How To Compute Federal Tax Percent Brackets for Personal Income

The federal personal income tax system in the United States is a progressive tax, meaning that higher income levels are taxed at higher rates. For example, in 2009, the first $8,350 for singles is taxed at 10 percent while income over $372,950 is taxed at 35 percent. However, the tax brackets are subject to change over the years. To computer your federal tax brackets, you need to know your adjusted gross income and your filing status.

Things You'll Need

• Federal tax brackets

Instructions

1. Determine your filing status for your taxes. If you are unmarried with no dependents, file a single return. If you are single but have dependents, you may be eligible to file as a head of household, which entitles you to a larger standard deduction and different tax brackets. If you are married, you can either file a joint tax return with your spouse, in which case you file as married filing jointly, or two separate returns, in which case your filing status would be married filing separately.

2. Determine your adjusted gross income. This is your total taxable income minus any deductions that you are eligible to claim.

3. Determine how much of your income falls in each tax bracket using the tax bracket table. For example, if you were filing a single return and your adjusted gross income was $58,000, the first $8,350 would be taxed at 10 percent, the next $25,600 would be taxed at 15 percent, and the remaining $24,050 would be taxed at 25 percent.

4. Calculate your total taxes due by multiplying the amount in each tax bracket by the rate for that bracket and adding the totals. For example, if your adjusted gross income was $58,000, you would multiply $8,350 times 10 percent, $25,600 by 15 percent, $24,050 by 25 percent and getting a total of $10,687.50.

References

• 2009 Tax Rate Schedule
• 2009 Tax Brackets