Tax tables or brackets for 2009 federal income tax e-filing – IRS Tax rate schedule for filing married or single

You may be getting ready to file your personal income tax returns and would like to know where in the tax tables you stand. The tax tables are created by the Internal Revenue Service and are set up in a way where the more money that you make, the more that the government takes. The philosophy is simple: the poor pay the least amount of tax while the well off pay a greater percentage in taxes. The tax scale ranges from 10% (given to those who make the least amount of money) to 35% (given to those who make higher amounts of money).

The percentage that you pay depends on two factors: How much you make and what your filing status is. For example, if you make less than $8,350 and are single the 2009 tax table indicates that you will have a federal tax liability of 10%. If you are married and filing jointly your income can be double $8,350 and you still fall into the 10% tax bracket.

On the other end of the spectrum you will pay a hefty 35% tax rate if you make over $372,950. In this case it does not matter whether you are filing jointly married or filing single. The tax rate is the same in either case.

Lets take for example a married couple with two sources of income. Joe the plumber’s taxable income is $37,000 while his wife Jane the cake decorator has a taxable income of $20,500. Together the couples taxable income is $57,500. If they were to file jointly their tax rate would be 15% because their taxable income falls in the range between $16,700 and $67,900

If you would like to know what tax bracket you fall into the best place to find this information is at the official IRS website. To get the exact amount check out the instruction workbook that goes with your 1040, 1040a or 1040ez form.