How To Find the Income Rate in the U.S.

April 15 is a dreaded date for many Americans each year, because this is the last day of filing their annual income tax returns.  Unprepared taxpayers scramble to get their forms, receipts and other necessary documentation in preparation for filing.  Taxpayers need to find out as well what the income rate will be for the given year.  The income or tax rate is used in computing what a taxpayer owes.

Traditionally, only individual states were mandated, under the 1789 ratification of the Constitution, to charge taxes on traditional income.  However, the 16th Amendment allowed the federal government to place a tax on individual earnings.  As such, the states had to adjust their income table rates to prevent excessive taxation.

As of June 2009, residents of 9 states do not have to pay state income tax, but they do have to pay federal income tax.  These are Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.  The state’s income would come from other tax sources like sales taxes or corporate taxes.  Some residents are taxed on their income by the municipality or county they belong to.  With all these different types of individual income taxes and salary rates, filing income tax returns becomes really tedious.

There are three different forms you can use in filing your federal income tax return to the Internal Revenue Service or IRS: 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ.  The type of form you need to use will depend on which form is applicable to your current situation.  Forms can be obtained from the local post offices, banks and libraries.  You can also download forms from the IRS website or have them mail it to you directly.

Should you need to know your federal income tax rate, as well as that of you state of residence, you can find this information on the Internet.

Federal Income Rate

1. Open the website of the Internal Revenue Service (www.IRS.gov).
2. On the search bar enter: ‘Tax Table’.
3. Select the tax table you need depending on the year you are paying for.  You will then see the different income rates.

State Income Rate

1. Open the website of the United States Government (www.usa.gov).
2. Click on ‘State Government’, which is under Government Agencies.
3. Select the state where you reside.  You will then be brought to your state’s official website.
4. Click on the tab “For Residents”.  This heading may be different between state websites, but essentially you want to go to the page that contains information for persons who reside in that particular state.
5. Look for the tab pertaining to ‘Taxes’.  Clicking this tab should then bring you to the Tax page of your state.  Here you will find all the information you need including forms, instructions and the state income tables.

Federal and State Income Rates

The easiest way to find both the federal and state personal rates is to go to The Tax Foundation website (www.taxfoundation.org) and search for either ‘federal income tax’ or ‘state income tax’.  You can even find table rates for different years for the federal income tax rates.

Tax filing is not the easiest thing to do.  However, there are resources online that provide all the information you will need: tax forms, income rate tables, where to file, how to file, etc.  There are other websites and online software as well that can make the process of filing income taxes less burdensome, if not simpler, for you.