I’ve only recently joined the working force, and I am still not sure of this entire concept.
I know I am supposed to go to an accountant and show him a slip from my job for the returns, and also slips from my stocks that show all the net changes.
What I don’t understand is \*why\* I receive a certain amount after doing all of that.
In: 8
#ELI5
You owe taxes. That’s a given. We all owe taxes.
**How much?** Well that depends on tons of things. Some of those things are known ahead of time (like, what your salary is).
Some of those things aren’t known until the year is over. Nobody knows how much you donated to charity, but you. Nobody is keeping track of how many of your expenses were for work (like buying a uniform), but you.
**When do you pay taxes?** If you look at your paycheck, you will see that you’re paying them all year long. Your employer takes out some money every paycheck, and pays your taxes for you.
But your employer only *guesses* how much tax you owe.
The guess could be right, it could be wrong.
It could be wrong in two ways: Your employer could accidentally overpay your taxes, or could accidentally underpay your taxes.
So at the end of the year, you look at how much you earned, you look at all the things that would reduce your taxes (like buying uniforms), and you look at what your employer *already* paid.
If your employer overpaid, you get some back.
If your employer underpaid, you owe more.
MANY OTHER THINGS can affect whether you get some back or you owe more. I won’t go into that here. Just realize that there’s lots of things that can reduce the amount you owe, there’s lots of things that can increase the amount you owe, and we don’t know all of those things until it’s time to tally it all up at the end of the year.
Latest Answers