BPCC ESL - Bella Hall
$$$
Talking Taxes
Help! How do I do my taxes before they are due?
go!
Question of the Day
Have you done your taxes yet?
The deadline is coming
When are taxes due?
April 15th
How Do Taxes Work?
Let's break it down
What taxes do I need to pay?
Who do they go to?
Why do I owe money?
How Does Personal Income Tax work?
- You make money from working
- Your employer takes money from your paycheck
- Your employer sends this tax money to the IRS
How much money do they take?
Paycheck
- tax
What you get
!?
Why is there a deadline then??
Tax Season!
Tax season is generally from Jan. 1st to April 15th.
When tax season comes around, you need to make sure to report all of the income you made for that tax year. You will also report your tax deductions and credits for the year. Doing this will show you how much money you owe for the year.
How do taxes make you feel? Are they simple?
What am I reporting?
TAX TIME
Doing taxes in the U.S. is not straightforward. How simple or difficult is it in your own country? How do you usually get your taxes done?
Tax season is a gamble
Since you've already been sending in your money each paycheck, tax season is there to make sure you didn't send over or under the amount that you owe
+ info
So, how do I do my taxes?
Let's talk about the next steps
What are my options?
Explore the different ways to do your taxes
The Old-School Method
⚠️ Not reccommended
In this method, you:
- Print out tax forms from the IRS website
- Fill out forms manually
- Use a calculator to do calculations
Drawbacks:
- Easy to make math errors
- Easy to miss forms
- It is complicated and messy
Get someone else to do it
Getting someone else to do your taxes avoids many of the problems doing it yourself would cause, but it does cost money to go this route.
Who can do it?
- Tax chain stores
- Tax accountants
- Family member / friend
- make sure they know what they're doing!
Look for these on the the IRS site
Use Software and Do It Yourself!
You can do it yourself online for free with a lot of websites as long as your situation is straightforward and not complicated! The IRS website lists a lot of sites that can do your taxes for free (as long as you make under a certain amount they tell you).
Here are some recommendations:
Check it out here
- Turbotax
- H&R Block
- TaxSlayer
- FreeTaxUSA
- and more!
Which Should I choose?
Filing on your own with Software
Getting someone to do it for you
If your tax situation is straightforward, doing it yourself with software is the best choice.
The Old-School Method
If Taxes Overwhelm You
Use a Tax Preparer
Is the cost of getting an accountant worth it to you?
+ info
Just make sure you book your appointment early, ideally, in January or February. Most accountants stop accepting people in March because taxes are due in April, and they can get busy.
Doing this can be expensive, but you are ultimately paying for your sense of security.
I Chose My Method, Now What?
Gather Your Information
Your job will usually send you your W-2 forms in the mail (typically in Jan. or Feb.)
+ What do I need?
Relevant tax documents from:
- Your Employers
- Financial Institutions
- Lenders
- etc.
you can also download a lot of the documents from online
These places will also send a copy of your tax forms to the IRS
Which tax documents do you need this year?
Common Tax Documents
- W-2: wages earned & taxes paid
- 1099-INT: interest income
- 1099-B: stock & crypto sales
- 1099-DIV: dividends
- 1098: mortgage interest
- 1098-E: student loan interest
The IRS is Watching
If you don't report something, the IRS WILL KNOW since they got a copy of all your documents. They will send you a letter if they find something seriously wrong (they won't come after you if only a few dollars are off). If it's a big difference, they will make arrests.
Putting It All Together
So you have a method, you have your documents, and now it's time to DO YOUR TAXES!
3a.Get your tax refund
1. Fill out your tax return
You can get a direct-deposit within 1-2 weeks!
3b
You can do this online or on physical papers.
3b.Pay what you owe on the IRS website
2.Submit your files to the IRS
3a
You can do this yourself by the deadline, or get the IRS to take the money on a certain date.
People usually do this digitally via E-filing.
You're done!
Was that so bad?
Check out the source I used to get all this information
This depends on you!
You tell your employer how much to take out of each paycheck when you fill out your W-4 tax form.
You do this before your first paycheck when you get hired.
The tax we are responsible for calculating is our
Personal Income Tax Return
This is the tax that comes from the money we make from working.
What are those things?
Tax deductions reduce the amount of income that is taxed.
Tax credits reduce the amount of taxes you owe.
- eg. you pay $1,500 instead of $2,000
- reduces your final tax bill
- it happens after tax is calculated
- eg. only $45k gets taxed instead of $50k
- reduces taxable income
- it happens before things are taxed
How do you get them?
How do you get them?
They come from money you spent:
They come from life expenses or govt. incentives
- interest on morgage or student loans
- medical expenses
- business expenses
- Charitible donations
- child tax credit / childcare credit
- earned income credit
- Education credits
- Energy credits
You might make it BIG
or lose it all a lot of money
Sometimes, you may accidentally pay more than you need throughout the year, and you will get a tax refund! This means that you can actually get money back by doing your taxes!
Other times, you may not pay enough, and the IRS will ask you to pay money that is missing.
The money that is taken from our income goes to
The IRS
IRS is an acronym that stands for "Internal Revenue Service."
The IRS collects taxes for the Federal Government
This helps them pay for things like:
- The military
- Federal employees
- health programs
- Interest on national debt
- Foreign aid
Talking Taxes
Bella Hall
Created on March 3, 2026
Learn how to file taxes in the US before the deadline!
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Transcript
BPCC ESL - Bella Hall
$$$
Talking Taxes
Help! How do I do my taxes before they are due?
go!
Question of the Day
Have you done your taxes yet?
The deadline is coming
When are taxes due?
April 15th
How Do Taxes Work?
Let's break it down
What taxes do I need to pay?
Who do they go to?
Why do I owe money?
How Does Personal Income Tax work?
How much money do they take?
Paycheck
- tax
What you get
!?
Why is there a deadline then??
Tax Season!
Tax season is generally from Jan. 1st to April 15th.
When tax season comes around, you need to make sure to report all of the income you made for that tax year. You will also report your tax deductions and credits for the year. Doing this will show you how much money you owe for the year.
How do taxes make you feel? Are they simple?
What am I reporting?
TAX TIME
Doing taxes in the U.S. is not straightforward. How simple or difficult is it in your own country? How do you usually get your taxes done?
Tax season is a gamble
Since you've already been sending in your money each paycheck, tax season is there to make sure you didn't send over or under the amount that you owe
+ info
So, how do I do my taxes?
Let's talk about the next steps
What are my options?
Explore the different ways to do your taxes
The Old-School Method
⚠️ Not reccommended
In this method, you:
Drawbacks:
Get someone else to do it
Getting someone else to do your taxes avoids many of the problems doing it yourself would cause, but it does cost money to go this route.
Who can do it?
Look for these on the the IRS site
Use Software and Do It Yourself!
You can do it yourself online for free with a lot of websites as long as your situation is straightforward and not complicated! The IRS website lists a lot of sites that can do your taxes for free (as long as you make under a certain amount they tell you).
Here are some recommendations:
Check it out here
Which Should I choose?
Filing on your own with Software
Getting someone to do it for you
If your tax situation is straightforward, doing it yourself with software is the best choice.
The Old-School Method
If Taxes Overwhelm You
Use a Tax Preparer
Is the cost of getting an accountant worth it to you?
+ info
Just make sure you book your appointment early, ideally, in January or February. Most accountants stop accepting people in March because taxes are due in April, and they can get busy.
Doing this can be expensive, but you are ultimately paying for your sense of security.
I Chose My Method, Now What?
Gather Your Information
Your job will usually send you your W-2 forms in the mail (typically in Jan. or Feb.)
+ What do I need?
Relevant tax documents from:
you can also download a lot of the documents from online
These places will also send a copy of your tax forms to the IRS
Which tax documents do you need this year?
Common Tax Documents
The IRS is Watching
If you don't report something, the IRS WILL KNOW since they got a copy of all your documents. They will send you a letter if they find something seriously wrong (they won't come after you if only a few dollars are off). If it's a big difference, they will make arrests.
Putting It All Together
So you have a method, you have your documents, and now it's time to DO YOUR TAXES!
3a.Get your tax refund
1. Fill out your tax return
You can get a direct-deposit within 1-2 weeks!
3b
You can do this online or on physical papers.
3b.Pay what you owe on the IRS website
2.Submit your files to the IRS
3a
You can do this yourself by the deadline, or get the IRS to take the money on a certain date.
People usually do this digitally via E-filing.
You're done!
Was that so bad?
Check out the source I used to get all this information
This depends on you!
You tell your employer how much to take out of each paycheck when you fill out your W-4 tax form.
You do this before your first paycheck when you get hired.
The tax we are responsible for calculating is our
Personal Income Tax Return
This is the tax that comes from the money we make from working.
What are those things?
Tax deductions reduce the amount of income that is taxed.
Tax credits reduce the amount of taxes you owe.
How do you get them?
How do you get them?
They come from money you spent:
They come from life expenses or govt. incentives
You might make it BIG
or lose it all a lot of money
Sometimes, you may accidentally pay more than you need throughout the year, and you will get a tax refund! This means that you can actually get money back by doing your taxes!
Other times, you may not pay enough, and the IRS will ask you to pay money that is missing.
The money that is taken from our income goes to
The IRS
IRS is an acronym that stands for "Internal Revenue Service."
The IRS collects taxes for the Federal Government
This helps them pay for things like: