

I have a few consulting jobs I do on the side, and this year I've had a lot of extra work, with several months in 2016 exceeding $100,000 USD in billing. I do this work from my home with no advertising, marketing, or appreciable expenses. This is…
Fixee
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Our friends and we often barter babysitting time with each other. Do we owe taxes?

Our friends and we have an informal agreement that we will babysit eachother's kids when necessary. We don't pay any cash to each other for the service, but we agree to "repay" by providing the same favor. An accountant friend told me just recently…
CodyBugstein
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What dissuades people from lying about where they live in order to reduce state income taxes?

Lets say you work in Chicago and live in Chicago but put your home address as somewhere in Indiana. Then every week you collect the mail that is being sent to you in Indiana. Wouldn't you save a lot of money assuming the taxes are lower? What…
alexcioby122
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If a kid makes money, do the parents take on the tax liability?

Suppose your kid (8 years old) decided to set up a neighborhood lemonade stand and by some freak occurrence managed to somehow make about $3,000. How does one manage the tax liability on that income? Is it counted toward the parents' income?
Kai Qing
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How do tax brackets work? Do they yield significantly different results than a continuous curve?

In Canada (and many other countries), high-earners pay a greater percentage of their income in taxes than low-earners. Here is our Schedule 1 form: The marginal utility of money decreases smoothly with increased income: If I earn $91,830, an…
maservant
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What do I need to do, tax-wise, for a sudden windfall?

I had stock options in a company which was recently sold to a private investment firm. As a result, my options were converted into a single large sum ( > $100,000) and delivered via wire transfer into my banking account. This is a staggering amount…
Sable Dreamer
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What US tax laws apply to a 13 year old game developer?

I'm a thirteen year old game developer and I am wondering what the tax laws are as a minor in the US. I don't currently make any money off of my games but I'm thinking of selling on the Google play store, my website and maybe even Steam if my PC…
Kaden Atmore
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Will my children owe taxes on my life insurance proceeds?

I had always thought that life insurance proceeds were not treated as taxable income. From IRS publication 525: Life insurance proceeds paid to you because of the death of the insured person are not taxable unless the policy was turned over to you…
Portman
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How to report $27 in cap gains affordably

I'm preparing my taxes using TurboTax's basic free tier. Last year I had $26.62 in realized long term capital gains. To report this using TurboTax, I need Premier, which is a $54 add on. Even in a fairly low tax bracket, I'm assuming the IRS cares…
Lost Odinson
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In the USA, why is the Free File software only available for people earning less than $62k?

Free File is a software by the American IRS, which allows one to easily fill out their taxes as long as they earn less than $62k per year. Is there a particular reason for such a restriction? I assume that the government generally wants its citizens…
JonathanReez
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How can I adjust tax withholding so that I don't get a large Tax Refund?

I'm a few years out of college now. I've filled out my W4 accurately and I still get a tax refund every year of a pretty sizable sum. The thing is, I have student loans and I would much rather have been paying that extra money on a monthly basis…
Carlos Bribiescas
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In USA, can I set up a one-person corporation and pay myself mainly through dividends?

In the UK an IT-contractor can save in taxes by opening a company, paying themselves a minimum wage as a salary and then taking a larger amount of income as dividends. Is this possible (for a single-person corporation) in the United States? If yes,…
user24155
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How are long-term capital gains taxed if the gain pushes income into a new tax bracket?

First, my understanding is that the long-term capital gains tax rate is 0% for those whose marginal rate on ordinary income is 10% or 15%, and (ignoring the highest 39.6% bracket) the rate is 15% for everyone else. (See this IRS publication and this…
Lee Hachadoorian
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Deducting charitable donations under new U.S. tax law

I usually donate about $20k to charities every year, and I don't have many other deductions to claim. Given that the new tax law doubles the standard deduction to $24k, I effectively don't get tax benefits from my charitable donations anymore…
painter48179
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