Turbo Tax Project: Learn to read W2 and file taxes
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Description
It’s no secret that how much you pay in taxes each year significantly affects your bottom line and your quality of life. The average U.S. household that owns a home will pay about $14,000 in income, sales, and real estate taxes — that’s about 27% of their total income.
Filing taxes don’t have to be complicated for the newcomers. The more you learn about the tax system, the less stress you'll feel when filing your taxes for the first time. Many people seek professional help to file their taxes. This project contains activities and exercises that will help you understand our tax system. Over a lifetime, you can save thousands of dollars by filing taxes yourself.
NEW UPDATE INCLUDE SEVERAL NEW ACTIVITIES!!!!
INFORMATION REFLECT TAX YEAR 2019
INCLUDE NOTES FOR INSTRUCTOR
INCLUDE RUBRIC FOR PROJECT
Table of contents:
Note for instructor…………………………………………………….…………….…….. Page 4
Rubric for project ………………………………………………………………….………Page 5
1. Demonstrate how our Income Tax is distributed by the Federal Government
Activity 1A: Article 1- Federal taxes set record in fiscal year 2015………………….. Page 6-7
Activity 1B: Article 2 – Policy Basics: Where do our federal tax dollars go? …….. Page 8-11
Activity 1: How our taxes is distributed …………………………………………………Page 12-13
2. Read and find information on a W-2 form.
Activity 2A: Notes on reading W-2 form …………………………………….…………Page 14-15
Activity 2: Reading W-2 form……………………….……………………………………Page 16-18
3. Research information related to filing taxes.
Activity 3A: Notes on Publication 501 ………..…………………………………………Page 19
Activity 3: Where to file taxes and knowing the filing status………………………........Page 20
4. Understand the filling status.
Activity 4A: Lesson on filing status by IRS …………………………………………….…Page 21
Activity 4: Check for understanding of filing status…………………………………...Page 22
5. Understand who can claim a dependent.
Activity 5A: Lesson on claiming a dependent by IRS …………………………………....Page 23
Documents: Overview rules on filing status and claiming dependents ………..…..Page 24-25
6. Filling status and dependency scenarios.
Activity 6: Filing status and dependency scenarios …………………………………Page 26-27
7. Calculate the amount of support generated by different living situations.
Activity 7A: Research on total support ………………………………....................…...Page 30
Activity 7B: Calculating support of a dependent ……………………………….....…...Page 29-31
8. Understand who must file tax return.
Activity 8: Who must file taxes? …………………....………………………………...Page 32-33
9. Understand exemptions and credits.
Activity 9: Research on Exemptions and Credits …………………………………....Page 34-35
10. Calculating the Standard Deduction.
Activity 10: Calculating standard deduction …………………………………..……Page 36
11. Calculating the amount of tax owed using the Tax table.
Activity 11A: Notes on using the Tax Table …………………………………………….Page 37
Activity 11: Calculating tax using Tax Table …………………………………………Page 38
12. Calculate the amount of tax using the tax bracket.
Activity 12A: Notes on Estimating Federal Income Tax using Tax Bracket …………Page 39 - 41
Activity 12: Estimating tax using tax bracket and standard deduction ……………...Page 42-43
13. Tax deduction and tax credit.
Activity 13A: Article 3 – How to calculate federal income tax ……………………… Page 44-49
Activity 13B: Article 4 - Tax credit vs. tax deduction ………………………………...Page 49
Activity 13: Tax deduction and tax credit ………………………………………………..Page 50-51
14. Calculate the Earned Income Credit using the EIC table.
Activity 14A: Article 5 - Earned Income Tax Credit ………………..………………....Page 52
Activity 14: Using the EIC table …………………………………………………………Page 53
15. Explain why some people get a refund and some people owe taxes.
Activity 15: Response on understanding taxes ……………………………..……Page 55-56
16. File a sample tax return using the desktop version of Turbo tax, Tax Act, or other software.
Activity 16: Turbo Tax project (Optional or required) …..........................................Page 57-63
Answer KEY ……………………….………………………..…………………………..……Page 64
