Can You Estimate Your Tax Return

Subtracting Non Refundable Tax Credit Deductions

There are numerous deductions called Non Refundable Tax Credits or NRTCs that you can use to calculate your exact tax due and your refund.

If you want an estimate of your refund, the four major Non Refundable Tax Credits and where they are shown on your Federal tax return are:

• The Basic Personal Amount Line 30000 All taxpayers can claim this basic credit on their income tax, known as the personal amount. It is adjusted annually to allow for inflation and other factors, and if your Taxable Income from Line 26000 is less than this amount, you will have no tax payable.
• The Spouse or Common-Law Partner Amount Line 30300 You can claim this amount if, at any time in the year, you supported a spouse or common-law partner and their net income was below the Basic Personal Amount.
• The Age Amount Line 30100 You can claim this amount if you were 65 years or older on December 31st of the tax year.
• The Amount for an Eligible Dependant Line 30400 You can claim this amount if you did not have a spouse or common-law partner married and supported a dependent in the tax year.
• A complete list of these credits can be found here: CRA Federal Non-Refundable Tax Credits

You multiply the total of these amounts by 0.15 and subtract the result from the total basic tax to get the total tax you have to pay.

What Is A Federal Allowance

A federal withholding allowance refers to information that is on the W-4 form for tax years before 2020. You generally fill out a W-4 when you start a new job or experience a life change, like having a child. Your W-4 helps your employer understand how much tax to withhold from your paycheck. Before 2020, the number of personal allowances you took helped determine the amount your employer withheld the more allowances you claimed, the less tax your employer would withhold. But the IRS changed the W-4 starting with the 2020 tax year. The new form eliminates personal allowances.Learn more about the new W-4.

General Information Tips And Tools For Successfully Filing Taxes

It’s tax time once again, and for many people, this can mean anxiety. Thousands of people each year file their taxes for the first time. This task can be very daunting to anyone who has never had to file or has never filed on their own before this year. There is a multitude of tools and websites available to make this process an easy one, no matter what your technical knowledge is. This article will act as your ultimate guide to successfully filing your taxes. We will go over the documents you will need, tools you can use to file, tax experts who can help you, what forms to fill out, and how to handle things like overpayments, overdue amounts, and filing extensions.

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Expanded Penalty Waiver Available If 2018 Tax Withholding And Estimated Tax Payments Fell Short Refund Available For Those Who Already Paid 2018 Underpayment Penalty

The IRS lowered to 80 percent the threshold required for certain taxpayers to qualify for estimated tax penalty relief if their federal income tax withholding and estimated tax payments fell short of their total tax liability in 2018. In general, taxpayers must pay at least 90 percent of their tax bill during the year to avoid an underpayment penalty when they file. On January 16, 2019, the IRS lowered the underpayment threshold to 85 percent and on March 22, 2019, the IRS lowered it to 80 percent for tax year 2018.

This additional expanded penalty relief for tax year 2018 means that the IRS is waiving the estimated tax penalty for any taxpayer who paid at least 80 percent of their total tax liability during the year through federal income tax withholding, quarterly estimated tax payments or a combination of the two.

Taxpayers who have not filed yet should file electronically. The tax software was updated and uses the new underpayment threshold and will determine the amount of taxes owed and any penalties or waivers that apply. This penalty relief is also included in the revision of the instructions for Form 2210, Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates, and Trusts.

Choosing Standard Or Itemized Deductions

Once you know your AGI, you have the opportunity to lower your taxable income even more by subtracting either the standard deduction or your itemized deductionswhichever is greater.

When to consider the standard deduction

If your financial situation is straightforward, the standard deduction might be the best and simplest choice. The standard deduction for 2014 is $6,200 for single filers, $12,400 for married filing jointly and $9,100 for head of household.

When to consider itemizing deductions

If you pay a lot in state income taxes, have a mortgage on your home, give a lot to charity, have paid extensive medical bills or manage a lot of investments, you might be better off taking the extra time to itemize your deductions.

Examples of legitimate itemized deductions:

• Property taxes
• State and local income taxes
• Specified medical and dental expenses that exceed 10 percent of your AGI , including limited amount of premiums paid for long-term care policies
• Mortgage interest on first and secondary residences , plus interest on home equity loans
• Charitable contributions to tax-exempt organizations
• Casualty and theft losses
• Investment interest expense
• Miscellaneous expenses, including impairment-related expenses for persons with disabilities and gambling losses to the extent of gambling winnings
• In addition, the following can be itemized if the cumulative total is more than 2 percent of your AGI:
• Business expenses not paid by your employer

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Federal And Provincial Income Tax

Once you have established your taxable income, you can calculate how much tax you have payable. Youll need to know both the Federal and Provincial tax rates of the year that are applicable to your income level. A complete list of tax rates for the current and previous tax years can be found in this link: Canadian income tax rates for individuals current and previous years.

All provinces use a separate schedule in the tax return that reflects the provincial tax rate percentages. This is titled Form 428 and is specific to each province with the Non-Refundable Tax Credits and tax rates. For example: Ontario residents complete Form ON428, Manitoba residents complete Form MB428. The amount from this form is entered on Line 42800 Provincial or Territorial Tax

You then add the federal and provincial taxes payable on that amount shown on Line 26000 to get the total basic tax you owe for the year.

*Québec residents complete a . You can use this calculator from TurboTax to estimate your tax refund: Quebec Income Tax Calculator. Instructions on completing the TP-1 are available from Revenu Quebec.

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Tax Rates And Brackets

Federal income tax is progressive, so your taxable income can fall into more than one tax bracket. The highest tax bracket that applies to your income determines your marginal tax rate. For each tax bracket and filing status, calculating federal tax means applying the tax rate for that bracket to the portion of your taxable income that falls within the bracket thresholds, plus any additional amount of tax associated with that bracket.

Heres an example of how federal income tax calculation works.

If youre a single filer with taxable income of $9,000, your marginal tax rate is the lowest 10% because your total taxable income falls within the threshold for the lowest tax bracket.

But what if youre a single filer earning taxable income of more than $518,401? Your marginal tax rate is the highest , because $518,401 is the lowest threshold amount for that tax bracket, which is the final one your income falls into. But only the portion of your income that exceeds $518,400 will be taxed at 37%. All the lower tax brackets also apply to the portions of your income that fall within those brackets – the 10% rate applies to the first $9,875 of your taxable income, 12% to the next $30,249 and so on.

Turbotax Tax Refund Calculator

Another tool you can use to calculate your tax refund is the TurboTax tax refund calculator. Enter in your information and get an estimate of your tax refund. The graphics and sliders make understanding taxes very easy, and it updates your estimate as you add in information.

Estimating your tax refund or balance owed does not have to be complicated. In fact, the online calculators make it easy for anyone. All you have to do is answer some basic questions, and the calculators provide you with an estimate. Most people find that using the tax refund calculator only takes them about 5 minutes.

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Two Other Factors That Could Influence Your Refund Are:

• Canada Pension Plan contributions on self-employed earnings: If you have self-employed income and have to pay a pension contribution, your refund is reduced by that amount.
• The Canada Workers Benefit : The CWB is a refundable tax credit available for low-income individuals in the workforce and if you qualify will be shown on Line 45300 Canada Workers Benefit.

References & Resources

How Is Federal Income Tax Calculated

Calculating your federal income tax is complicated, but federal tax brackets are an important starting point. A tax bracket is a range of taxable income with a corresponding tax rate. The U.S. has seven federal tax rates: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%. Tax brackets basically help you understand what tax rate will apply to your taxable income in federal income tax calculations.

Here are the tax rates and their corresponding tax brackets based on filing status.

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Bottom Line On Tax Return Calculators

An accurate income tax return estimator can keep you from banking on a refund thats bigger in your mind than the real refund that hits your bank account. It can also give you a heads-up if youre likely to owe money. Unless youre a tax accountant or someone who follows tax law changes closely, its easy to be surprised by changes in your refund from year to year. Use the tool ahead of time so you arent already spending money you may never see. You can also run the numbers through a tax refund calculator earlier in the year to see if you want or need to make any changes to the tax withholdings from your paycheck.

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Coronavirus Tax Relief For Self

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act permits self-employed individuals making estimated tax payments to defer the payment of 50% of the social security tax on net earnings from self-employment imposed for the period beginning on March 27, 2020 and ending December 31, 2020. This means that 50% of the social security tax imposed on net earnings from self-employment earned during the period beginning on March 27, 2020, and ending December 31, 2020, is not used to calculate the installments of estimated tax due. Please refer to Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax, for additional information.

Overpayment To The Irs

If you realized you made a mistake when you filed your taxes and overpaid, you can fix this problem. The first thing you do is a double check that you did overpay. If you found out you did overpay on your taxes, start the process of amending your tax return. You should fill out and submit a Form 1040X if you filed individually. Once this is submitted, fax or mail this into the IRS. The IRS will double check that this information is correct and if it is they will send you a check for the overpayment amount. It will take 8 to 12 weeks for you to get this check. There are three things to keep in mind when you’re filing an amended return, and they are listed below.

• You have three years to file an amended return
• Your amended return must be filed on paper electronic filing is not allowed.
• If you’re filing a return for the current year, wait to get that back before you file an amendment.

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H& r Block Tax Refund Calculator

An increasing number of people are turning to H& R Block to get their income tax prepared and filed every year. Their user-friendly tax tools take all the hard work and stress out of tax form preparation and will always get you the largest refund.

One popular tool is the H& R Block Tax Refund Calculator. This online calculator will help you see what amount you can expect in back in your tax refund.

Just answer a few simple questions about your life, income, and expenses, and our free tax refund estimator will give you an idea of how much youll get as a refund.

H& R Block has been helping Americans with their taxes since 1955. Their online tax software is rated #1.

How To Make An Estimate Of Your Expected Income

Step 1. Start with your households adjusted gross income from your most recent federal income tax return.

Step 2. Add the following kinds of income, if you have any, to your AGI:

• Tax-exempt foreign income

Step 3. Adjust your estimate for any changes you expect.

Consider things like these for all members of your household:

• Expected raises
• Changes to income from other sources, like Social Security or investments
• Changes in your household, like gaining or losing dependents. Gaining or losing a dependent can have a big impact on your savings.

Now you have an estimate of your expected income.

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Will I Get A 2020 Tax Refund

Typically, you receive a tax refund after filing your federal tax return if you pay more tax during the year than you actually owe. This most commonly occurs if too much is withheld from your paychecks. Another scenario that could create a refund is if you receive a refundable tax credit that is larger than the amount you owe. Life events, tax law changes, and many other factors change your taxes from year to year. Use the refund calculator to find out if you can expect a refund for 2020 .

Popular Tax Preparation Software

There are several tax preparation software tools and programs available to help you file your taxes correctly.

eFile.comeFile.com lets you file your 1040EZ return form for free. You have the option of filing individually or jointly with your spouse. State Filing can also be done for a fee of $19.95, and there is a support team available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with any questions. You can’t claim dependents, make over $100,000 per year, or have a mortgage. The Standard package is free, and the Deluxe and Premium packages cost $29.95 and $39.95, respectively.

H& R Block eFile H& R Block offers a free e-File option that allows anyone who uses it to import their tax information into their system from any competitors. You are also able to directly upload any tax documents, and file your tax return on any laptop, desktop, or tablet. H& R Block offers three versions for e-filing. The Basic edition is free Deluxe is $54.99 a year, and Premium is $79.99 annually.

Tax Act Tax Act has free online filing for both state and federal taxes. They also have desktop software versions available as well. Their software works you through the pages using a question and answer format. They give you unlimited email and telephone support for all of your questions. You can track your refund directly once you file. Tax Act offers three versions of their software starting with the Basic free version. They also have a Plus package for $37 and a Premium package for $47 annually.

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