The complexity does not come with the original legislation passed many years ago. The basics are straight forward. But the several and various amendments to the Code over the years have mangled it simplicity beyond repair. Of course, you can get <a href="http://www.taxhelpvault.com/recommends/page64.html">tax advice online </a> or offline from a tax preparer, but that costs money, except if you use <a href="http://www.taxhelpvault.com/recommends/page65.html">online tax preparation </a>services. Normally you can get free advice with your filing. The way the Code stands now, someone with the guts of a whale, has to decide to scrap the entire thing and start afresh. No amount of legislative babbling or committee pronouncements will make the code useful for the average taxpayer. There are just too many rules and exemptions to make this thing work.  


Here is an interesting article to help you prepare your income tax returns:

<H4>How to Calculate Income Tax</H4>

<p>There are many reasons you may want to know how to calculate your income tax without doing a full tax return. One reason to do a quick calculation of your tax is to determine when you should do your actual tax return. If you are going to get a big tax return, you probably want to do your taxes as soon as possible. If you are going to owe the IRS money, you probably want to wait until the last minute or even request an extension. If you are trying to figure out how to calculate income tax easily read on. When you are ready to do your taxes, check the link at the bottom for a tax software review site including sites that will do your taxes for free.</p><p>The first thing you need to know to calculate income tax is how much money you made and how much you have paid in taxes. This information can be found on your pay stub or your W2.. Your pay stub should show you how much money you have made. You need to look at the "net" number because you don't have to pay taxes on certain things like 401K contributions. The other number you need is how much tax you have paid. Write these 2 numbers down as we will need them later.</p><p>Next, you need to figure out all your deductions. This includes charitable contributions, (like to your church), mortgage interest, your deductions per person in your household, and anything else that is tax deductible. Just add all these numbers up. Don't worry about being exact because you are just getting an estimate right now.</p><p>Now that you have your income and deductions, I will show you exactly how to calculate income tax. All you do is subtract your deductions from your income and look up how much tax you owe for that amount. The easiest way to look this up is to go to <a target="_new" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.irs.gov/">www.irs.gov</a> and look up the tax table. Based on your filing status and net income, you will see how much you owe. Compare that to the amount of tax that was taken out of your paycheck and you have your return amount or how much you owe.</p>

<p>I hope this simple method of how to calculate income tax has helped. When you are ready to actually do your taxes, check out my <a target="_new" href="http://www.onlinetaxsoftware.info">Online Income Tax Software</a> page to get reviews of the top online tax software programs and see how you can do your taxes for free online.</p>

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