Taxes.

A tax form for income that didn't come from a regular employer, freelance work, interest, dividends, and more.

A 1099-B is a tax form your broker sends that reports the stocks, bonds, or funds you sold during the year and what they were worth.

Above-the-line deductions lower your income before AGI and anyone can take them; below-the-line deductions come after AGI and usually need itemizing.

An extra 0.9% Medicare tax on wages and self-employment income above set income thresholds for higher earners.

The Adoption Credit gives back a chunk of what you spend to adopt a child, with part of it now refundable.

Your total income minus a specific list of adjustments, the income number that determines a lot of tax outcomes.

A parallel tax that recalculates what you owe with fewer breaks, so high earners pay at least a minimum amount.

An amended return is a corrected tax return, filed on Form 1040-X, that fixes a mistake on a return you already sent in.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit cuts your tax bill by up to $2,500 per student for the first four years of college.

A parallel federal tax system that recalculates your tax with most deductions removed. You pay the higher of regular or AMT.

The annual gift tax exclusion is the amount you can give one person in a year without filing a gift tax return or touching your lifetime exemption.

The part of an account made of already-taxed dollars. Basis comes back out tax-free; everything else is taxed when you withdraw it.

Bunching deductions means pushing several years of deductible expenses into one tax year so you can itemize that year and save more.

Profit from selling an investment for more than you paid. Taxed differently from regular income.

Investment losses too large to use in one year that you carry forward to offset future gains and income.

The charitable contribution deduction lets you subtract money or property you gave to qualified nonprofits from your taxable income.

The Child and Dependent Care Credit offsets part of what you pay for childcare or adult care so you can work or look for work.

The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit lowers your tax bill for part of what you pay for childcare or dependent care so you can work.

A federal tax credit of up to several thousand dollars per qualifying child under 17, partially refundable for lower-income families.

A correspondence audit is an IRS audit handled entirely by mail, where you send documents to back up one or two items on your return.

The original price paid for an investment, used to calculate gains or losses when you sell.

A CP2000 notice is an IRS letter saying the income on your return does not match what employers and banks reported, with a proposed change to your tax.

CPAs, enrolled agents, and tax preparers all do tax returns, but they differ in training, licensing, and who can represent you before the IRS.

Crypto tax basics is how the IRS taxes digital assets like Bitcoin: as property, so selling, trading, or spending it can create a taxable gain or loss.

Currently-not-collectible status is an IRS pause on collecting a tax debt when paying anything would leave you unable to cover basic living costs.

Someone you support whom the IRS lets you claim on your return, the key that opens credits like the CTC, EITC, and head of household status.

A donor-advised fund is a charitable account where you give money now, take the deduction now, and recommend grants to charities later.

A refundable federal credit for low-to-moderate-income workers, sized by your earned income and number of qualifying children, and paid even when you owe no tax.

Your effective tax rate is the share of your total income that you actually pay in tax, which is lower than your top bracket rate.

Estate tax is a federal tax on the total value of what a person leaves behind when they die, but only on amounts above a very high exemption.

Tax you pay directly to the IRS in quarterly installments on income that has no withholding, like self-employment or investment income.

Estimated tax for retirees is the quarterly tax payment you send the IRS yourself when retirement income does not have enough tax withheld.

Quarterly tax payments you make yourself when no employer is withholding for you, common for freelancers and side-income earners.

The EV tax credit was a federal break of up to $7,500 on a qualifying electric vehicle, and it ended for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025.

An excise tax is a tax charged on a specific good, like gasoline, tobacco, or alcohol, usually built into the price rather than added at checkout.

Failure-to-file is the penalty for sending your return late, and failure-to-pay is the penalty for paying your tax late, and they are two separate charges.

Federal income tax is the tax the federal government charges on most of the money you earn, collected by the IRS on a progressive schedule of brackets.

The combined Social Security + Medicare payroll tax, 7.65% taken out of every paycheck.

The filing deadline is the date your federal tax return is due, normally April 15, with an extension available to file (but not to pay).

The category you file under (Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, Head of Household, or Qualifying Surviving Spouse) that sets your standard deduction, tax brackets, and credit eligibility.

The main federal income tax return form. Where individual taxpayers report income, deductions, credits, and final tax owed or refunded.

A federal tax on large gifts that almost no one actually pays, because of a generous yearly exclusion and a very large lifetime exemption.

Gross pay is what you earn before deductions. Net pay (take-home) is what hits your bank account after taxes and benefits.

Hobby income reporting means reporting money you make from a hobby on your tax return even though it is not a real business.

The value of certain non-cash benefits from your employer that the IRS counts as taxable income, even though you never see the money.

Inheritance tax is a state tax that the person receiving money or property from someone who died may owe, and only a few states charge it.

Injured spouse allocation lets you reclaim your share of a joint tax refund that the IRS seized to pay your spouse's separate past-due debt.

Innocent spouse relief frees you from tax, interest, and penalties when your spouse or ex understated taxes on a joint return without your knowledge.

An IRS audit is a review of your tax return where the IRS checks that your reported income, deductions, and credits are accurate and backed by records.

An IRS installment agreement is a payment plan that lets you pay tax debt you cannot afford all at once in smaller monthly amounts.

Listing specific deductible expenses (mortgage interest, SALT, charitable gifts) instead of taking the flat standard deduction.

An ITIN is a tax processing number the IRS issues to people who must file taxes but cannot get a Social Security number.

A rule that taxes a child's investment income above a yearly limit at the parents' tax rate instead of the child's lower one.

The total amount you can give away during life or leave at death before any federal estate or gift tax applies.

The Lifetime Learning Credit lowers your tax bill by up to $2,000 a year for tuition, with no limit on how many years you can claim it.

Local income taxes are extra income taxes charged by a city, county, or school district on top of your state and federal taxes.

A long-term gain is the profit on an asset you owned for more than one year, and it is taxed at lower rates than ordinary income.

Medicare tax is a payroll tax that funds Medicare, taken out of nearly every paycheck at 1.45 percent, with employers matching another 1.45 percent.

The mortgage interest deduction lets itemizers subtract the interest they pay on a home loan from their taxable income.

An extra 3.8% federal tax on investment income for higher earners, on top of regular income or capital gains tax.

An offer in compromise is an IRS program that lets you settle a tax debt for less than the full amount when you genuinely cannot pay it all.

The pay period is the stretch of work you're being paid for. The pay date is when the money arrives.

The breakdown attached to each paycheck showing exactly how gross pay became your deposit: earnings, taxes, deductions, and year-to-date totals.

Pre-tax deductions come out before taxes are calculated, lowering your taxable income. Post-tax deductions come out after.

A qualified charitable distribution lets people 70 1/2 or older send IRA money straight to charity without it counting as taxable income.

Dividends that meet IRS holding rules and are taxed at the lower long-term capital gains rates instead of your ordinary income rate.

A refund offset is when the government keeps part or all of your tax refund to pay a past-due debt you owe, like back taxes or child support.

The Residential Clean Energy Credit was a tax break for home solar and similar systems, and it ended for property installed after December 31, 2025.

The SALT deduction lets itemizers write off state and local taxes they paid, up to a cap that the 2025 tax law raised.

A federal tax credit for lower- and moderate-income workers who put money into a retirement account, on top of any savings benefit.

Schedule D is the tax form where you add up your capital gains and losses from selling investments and figure how much tax you owe on them.

A short-term gain is the profit on an asset you owned for one year or less, and it is taxed at your regular income tax rate.

The maximum amount of your annual wages that gets taxed for Social Security. Earnings above it skip the 6.2% tax.

A flat amount of income the government lets you not pay tax on, no questions asked.

State income tax is a tax your state charges on what you earn, separate from federal tax, and the rules and rates vary by state.

A state reciprocity agreement lets you pay income tax only to the state where you live, not the state where you work, if both states have a deal.

The share of your gross pay that actually reaches your bank account. Net pay divided by gross pay.

A slice of income taxed at a specific rate. The U.S. has seven of them, stacked on top of each other.

A dollar-for-dollar reduction in your tax bill, much more powerful than a deduction.

Six extra months to file your return. Zero extra time to pay what you owe.

Money the IRS returns when your prepayments (withholding, estimated taxes) plus refundable credits exceed your actual tax for the year.

A tax year is the 12-month period your income and deductions are reported for, almost always the calendar year January 1 to December 31.

The number your tax is actually calculated on, after subtractions, which is always smaller than what you earned.

The underpayment penalty is an interest-like charge for not paying enough tax during the year through withholding or estimated payments.

VITA is an IRS program offering free, in-person tax return preparation by trained volunteers for people who generally earn below an income limit.

The form your employer sends each January showing what they paid you and what taxes they withheld.

The IRS form employees fill out to tell their employer how much federal income tax to withhold from each paycheck.

Selling an investment at a loss and buying it back within 30 days. The IRS disallows the loss.

The taxes your employer takes out of your paycheck before you ever see the money.