Tax Table

• When trying to determine how much money you have to pay in taxes, you use a tax table. A typical tax table is a document that has several income ranges and filing statuses on it. Next to the appropriate column, it also has varying tax rates. Once you calculate how much money you make in taxable income, you move over to the column that tells you the tax rate. This represents your tax rate and helps you calculate your tax liability.
  
  

Filing Status

• One of the prominent items of a tax table is your filing status. This means the way that you choose to file your taxes for the year. For example, you can typically choose to file your taxes as single, married filing jointly or married filing separately. You can also file as the head of household. When you choose your tax filing status, it is very important because it determines what your tax rate will be once you add up your income.
  
  

Alternative Minimum Tax

• When you calculate your taxes, you also have to use another system that was set up by the IRS, known as the alternative minimum tax. The alternative minimum tax is a completely different set of tax rules that also uses a tax table. This tax was essentially created to ensure that everyone pays some kind of tax. It typically only affects those who are wealthy and does not usually apply to those who make smaller annual incomes.
  
  

Calculating Tax

• When you are ready to calculate exactly how much you owe in taxes, you can use the tax table to aid in the calculation. Start out by looking at your taxable income for the year. Then find the income and make sure that you are in the appropriate chart for your filing status. Find out what the tax rate is for your income. Then take your exact taxable income and multiply it by this tax rate. This gives you your tax liability before tax credits.