How to Calculate Income Tax Expense

We all have to pay our income taxes whether we like it or not. Income tax expenses are based on a portion of your gross yearly income. There are several deductions, exemptions and fees that can reduce your gross yearly income to a net yearly income, significantly less than what you may have been expecting.

• Fill out the exemption based on your previous year's taxes. Place the number you got on page 2 under Tax and Credit. Multiply the number of exemptions by the figure you placed on page 1. Each year, there is only a specific amount of deductions that can be made per person.


• Go back to page 1. Place the estimated gross income that can be found on the I-9 you received from your employer. If you own a business, place any business income or loss on line 12. If you received unemployment, write the figure you received throughout the year on line 19. Read the rest of the page and fill in the boxes that apply to you based on last year's tax return. All those that do not apply to you, write in 0. You should never leave anything blank on your taxes.


• Go through the adjusted gross income page and fill in the boxes that apply to you. Remember, do not leave anything blank, and always fill in with 0 if it doesn't apply. Add up the figures based on your last year's taxes and write the total on line 36. Subtract box 36 from box 22 and place this number on lines 37 and 38.


• On page 2, fill in the appropriate deduction for line 40a. Subtract line 40a from line 38and write the new total on 41. Subtract line 42 from line 41 and place it on 43. This is the taxable income that you made during the current year.