The main place in the US federal tax system is occupied by three taxes:

• individual income;
• social insurance;
• corporate profits.

The federal individual income tax is levied on the entire working population of the United States. It taxes almost all types of income that can be received by the population:

• wages and benefits;
• income from private business;
• interest on contributions to credit and savings institutions;
• dividends;
• rent;
• unemployment benefits paid by private companies.

Interest income received by holders of certain types of securities issued by state governments is not taxable. Pensions and social security benefits are partially taxed.

Each taxpayer is entitled to a number of discounts and deductions from their gross income before tax. First of all, there are so-called personal deductions.

In addition to personal deductions, taxpayers have the right to make a number of targeted discounts on their taxable income. The five articles of such discounts are the most important. In this way, it is allowed to deduct from the gross income part of the costs of treatment and other medical care, which exceeds 7.5% of this income for the previous year.

Many Americans buy private homes for payment using a special bank loan for up to 30 years but at high annual interest rates. Payments of this interest are also deducted from annual income. In addition, it is allowed to deduct part of the interest payments on a consumer loan.

Funds paid in the form of taxes to state and local authorities, as well as donations to various non-profit organizations, mainly religious and voluntary, are deducted from the annual income.

Instead of making all these discounts by item, the taxpayer has the right to apply the so-called standard discount, the amount of which depends only on marital status, but not on the amount of income or any items of expenditure.

Thus, a couple who uses a single standard discount applies it in the amount of 5 thousand dollars, for single people it is 3 thousand dollars, for single people who have at least one dependent – 4.4 thousand, and for a couple who fills out tax returns separately – 2.5 thousand dollars.

After the taxpayer has made all the deductions allowed by law from his gross annual income, the remaining amount is directly taxed on income tax.

The second most important federal tax is the social security tax, which is levied only on income from wages and gifts (so it is sometimes called the payroll tax). This tax has a number of specific features. First of all, it is levied in equal parts from workers, landlords, and entrepreneurs.

This means that the entrepreneur pays for each employee of the company an amount equal to the amount of tax levied on the employee. In addition, the social insurance tax is not levied on the entire salary, but only part of it to a certain level established by law (tax base).

The fees from this tax are determined by law exclusively for the payment of pensions to the elderly, the disabled, families who have lost a breadwinner and can be used for other activities.

The third major federal tax is the corporation tax. It is taxed on the gross redistributive income of a corporate business. Profit of 50 thousand dollars taxed at the maximum rate – 34%

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Income tax
Paid from all types of earnings – salaries, fees, winnings, tips. Each year, taxpayers submit 1040 tax service. It can be used to determine how much you earned per year and how much tax is withheld from the salary.

If the withheld amount was greater than the stipulated amount, you will receive an overpayment back. Accordingly, if deducted is not enough, you will have to pay extra

Income tax is taken from wages or private labor. It is calculated on a special scale and the amount of tax depends on your earnings. If you work for an employer, he pays it with your salary for you. If you work for yourself, then you must pay the deductions yourself at the end of the year.

Taxes on Social Securiti tax and Medicare
Withheld from all types of income and go to social state programs to help retirees, the poor, the disabled and the unemployed. The fund pays pensions, benefits to employees who have lost their ability to work and to families who have lost their breadwinner.

People who have ten years of general work experience can receive payments under programs. Affordable medicine for “Medicare” is provided to people over 65 years of age.

Property taxes
Property fees are paid by homeowners for the house and land. Charged by state and local governments. Spent on the maintenance of the livelihood of the village. Holds go to public schools and other important infrastructure.

Sales taxes
Charged to local budgets from each product sold in its territory. Sales fees are based on price and are included in the cost of goods and services when they are purchased. The collected funds are used by local authorities to repair roads, to maintain fire and police protection.

Tax affairs are maintained by the IRS. Each resident annually sends a declaration of income to the federal service. The filing time is from the beginning of the current year to April 15th. You can fill out the tax form yourself, by hand and send it by mail or submit it electronically on the IRS website.

Those who have difficulty filling will be assisted by numerous services for a small fee or free help centers. They are located in all cities of America.

You can find a taxpayer assistance center at 1-800-829-1040 or on the website. Pre-registration is not required.

Income statement – Form W-2
This is a document that displays your earnings and calculated amounts for the past year. Taxation period is from 1.01 to 31.12 of each calendar year. By law, your employer is obliged to issue f.W-2 with your data. One copy of such a certificate, together with the declaration, is sent to the tax authority.

Federal government agencies use American taxes for:

• Ensuring the state security of American citizens
• Providing free education to students
• Reconstruction, operation and construction of roads and highways
• Providing medical care to low-income and elderly people
• Preventing emergency situations during natural disasters
• Scientific research conducted for the prevention and treatment of diseases.

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On Sunday, the United States marks the 98th anniversary of the approval of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which granted women in the country the right to vote.

Since then, the number of women voters often exceeds the number of men in polling stations. According to the Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP), in 2016, 73.7 million women and 63.8 million men voted in the elections.

Nevertheless, today not all problems have been resolved.

Despite the fact that the presence of women in polling stations has increased over the past few decades, research indicates that women are underrepresented in various fields, including government, high technology, and the corporate sector.

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an international organization that unites the parliaments of the countries of the world, only one out of four parliamentarians in the world is a woman.

In both houses of Congress, women make up 25.4 percent of legislators. In the House of Representatives, they are only 20 percent, according to the organization of the Emily’s List, the national community of women democrats.

If we are talking about corporations, only 25 of the leaders of companies that are included in the S & P 500 rating are just 5 percent of the total number of heads of business.

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Although much work still needs to be done to achieve gender equality, the recent #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and violence has significantly increased awareness of this problem, says Lorraine Khariton, who this week became the new leader of the human rights group Catalyst, which is one of the oldest organizations , which promote the presence of women in the labor market.

At the beginning of the week (on Monday), Khariton told reporters that she was watching such a level of awareness about gender equality, as today, for the first time in her career that began in IBM in the 1970s, and as CEO of two technical start-ups, Beatnik and Apptera .

The #MeToo movement has brought about changes, including the increase in the number of women applying for participation in both chambers of the US Congress. Thus, in the upcoming November 2018 midterm elections, 54 women claim to be in the US Senate and 476 to place in the lower house of Congress, CAWP reports. 72 percent of women represent the Democratic Party.

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, Americans are mostly satisfied with this development.

Regardless of who belongs to one of the parties, according to the survey, 39 percent of respondents believe that the Congress will work better if it has more women legislators. Only 7% considered this a bad idea, and 53% said that gender does not affect the effectiveness of the work of the Congress.

At the same time, the results of the survey show that there are significant differences in the fact that Democrats and Republicans think about women in Congress.

80 percent of respondents who identify themselves with the Democratic Party support the participation of women in the electoral campaign. By comparison, only 39 percent of Republicans hold the same opinion.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump said: “We all benefit from the leadership and ingenuity of women in the fields of education, medicine, government, law, business, military service and all other spheres of activity that contribute to the greatness of our country.”

He also noted that his policy is aimed at supporting women, including increasing the tax deduction for children and additional tax deductions for paying day care for children. Trump said that his proposed budget this year, as in the past, will include a proposal to create a national program, within which paid leave for childcare will be provided. The President called on Congress to approve this measure.

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“Serious” debt is the amount of $ 50 thousand. At such a debt, the IRS will already have to provide the service with relevant information. According to the law, “unpaid, legally binding federal tax obligation” debt, the amount of which exceeds $ 50 thousand (plus accounting for a fine and interest), is considered a “serious offense”. The minimum amount of tax debt will change periodically – depending on inflation and the cost of living. Moreover, the total tax debt, rather than the annual period, is taken into account.

Tax debts do not fall into the category of “serious tax debt”, if they meet certain conditions:

• The payment was made in time, under an installment agreement, drawn up by the IRS.
• The payment was made on time, in accordance with the agreement with the Ministry of Justice or the Proposal for concluding a compromise agreement.
• When the innocent spouse is released from responsibility; division of tangible property.

When collecting due process, in order to collect the debt, it is necessary to file a request with Levy in a timely manner.

The State Department gives the non-payer 90 days during which he can take the following measures to avoid depriving the passport:

• Fully pay off tax debt.
• Find a compromise with the US Internal Revenue Service.
• Eliminate all errors in certification.
• When sending information to the State Department, the IRS must necessarily notify the defaulter in writing. The notification will be sent to the last specified address by regular mail.

The Tax Service informs the State Department when:

• The request was sent erroneously.
• The tax debt is partially repaid and is no longer critical.
• The tax debt is completely repaid.

If the taxpayer considers that the request of the IRS to the State Department is unreasonable, then in such a situation it is possible to apply to the US District Court or the Tax Court.

If a decision is made to cancel the passport, the State Department must notify the taxpayer. Prior to notification, the passport is considered valid.

In the event that a taxpayer needs to travel abroad, you need to contact the telephone number indicated on the notice CP 508C to find out the status of your passport. In other cases, you must call the State Department (National Passport Information Center number: 1-877-487-2778).

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