We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.
How We Make Money.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict
, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here’s an explanation for
Editorial Integrity
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
How We Make Money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
Which bank should I choose?
Get personalized bank recommendations in 3 easy steps.
Topic: TAXES
Who is affected: CONSUMERS AT EVERY STAGE OF LIFE
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: MODERATE
What you’ll need: All forms listing income (earned and unearned), including a W-2 and 1099 forms; individual tax form.
What you need to know
Doing your taxes can be a headache, and figuring out your taxable income is no exception.
Simply put, taxable income is the total gross income you make, minus exemptions, deductions and credits. Gross income can be classified as earned and unearned.
You gross income includes:
Earned income
Salary.
Wages.
Tips.
Commissions.
Bonuses.
Unemployment benefits.
Sick pay.
Some benefits from your company (e.g., company car, tickets to events).
Unearned income
Money from interest and dividend payments.
Profit from assets you sold.
Business and farm income.
Rents.
Royalties.
Gambling winnings.
Alimony payments.
Earnings from your retirement fund.
Social Security payments.
Taxpayers add their earned and unearned income together to get their gross income.
Depending on your filing status and which form you choose to file, the Internal Revenue Service allows you to use deductions and tax credits to adjust your income downward.
Personal exemptions also reduce your taxable income. Exemptions include people who depend upon you for financial support, such as your spouse, your kids, possibly your parents and yourself.
After making these adjustments to your income, you arrive at your adjusted gross income, or AGI. Your AGI is used to calculate how much tax you owe.
Step-by-step
Enter the filing status, income, deductions and credits to estimate your total taxes for 2008.
Before starting your taxes, it’s best to gather up all the paperwork you’ll need. Using Bankrate’s 7-day tax filing plan can help you get organized so you’ll quickly finish your taxes with less aggravation.
Share