If on the last day of the year, you are unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree and you do not qualify for another filing status.

Provides benefits for retired workers and their dependents as well as for the disabled and their dependents. Also known as the "Federal Insurance Contributions Act" (FICA) tax.

Develops software for the purposes of (1) formatting electronic tax return information according to IRS specifications, and/or (2) transmitting electronic tax return information directly to the IRS.

Reduces the income subject to tax and varies depending on filing status, age, blindness, and dependency.

An amount per mile, determined by the IRS, that you can use to calculate your vehicle expense instead of keeping track of actual costs, such as gas and maintenance. You can deduct parking, tolls, interest and taxes in addition to the standard mileage rate. The rate varies based on the reason for the use of your vehicle: i.e. business travel, charity work, travel for medical reasons.

For dependency test purposes, support includes food, clothing, shelter, education, medical and dental care, recreation, and transportation. It also includes welfare, food stamps, and housing provided by the state. Support includes all income, taxable and nontaxable.

Assets other than real estate that physically exist. Business equipment and vehicles are tangible personal property. Assets such as stock certificates and franchises only represent value and are therefore intangible property.

A tax on products imported from foreign countries.

An action taken to lessen tax liability and maximize after-tax income.

The official body of tax laws and regulations.

A dollar-for-dollar reduction in the tax. Can be deducted directly from taxes owed.

A reduction in the amount of taxes taken by the government.

A part of a person's or business's expenses that reduces income subject to tax.

A failure to pay or a deliberate underpayment of taxes.

A part of a person's income on which no tax is imposed.

Your principal place of work or post of duty. Your tax home is used for tax purposes, including determining if travel expenses are allowable as incurred away from home and determining if you qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion.

The amount of tax that must be paid. Taxpayers meet (or pay) their federal income tax liability through withholding, estimated tax payments, and payments made with the tax forms they file with the government.

Computer software designed to complete tax returns. The tax preparation software works with the IRS electronic filing system.

An investment that is planned to result in tax-favored treatment. The IRS has placed restrictions on tax shelters where the principal purpose of the activity appears to be the avoidance or evasion of taxes or where the activity might result in more deductible expenses than the investors have at risk.

The process that occurs when a tax that has been levied on one person or group is in fact paid by others.

Taxable income is your gross income reduced by all your adjustments, deductions and exemptions. The amount of income before taxes used to calculate your income tax.

Interest income that is subject to income tax. All interest income is taxable unless specifically excluded.

Required payments of money to governments that are used to provide public goods and services for the benefit of the community as a whole.

Interest income that is not subject to income tax. Tax-exempt interest income is earned from bonds issued by states, cities, or counties and the District of Columbia.

- Your Social Security number (SSN) for yourself as an individual, or your employer identification number (EIN) for your business. See adoption taxpayer identification number (ATIN) and individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) for aliens.