Use These Free Tax Calculators and Get an Early Start on Your 2017 Taxes
With three months left in 2017, most people aren't even thinking about their taxes. Yet now is a smart time to do tax planning, and the first step is to get a quick estimate on how much in taxes you'll owe and whether you can expect to get a tax refund. Below, you'll find a couple of calculators designed to give you an early start on your taxes by providing you with valuable information about the size of your tax bill and how much you'll get back -- or have to pay -- next April. By using them, you'll be able to plan out your tax season and take steps to change your tax liability before 2017 ends.
The first step in good tax planning is to know what you're going to have to pay Uncle Sam over the course of the year. This tax-planning calculator will take your estimated gross income and use family information to come up with the correct tax liability.
A simple example will show how easy this calculator is to use. Say that you're married with one child and have total income of $50,000. You contribute $3,000 to a 401(k) at work, and you take the standard deduction. When you enter these figures into the calculator, you'll find that your taxable income after the standard deduction and personal exemptions amounts to $22,150, which works out to $2,390 in income tax. However, with a child who's eligible for the child tax credit, you can reduce that tax bill by $1,000, with total liability of just $1,390.
Source: Fool.com
