How to Find My Federal Income Tax Bracket

Your federal tax bracket is determined by your gross income.

Knowing how to determine your federal income tax bracket will help you estimate how much tax you may owe at the end of the year. You must know your taxable income to determine your tax bracket. Taxable income includes wages, salaries, tips, self-employment income, alimony and all other forms of income such as bank interest, stock dividends, capital gains, IRA distributions, pensions, Social Security benefits and unemployment compensation.

Things You'll Need

• Income and expense records
• Form 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ
• IRS Tax Table for current year

Instructions

1. Determine your tax filing status -- the choices are single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, head of household and qualifying widow(er) with dependent child. Each filing status has its own tax rate. Married filing jointly and qualifying widow(er) with dependent child have the same tax rate, which is generally the lowest. Married filing separately usually has the highest tax rate.

2. Total up all of the taxable income you've received during the year and estimate the taxable income you expect to receive between now and the end of the year.

3. Total all of the adjustments you plan to claim on your tax return. Examples of adjustments include moving expenses, alimony paid, contributions to an IRA account, student loan interest and one-half of the self-employment tax.

4. Choose the standard deduction or total up your itemized deductions, whichever is higher. The standard deduction is a fixed amount allowed by the Internal Revenue Service based on your filing status; itemized deductions are expenses you can write off on your tax return, such as medical and dental expenses, taxes and interest you paid, charitable contributions, casualty and theft losses, job expenses and miscellaneous deductions. You must have paid those expenses yourself and not been reimbursed by your employer or private insurance. You also need receipts for any deductions you claim in case your tax return is audited.

5. Calculate your personal exemption total. Besides claiming yourself, you can claim an additional exemption for each person on your tax return, such as your spouse and dependents. Multiply the total number of exemptions claimed by the exemption amount for the current tax year. If another taxpayer can claim you as a dependent, do not claim your personal exemption.

6. Subtract your adjustments to income, your standard or itemized deductions and your personal exemptions from your taxable income to arrive at your gross adjusted income. Your income tax liability is figured on this amount.

7. Look at the IRS Tax Table for the current tax year. Use the "If line 43 (taxable income) is" column to find your federal income tax bracket. Locate your taxable income and read across to determine your federal income tax bracket and the amount of taxes you will owe.

References

• IRS: Tax Tables
• "Basic Income Tax Course" Volumes 1 & 2; Liberty Tax Service; 2007
• IRS: Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax
• Georgia State University, College of Law: Resident and Non-resident Aliens

Resources

• IRS: Forms and Publications