The Federal government of the United States of America imposes a tax that is progressive on the taxable component of an individual or company’s income. This goes by the name of Federal Tax. The IRS or the Internal Revenue Service is the American government agency which is responsible for the collection of taxes and the enforcement of tax laws. US citizens who come under the tax bracket should file tax returns and make arrangements to pay the taxes owed. They can make use of income tax forms and the associated instructions; there are IRS agency publications too which can be used for any clarifications. The same are available online too.

To take a look at some of the basic terminology used in the Federal tax IRS department: Gross income of a person includes all income that comes from all sources like ordinary income, capital gains etc. Exclusions or deductions as they are commonly known – are those components which need not be included by a taxpayer under his/ her income for tax computation purposes. Deductions are specified by the Congress and are subject to change.

The deductions can come under Above the Line deductions (trade deductions, alimony, moving expenses etc), Standard deductions or Itemized deductions. Adjusted Gross Income or AGI is the (Gross Income – Above the Line deductions). The Taxable Income is calculated as (AGI – [Itemized or Standard deduction whichever is lesser and Personal Exemptions for the taxpayer + spouse + dependants]). Tax Due is the (taxable income * tax rates). Tax Credits are deductions that are applied after the Tax Due is calculated and hence is more advantageous to the tax payer. Earned Income Tax credit and Child Tax Credit come under this head.

It is possible to estimate tax return quickly, easily and free of cost by using tools that are available on the internet. A Tax Refund Estimator calculates the tax refund or the tax amount you owe in a few steps – all you will need to do is feed in some information on a few screens that will be displayed. The info includes your filing status, age, children & dependent details, income details, expense details, various deductions that you are be eligible for, tax payments you have made etc. Based on these, the tax return will be calculated and shown.

What is a Tax Offer Compromise? An Offer in Compromise or OIC is an agreement that is reached between the tax payer and the IRS which pegs the taxes owed at less than the actual amount due. OIC becomes possible when the IRS is convinced that the tax payer liability cannot be cleared in full either in total or as a payment agreement. The Reasonable Collection Potential (RCP) which is the ability of the taxpayer to pay up the taxes that are owed is arrived at based on their asset value and income potential. Now the tax department accepts the Offer In Compromise only when the amount offered as settlement by the taxpayer equals or exceeds the RCP.