A form that details all "non-employee" compensation, including for specific jobs like freelancers or contractors

Employee-claimed exemptions on the W-4 to determine how much of an employee's pay to withhold from his or her paycheck for taxes

Someone you financially support who can be "claimed" on a tax return to reduce your taxable income and lower your taxes

Any income (wages/salary) that is generated by working

The actual rate you pay on your taxes, as a percentage of your overall income

The set amount of money, per dependent, you can subtract from your taxable income

A federal law that requires an employer to withhold taxes from the wages they pay their employees; the funds go toward Social Security and Medicare

Form used by an employer to verify an employee's identity and to establish that the worker is eligible to accept employment in the United States

Marginal Tax Rate

The tax bracket that your highest dollar of income falls into, and therefore the highest tax rate you pay

A government-run insurance program that provides healthcare assistance to low income Americans

A tax system that uses tax brackets to collect a larger percentage from the income of high-income earners than it does from low-income earners

A federal program that provides monthly benefits to millions of Americans, including retirees, military families, surviving families of deceased workers, and disabled individuals

A standardized dollar amount that reduces your taxable income, specifically for individuals who do not receive additional benefit by itemizing their deductions into medical expenses, donations, etc.

A form that an employer must send to an employee and the IRS at the end of the year to report the employee's annual wages and taxes withheld from their paycheck

A form completed by an employee to indicate his or her tax situation (exemptions, marital status, etc.) to the employer, who then withholds the corresponding amount of taxes from each paycheck

The portion of an employee's wages that is not included in their paycheck because it goes directly to federal, state and local taxes