1, personal income tax
U.S. personal income tax is the United States in 1861 for the financing of the Civil War and set up a tax. 1862, the United States and modified the personal income tax law, so that the personal income tax has a progressive nature. 1872 to 1892, the personal income tax was suspended. It was not until 1913 that the 16th Amendment to the Constitution adopted the provision that Congress had the power to tax income, and the first personal income tax law was passed after the Constitution was amended. Since the establishment of the U.S. income tax law in 1913, it has gone through several more revisions and reforms. Generally speaking, the tax rates have been raised continuously, the amount of relief has been increased continuously, and the proportion of income tax in the overall revenue has been increasing, thus changing the US tax system from one dominated by indirect tax to one dominated by direct tax. According to the different levels of collection, the U.S. personal income tax is divided into federal personal income tax, state personal income tax and local personal income tax, of which, the federal personal income tax is the main one.
(1) Taxpayers. The taxpayers of personal income tax are U.S. citizens, residents and non-residents. U.S. citizens are those born in the United States and those who have taken U.S. citizenship. U.S. residents are people who are not U.S. citizens, but who have legally recognized permanent residency under U.S. immigration law (e.g., a green card), and those who do not qualify for U.S. citizenship and residency status are non-residents.
(2) tax objects, tax rates. The object of personal income tax is the worldwide income of U.S. citizens and residents, and the domestic income of U.S. non-residents.
(3) Calculation of taxable income and taxable amount. The steps for calculating the U.S. Individual Income Tax are: the total income of each taxpayer under the tax law, minus the disregarded income (total income); then minus the items required by the tax law to be deducted before adjusting the income (adjusted income); then minus the itemized deductions or the standard deduction; then minus the exemptions (taxable income); multiplied by the applicable taxable income; and multiplied by the taxable income of the taxpayer. (for taxable income); multiplied by the applicable tax rate (for taxable income); and subtracted by tax credits, taxes paid, etc., for the final tax payment. For each item, the tax law has detailed provisions and calculation rules.
(4) Method of collection. The U.S. personal income tax is taxable for a full year. Special circumstances may be less than 12 months. A full-year tax year ending on December 31 of each calendar year is a calendar year tax year; ending on any other date of each calendar year is a fiscal year tax year.
Individual income taxpayers who are taxed on a calendar year basis shall file their tax returns by April 15 of the year following the tax year; those who are taxed on a fiscal year basis shall file their tax returns by the fifteenth day of the fourth month of the year following the termination of the tax year; and taxpayers who are paid by their employers are subject to a system of withholding by their employers.
2.? Corporate Income Tax
U.S. Corporate income tax is a tax on the income of U.S. corporations at home and abroad and foreign corporations derived from income within the United States. The tax is levied at the federal and state levels, and is the third largest tax in the United States in addition to the personal income tax and payroll tax. The corporate income tax began on March 1, 1913 in the Federal Corporate Income Tax Act, to 1916 to become a formalized, permanent tax.
(1) Taxpayers. The corporate income tax has both U.S. and foreign corporations as taxpayers. The U.S. tax law provides that all companies formed under the laws of each state and registered with the state government, regardless of whether they are located in the U.S. or abroad, and regardless of who owns them, are U.S. companies. A corporation formed under the laws of a foreign country and registered with the government of a foreign country, whether located within or without the United States, is a foreign corporation, even if all or part of the stock belongs to the United States.
(2) The object of taxation, tax rate. The object of U.S. corporate income tax is the income of U.S. corporations from sources inside and outside the U.S. (i.e., global income) and the income of foreign corporations from sources inside the U.S. The above income mainly includes: operating income, business income and other income. The above income mainly includes: operating income, capital gains, dividends, rents, royalties, labor income and other income.
The corporate income tax adopts an overly progressive rate, with a 5% surtax on taxable income between $100,000 and $33.5; for corporations with taxable income exceeding $15 million, the surtax is the lesser of 3% of taxable income exceeding $15 million or 3% of taxable income of $100,000, whichever is less. Corporations primarily engaged in the provision of services are taxed only at a 35% proportional rate. Income derived by a foreign country from trading operations in the United States is taxed at progressive rates for U.S. corporate income tax purposes.
(3) Calculation of Taxable Income and Taxable Amount. Taxable income is the total income of a corporation minus all expenses and losses incurred to earn the income and allowed as deductions under the tax law. Allowable deductions are necessary business and non-business expenses incurred by the company in the course of earning gross income, as specified in advance by the tax law.
Corporate income taxpayers can choose their respective tax years, i.e., the starting and ending dates for taxation, at will, but once determined, they cannot change them at will. Taxpayers can choose accrual basis, cash basis or other accounting methods as the tax calculation method. Taxpayers are required to submit an estimated return and a statement of actual tax payments for the previous year by April 15 of each year, and to pay a certain percentage of corporate income tax according to the estimated return by April 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15 of the tax year. Corporate income tax is collected in a single annual installment. Taxpayers may file a tax return within two and a half months after the end of their selected tax year. Losses between years can be offset and carried forward. Losses for the current year can be carried upward for three years and downward for 15 years.
3, social security tax
Social security tax, also known as the "payroll tax", is the U.S. federal government for the social security system to raise funds for a tax. The social security system of the United States sprouted in the 1930s during the Great Depression, and began with the Social Security Act of 1935 during Roosevelt's "New Deal" period. The United States implemented a social security program that initially included only Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, or OASI, and used payroll taxes to finance retirement benefits for the elderly. The payroll tax revenues were earmarked for specific purposes, making Social Security a self-financing system. The payroll tax is paid 50/50 by the employee and 50/50 by the employer, and began at a rate of 1% for the first $3,000 of an employee's earned income. Later, as the level of insurance benefits and the payroll tax rate, as well as the amount of taxable earned income and the range of occupations to which it applied, increased, "insurance for the disabled" was added in 1956, and the two were collectively known as OASDI. 1966 saw the double addition of Medicare, which was designed to provide coverage for 65-year-olds. "In 1966, Medicare was added as hospitalization insurance and medical insurance for persons over age 65, and together with OASDI, it became known as OASDHI, which is now commonly referred to as Social Security. "The program is now commonly known as Social Security. The U.S. Federal Insurance Tax (FIT) is a special tax levied as a source of funding for old age, survivors, disability, and health insurance. It is levied on earned income or business income and is paid by employees, employers, and self-employed persons, respectively, and the Social Security Act of 1935 established a federal and state system of unemployment insurance. Unemployment insurance is regulated by state law, with specific requirements varying slightly from state to state. Federal unemployment taxes are levied as a source of subsidy for state unemployment insurance systems. In addition, railroad workers are covered by the federal Social Security program, but have a separate system. The railroad retirement insurance tax is equivalent to the federal insurance tax, and the railroad unemployment tax is the same as the federal unemployment tax.
The social security tax provides for a maximum taxable amount and does not tax wages and salaries in excess of that amount. The ceiling is adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and in 1996, employers and employees were each required to pay a social security tax rate of 7.65% on wages up to $62,700 (sixty-one thousand, two hundred and twenty-two thousand) dollars ($61,200) gross. In addition, employers and employees are each subject to a Medicare tax of 1.45 percent for the elderly and disabled on all wages in excess of these limits.
There are two general methods of collecting social insurance tax: one is by withholding at source; the other is by self-declaration. Employees' taxes are withheld at the source by the employer at a rate determined by the employer on the employees' taxable wages and salaries, and are reported quarterly along with the employer's own tax liability. The federal insurance tax imposed on self-employed persons is essentially similar except that self-employed persons must pay the entire tax themselves, unlike employees. If a self-employed person is both an employee and a self-employed person, he or she is first determined to be subject to the federal insurance tax in accordance with his or her status as an employee, and if the taxpayer does not receive all of his or her wages as an employee in excess of the maximum amount of the taxable basis, or in excess of that amount, the taxpayer is taxed in accordance with his or her status as a self-employed person.
4, sales tax
Sales tax is a tax levied by state and local governments in the United States on a certain percentage of the sales price of various goods and services. The U.S. sales tax is in the 19th century on the basis of the evolution of the sales tax. 1921, the state of West Virginia was the first to introduce a retail sales tax. At that time, the retail sales tax was levied on all industrial and commercial sales revenue, the tax rate is very low. At present, the United States has 46 set up a sales tax, sales tax has become the state government's main source of revenue, accounting for more than 40% of the state government's tax revenue. Local governments in the United States also levy sales tax. Sales tax includes general sales tax and retail sales tax. Ordinary sales tax to engage in industrial and commercial operations of individuals or enterprises as taxpayers, to sell goods sales income or labor income as the object of taxation, the use of proportional tax rates. There are significant differences and variations among the states that impose general sales tax in the United States. The general sales tax takes the whole process of the flow of goods or services as the taxing link, and implements the principle of levying a tax for every flow of goods and services from production to consumption. The exemptions of general sales tax include seeds, fertilizers and insurance premiums. Retail sales tax, also known as special sales tax, is a tax levied on the retail sales of goods. The U.S. tax law provides that retailers may mark the taxable amount in addition to the selling price of the merchandise as the selling price of the merchandise. This suggests that although the tax law makes the retailer the taxpayer, in practice the tax burden is usually borne by the purchaser. The retail sales tax has a differential proportional rate, which varies from state to state and reaches a maximum rate of 10 percent.
5. Property tax
Property tax is a tax levied by state and local governments on natural and legal persons who own real estate or movable property in the United States, especially real estate and other property. Property tax has been the most important source of finance for local governments in the United States, and it accounts for more than 80% of local government tax revenue. The federal government does not levy property taxes, and state governments levy little or no property taxes.
Property taxes were first levied on land and livestock at different rates. By the 19th century, the property tax developed into a general tax, enforced at the same rate. at the end of the 19th century, the general property tax was replaced by a selective property tax levied only on real estate, movable industrial and commercial property, etc. The property tax is levied by the U.S. government on land and livestock at different rates. The taxpayers of property tax are natural and legal persons who own real and movable property such as residence, industrial and commercial real estate, vehicles, equipment, etc. within the U.S.; the objects of taxation are movable property and real property, with real property as the main one. Real property includes farms, residential land, commercial land, forests, farms, houses, businesses and sidewalks. Movable property includes equipment, furniture, vehicles, commodities and other tangible property, as well as stocks, bonds, mortgage deeds, deposits and other intangible property. The most important objects of taxation in modern local property taxation in the United States are residential dwellings in non-agricultural areas and non-agricultural industrial and commercial property. The property tax rate is determined by the local government for different classes of property, based on the budget of each expenditure to determine the series of property tax rate, and then arrive at the total property tax rate. In addition, the tax code provides for property tax exemptions for property owned by all levels of government, as well as property owned by religious, charitable, and educational endeavors. Many local governments also provide for a property tax exemption for the real estate of senior citizens.
6. Estate and Gift Tax
The estate and gift tax is a tax imposed by the U.S. federal government on the estates of people who have died and on property that was gifted to them during their lifetime. The federal estate tax is based on the gross estate tax system. The total estate of the deceased at the time of death is the object of the tax, the executor is the taxpayer, and the taxable estate is the basis for the tax. The taxable amount of the estate is the total amount of the estate minus the funeral expenses, liabilities, and losses of the estate of the deceased to arrive at the "economic estate amount", and then minus all property bequeathed by the spouses as well as charitable donations and other deductions permitted by the tax law. The current federal estate tax has 17 graduated rates, starting at 18% on the first $10,000 and ending at a top marginal rate of 55% on the portion of the tax above $3 million. The calculation of the tax is a two-step process: first, the amount of estate tax due is calculated based on the amount of the taxable estate and the applicable tax rate; second, the amount of estate tax due is reduced by the "unified credit" allowed under the tax law. The unified credit is the amount of credit that the tax law allows each taxpayer to deduct from the estate tax due. The unified credit is frequently adjusted and since 1987 has been $192,800, which equates to $600,000 of transfers that are exempt from the tax.
The federal gift tax is based on the total amount of property given as a gift, with the donor of the property as the taxpayer and the taxable gift amount as the basis for the tax. The taxable gift amount is the total amount of property gifted minus the annual tax exemption allowed by the tax code, all property gifted between spouses, and charitable contributions. The gift tax rate is the same as the federal estate tax rate, with a 17-bracket, overly progressive tax rate of 18% - 55%. If substantial property (more than $1 million) is gifted during life or transferred at death to such beneficiaries - multiple generations beyond the first generation of the grantor or decedent - then an intergenerational property transfer tax is imposed, unless estate and gift taxes have already been imposed on the beneficiaries of the intervening generation. The intergenerational property transfer tax rate is 55% of the top rate of the flat estate and gift tax. The federal gift tax is closely and intrinsically related to the federal estate tax, and the 1976 tax legislation consolidated the two into a single unified tax, with the same progressive tax rate schedule and unified credit applied to transfers of property during the lifetime of the decedent and after death. The federal estate and gift tax accounts for only about 1% of all federal tax revenues and is not an important source of revenue for the federal government to administer.